The Washington herald., 1908-04-05

/ must hasten TO the Pradoi' although
al that moment no one had the slightest
idea that Alfonso XII was even ailing.
is matter Of duly authenticated history.
Supposed so he Shooting.
The King was supposed to be shooting
in the splendid game preserves around
the Prado Palace Yet he died very sud
denly, just at the very moment when old
Serrano had announced his demise. and
had exclaimed that he must hasten to the
Prado
Queen Henriette believed TO the end Of
her days that her only son. Leopold, who
died so suddenly at nine years old, after
only a few hours of mysterious illness. in
1863. had succumbed to poison and was
the victim Of conspiracy on the part OF
some unscrupulous Bonapartist agents,
who imagined that by removing him from
the scene they were facilitating the event
ual acquisition of Belgium by the French
empire. The publication year or so
later Of the draft agreement between
Prince Bismarck and Count Benedetti.
French Ambassador at Berlin. for the
partition Of Belgium tended 10 confirm
was any foundation for her view of the
matter or~nOt. the fact remains that the
death OF the young prince has always
been shrouded with a certain amount of
mystery, and that Queen Henriette, prob
ably alone of the women of royal and i'm
perial rank in Europe abstained thence
forth from ever setting foot in France, or
from visiting Paris. which is only a few
| hours distant from Brussels. and popu-
larly regarded as the Mecca OF the fair
sex: al least OF that portion thereof that
has any pretenSions 10 elegance.
Amelie Still Scared.
Queen Marie Amelie ef Portugal still
bears scars of the burn which she re-
ceived in reseuing the late crown prince
from his burning cradle The latter had
in seme manner caught fire. and the
nurses. instead of attempting TO extin-
guish il. or 10 remove the child lost
their heads and fed shrieking. The
Queen. attracted by their cries. rushed
TO the scene and snatched the little fell
low from the flames before they had had
| time TO do him any lasting injury. The
shock of the entire affair, however, re-
suited IN Marie Amelie giving birth pre-
msturely TO a stil-bOrn daughter.
The late King Victor Emmanuel was al
most burned TO death in his cradle, and
for many years there used to be a wide
spread belief to the effect that he n lly
| perished in the flames, and that the 9y
OF his peasant wet nurse was substituted
/ in his stead. either with or without the
| knowledge of his parents The many
! peasant tastes and traits of the first King
of United italy used TO be cited by way
/ Of confirmation of this somewhat fan
/ tastical story.
/ IN two notable instances royal nurses
| lost their reason. Miss Weber. who was
/ in charge of the nursery Of the Crown
/ Princess of Greece, threw herself from the
Parthenon onto the stone pavement be-
low, being instantly killed. She was the
only German Of the household of the
crown princess, whom she accompanied
/ to Athens from Berlin, and with whom,
as a daughter of one of the palace Off
eals at Potsdsm. she had been more or
/ less associated from childhood One of
the nurses of King Edward and of his
elder sister likewise committed suicide in
a particularly shocking fashion, at Clare
mont.
Most of the royal nurseries Of the Old
: World are in charge of Scotch or English