New-York tribune., 1910-01-16
Mauv Subjects Without Titles Have Blood Less Mixed
than Have the Men Who Rule Over Them,
Says Ex-Attache.

,,,,,,--,rht 1910 by the brentwood company
- european rulers are so anxious TO
,revent the members OF thelr laiiiiiies
80, contracting mesalliances II Is De-
-,,,se they realize that the expression
..--;,,ce and princess of the blood Is pe-
,ar,;ng a mere figure Of speech Inc
.-;,cinle of heredity in monarchy is
,,.se6 strictly speaking, upon the de-
-..nt Of the crown 20 only such sClohs
81 tl,e dynasty as are the issue OF gen
.-ations of forebears, each one OF WhoHl
hes married one equal in birth and rank
1r fact. the people are expected 10 LOOK
v,.b reverence upon the anointed OF the
ro,d and TO accord them their homage
- bacsuse Of their illustrious ancestry
.,5 for the reason that their blood is
more blue and their lineage more wholly
sovereign than that Of any OF tneir 1el-
low countrymen.
While the House Of Hapsburg may be
said 10 fulfill these requirements anc
aIso in q. measure that OF Bourbon, there
o-e few of the other rulers Of the Old
world who can show a genealogical tree
free from graftings that have been IN no
,snse -oval. and il is a well established
fact that in many countries there are
rohles. some Of them titled and some Of
them even without any handles TO their
names. whose blood is pUrer and whose
,sdirree Is superior to that OF their mon
rrchs In order 10 belong TO the Sow
.-eisr order Of Malta and TO the Teu-
tonic Order q long list Of ancestors and
.-cestresses Of exclusively noble birth is
reo,1ired 10 be shown. Any mesailiance
On he part of q forebear-that is TO say,
marriage with wife not Of noble birth
is fatal 70 the candidature. So strict
sre the conditions with regard TO purity
Of blood that there are to-day number
Of sovereigns who would be excluded
from these orders on the score Of their
ancestry-save as mere Knights Of
Grace
Thus, King Albert Of Belgium is de.
scended. by no means remotely. from
Peter Murat. Of peasant birth. like his
younger brother. thar Joachim Murat
who II early life was 2 hostler at a vii
lage inn, and owed his throne OF the
grand ducny Of Berg and Of the king
dom Of Naples 10 his own prowess as q
cavalry leader and 70 his marriage to-
Napoleon's sister Caroline. Peter Murat
died in 1892, leaving a daughter by the
name q Antoinette, who was created a
princess by the first Napoleon on the oc-
casion Of her marriage in 1908. AT the
Tuileries, 10 the reigning Prince Charles
Of HohenzOllern-Sign gnaringen. and thus
became the grandmother Of King Charles
OF Rumania and Of the Countess Of Flan-
ders and the great-grandmother of the
latter's son, the new King of the Bel
gians
Another non-royal great grandmother
Of Albert Of Belgium was Grand Duchess
stephanie Of Baden, WHO, q daughter of
the Vicomte Claude de Beauharnais.
brother OF Empress Josephine's first hus-
hand. WIS created by Emperor Napoleon
a princess on the occasion Of her mar
rage 10 Grand Duke Charles of Baden ar
the Tuileries in 1906. King Charles of
Rumania falls within the same category
as his nephew, the new ruler Of Belgium,
with this difference. that he is one gen
Grafton nearer 10 the Vicomte Claude de
Beauharnais and 10 the peasant, Peter