The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-09-25
ny La MARoUIsE DE roNrE,oy

|ANoN DCCkWORTH's death, al
the advanced ago OF seventy
seven serves TO recall q royal
romance Of many years ago, when, as
young clergyman. he was tutor of
queen Victoria's youngest son. Prince
Leopold. Duke of Albany. He fell In
love with his twelve-year- old pupils
most fascinating and gifted sister.
Princess Louise. who, according TO
court gossip. was not altogether In
sensible TO the admiration Of the hand
some young curate. The matter reach
ed the ears OF Queen Victoria, who
took the princess to task. without sue
cess. Duckworth. mindful of the fact
that he owed obedience 10 the Queen.
not only as sovereign. but also as head
or the church, surrendered the very
innocent but rather romantic CORE
spondence that had passed between
himself and the princess, and retired
gracefully from the scene BY rights
ne should have become a bishop But
his prefermcnt would have caused too
inuch talk. so he was given first OF
all lucrative rectorship in London, to
which were subsequently, added u can
onry and guardianship OF the Abbey OF
Westminster carrying with them u
most picturesque residence and all
sorts of prerogatlvcs and emoluments
The discretion which he manifested
about the whole affair was keenly
appreciated by the reigning house, the
members of which treated him with
the utmost regard. Queen Victoria. and
King Edward In turn, appointing him
as their chaplain He never married,
passing through life n very popular
figure in society with this halo Of
a royal romance resting on his head,
which was as handsome in his old age
as IN his youth. Princess Louise mar
ried within year of Duckworth's re-
tiremcnt from court in 1870. the then
MARQUIS OF Lornc, now Duke OF Argyll.
AS Mrs. Edmund Wickham. widow o.,
the English army colonel OF that name.
is again engaging the attention OF the
public in connection with her preten-
sions TO imperial rank. as alleged lIneal
descendant and principal hc.ress OF the
sovereign dynasty OF Paleologo. which
was occupying the throne OF the
Byzantine Empire at the time OF the
capture Of Constantinopie by the
Turks, In 1853. It may be Just as well
to state that no mention yil be found
in the Almanach de Gotha. or in any
other standard work OF reference eth
er foreign or English, OF the title OF
Princess Paleologo. assumed by Mrs.
Wickham, nor yet of her four sons,
each of whom styles himself a Prince
Paleologo
She lives in London. in modest
house looking on to Hyde Park and
possesses an imagination that is the
most Oriental thing about her besides
her title. since. IL one is to believe
her. no less than three dramatic at
tempts have been made upon her life
She insinuatcs that she and her sons
constitute peril to. the dynasty now
ruling over Greece. since the people of
that country would naturally prefer be-
Ing reigned over by scion of the
imperial Greek dynasty of Paleologo
than by an alien house, such as that OF
King George In fact, she hints that
the latter would be relieved to hear
of her death, the inference being that
he, poor man. may have instigated the
attempts upon her life. concerning
which nothing Is known by the Eng
lish police. She styles herself Eugene
Crtstoforos, Princess Paleologo Nice
rhorae Commence hereditary Princess
OF Mitylene. of Enos, of Lemnos, and
OF chios." and declares that her faith
er was one of the candidates for the
Greek throne in 1863.
This Is rather an unfortunate adj
mission. For those who will take the
of the election. VIII find that the Greek
people did not choose foreigner for
their ruler until they had made n most
exhaustive investigation. and had alb
soIutely convinced themselves of the
inpossibility of discovering any au-
thentic descendant of the last Chris
tian omperors of Constantinople or
any bona flde representative Of the
former regning dynasty OF Paleologo;
that Emperor Constantine Paleologo
himself was killed at the storming of
Constantinople by the Turks In 1853.
while some members of mis- family are
rumored to have escaped, and to have
found refuge in Western Europe. His
torians are unanimous, however. in de-
claring that these refugees became ex-
tinct shortly afterwards; and this i'm
preston prevailed until some twenty
FIVE years ago.
IT was then that Mrs. Wickham sud
denly put forward a claim to. the effect
that she was the lineal descendant and
principal heiress of the Paleologo
dynasty. She accumulated an i'm
mense amount of documentary evil
dence from the English parish regist-
ers. from the British Museum. from
tho Royal College OF Heralds in Lon
don, and from the National Library at
Paris, tending to show that she was
descended on the distaff side. from a
certain Theodore Paleologo, who died
in 1886. and lies buried In the old
parish church of Llandulph, in Corn
wall. This Theodore Paleologo claim
ed to be the great-greatgreat- grand-