The Washington herald., 1911-01-19
NEWS AND GOSSIP
OF OTHER LANDS

Soho " H1InU tn8t AT tne outbreak OF tne
Franco-Prussian war in 1870 he lived as
an exile in England. because none Of the
Bourbon leaders and pretenders was
wanted in France during the second en-
Pire by Napoleon III or his clique
When the first authentic reports reached
London that war actually had been de-
clared. the Due de Chartres, as we'll as
both Of his uncles, the Prince de join
Vile and the Due d'Aumale. implored the
French government (Which meant Napo-
leon), for permission to fight under the
French colors. Their request was per-
emptorily refused and all Of them were
once.
However, Prince de Joinville and the
Due de Chartres enlisted under assumed
names in the army of the Loire. the lat
ter Disgusting himself not altogether in
appropriately as Robert lie Fort"
Through some Of those underground
channels which ever will remain a mys-
terry in critical lImes, the news became
known to Queen Auguste Of Prussia, and.
woman like. she wrote to Queen Victoria
on the subject. She pointed out that the
Due de Chartres had joined the Franc
WIN "cEc HOt ICeOShlZCu oS
belligerents and were shot whenever and
wherever captured.
Now. whatever posterity may say Of the
Due de Chartres. no one will have a right
to accuse him Of cowardice. To enlist as
a "Franctireur'' in itself was a piece of
dare-devilment, almost theatrical, for it
actually was a lawless body, and no one
knows this better than "Flaneur.'' who
participated in that war, and who also
L. fD~
"Franctireur." AS a matter of fact, they
did not deserve any. for they were a set OF
lawless marauders, feared and despised
alike by the inhabitants of their own
country and by the soldiery of friend and
foe. There was nothing to be gained from
this piece of bravado on the part of the
two royal scions in the Franctireur camp
itself. for had their identity become
known to their comrades they would have
been shot without a moments hesitation.
And to the world at large, or even to
their own sympathizers. these rash
young men would have become objects of
horror, indeed. for the Franctireurs were
not guerrillas, but marauders and highway
robbers. who spared neither man, woman,
or child-neither friend nor foe-in their
lust for murder and robbery. We, of the
regular armies of both contendinC parties
called them ghouls, as their main object
was the desecration Of the battlefields.
At any rate, these scions of the
French rulers really seemed proud of
what they were doing and risking 70:
their belle patrie." 1 do not wonder at
the interest which the Queen of Prussia
took in the fate of the young men. be-
cause Prussia was fighting the man land
his wife). who were also the enc les of
81 l,.,l
against the latter house. and the tender
hearted Queen at Berlin disliked to see
their lives Aeedlessly sacrificed. especial
ly under such distressing conditions. Be
sides, the mother Of the Duo de Chartres
was German princess, the Duchess
Helen Of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
So she wrote to Victoria. to exert all
her influence to find out where De
Cnartres was stationed. so that, in case
he was captured, no harm might come
to him.
Queen Victoria could do no better
than to send the letter itself to the Duo
d'Aumale. who again had taken up his
abode in England. His reply was brief
and to the point. and it shows the true
metal in the BourbOns even of the pres
ent day. The reply read as follows:
Your majesty: Let the Queen of
Prussia feel no anxiety. These two boys
never Will be taken alive.
The Due de Chartres lived to be sew
enty years old. He was born at Paris in
1S4O. during the reign of Louis Philippe.
the Citizen King who was one of his
godfathers. He had also a number of
others. as witness the names by which
the young prince was christened: Robert
Philip Louis Eugene Ferdinand. After
the Napoleonic coup d'etat in 1851. the
entire Orleans family had to go into ex-
lie. and the young due in 1863 married the
Princess FRANCHISE de Orleans at Kings
ton-on-the-Thames. His son and heir
who also is the Bourbon pretender to the
throne of France. is styled the Due de
Guise Jean Pierre Clement Marie). He
was born at Paris in 1874 and at Twick.
| enham, in England, in 1899 married his
relative. the Prince IS Isabelle Of France
The French branch of the Orleans
Bourbon family dates from the seven
teenth century. 1t was founded by Phil.
ippe. Due d'Anjou. born in 1640. who by
conquest and marriage later became DUO
, de Orleans, Due de Valois. as we'll as Due
of the American Du Popts). and finally
Prince de Joinville.
Among the latest appointments to be
! made in the British royal household
were those Of the chief linen maid and
her two assistants. The chief maid held
the same position under the late King.
but her two assistants went to Marl-
| borough House with Queen Alexandra,
! and two maids lately at York Cottage
| went to Buckingham Palace to fill their
places.
The linen room at Buckingham Palace
is A large apartment on the third floor.
adjoining the housekeeper's apartment.
| and the walls are completely lined with
linen presses. containing all the house,
| hold linen. Two presses contain moth
ing but tablecloths, another table nap
kins. In four others there are nothing
| but sheets, while vast piles of towels,
bedspreads. doylies, cushion covers, bol-
sters. pillow cases, and many other
articles Of household linen are stored in
cloths for use in the state dining-room
are more than 100 years old. They are
all hand-woven. and are made of a
quality Of linen which nowadays it would
be absolutely impossible to obtain. The
royal arms are woven in the center and
| At each corner as well. In the more
| modern tablecloths only a crown Is
woven at the corners.
All Of the linen is given out by the
! chief maid, as required. and for each
article she gives out she must receive
! duplicate Of it in return. All Of the
linen used is stored in q room of the
| linen room in long deep baskets. and a
| certain portion Of it Is sent to the laun-
dry each day.
The linen presses are all heated by hot
water pipes and the maids have to see
to 1t that the temperature in each OF