The Washington herald., 1911-02-12
OF
PRINCESS MARIE

capades for several years past have
Kept the newspapers busy, with all her
faults has not been nearly as extrava-
Mazarin, the noted prime minister of
France. One of them, at least, Marie
far surpassed her modern prototype IN
iniquity. l speak of the amazing peril
nacity of the wife of the Prince Colonna,
the connetable of Naples, the most in
dulgent husband recorded in the worlds
marital annals.
Marie, according to her own very en-
gaging tale, quit her ardent lord be-
cause astronomers had warned her that
the stars had predicted further life with
him meant death. She did not fly be-
cause he maltreated her, as Prince Philip
of Coburg is accused by his princess of
doing. When Marie fled from Rome it
was to carry her tale of woe to the ears
of her former sweetheart, Louis XIV, the
youthful King of France. But when,
after encountering adventures such as
no great lady had ever endured before,
she arrived near Paris, Louis. in re-
sponsc to her prayer for a meeting sent
pack his command that she must observe
the proprieties and wend her way back
10 Grenoble, on the Italian frontier.
Not in the least perturbed. she secured
a steed from a farmer and made her
way toward Fontainbleu. For many a
day the peasants told a story of a grcae
lady who shot past hedges and over
bitches. riding fearlessly where country
folk never had Vcntured before. She
brought up at a modest inn, almost with
in sight of the palace occupied by the
King and his bride, Marie Theresa of
Hapsburg. There the messenger dispa tched
by the King reached her, and impaired
his instructions that she should go back
to the Italian frontier and await the
coming of her husband, who was
anxious to take her back TO her home
and children Her answer was that she
would not bulge an inch and that brute
force only could alter her resolution.
She was a princess. the niece of the
man who had served France as prime
minister and had been very near to the
King. Therefore. it would not do for the
Kings agent to eruploy harsh means.
Marie was fine performer on the guitar.
Having delivered herself Of the above
ultimatum, she picked up the instrument
and lapsed into a musical revery. as il
the situation did not further interest her.
The Door man forgot his GRAND. bowed
himself out, returned to the palace, and
made his report.
The King, also bearing in mind that. in
spite of her disreputable conduct she was
the wife OF one OF the highest dignitaries
OF Spain and of Rome. and as such must
be treated with indulgence. called the
Duke de Crequy and instructed him to
see that the obstinate princess took shell
ter at least in a convent.
When the potential duke, a marshal of
France, found the niece of his former
patron, Mazarin. in an ignoble inn. he ad-
vised her as friend rather than a messsn-
ger from the King. to seek, for a time at
least, a convent and stop public gossip.
Under this benignity. Marie felt sure
there lurked repentance on the Kings
part, and that Louis was trying to make
reparation, but in his own way. She
consented to enter a convent. provided
it were not far from Paris. The truth
was that Louis. alarmed lest the mad
woman should get access to him, directed
her to be conveyed to Melun, about thirty
leagues from Paris. Sequestered in the
tranquil retreat, Marie made the lives of
the religiouses so intolerable that they
complained to the King. asking her re-
moval. The King grew alarmed and di-
rected that she be taken to a convent near
Rheims, After dispatching supplicating
letters OF adroit penitence to the all
powerful minister Colbert, intended for
the Kings eyes. she realized that the
King had dropped her forever.
Curious students often visit the palace
of the Colonnas al Rome. hoping that
they may muse over records of this
famous ancestreSs. who, missing the
crown of France. was forced to accept
the role OF Princess Colonna. wife of the
connetable of Naples, a rank at that
time second only to royalty, for the con-
netable was the viceroy of the King of
Spain. The Colonna archives have more
buried romance. tragedy, and intrigue
than many a kingdom. for that family
counts its ancestry back to Caesarean
times. even Popes figuring in the long
pedigree. The piquant volumes bearing
the name of Marie Mazarin, however. did
not find a place among the chronicles
of the illustrious Colonna. for. though
she was the most admired of the courtier
world during her fascinating dalliance
with young King Louis of France. the
end of that idyl transformed her, as mar
rated above, into a messalina, so aban-
doned that even the courticrs Of that
immoral period gasped for breath at her
antics.
The aspiration to be a queen had to-
tally masked the real nature of this
astonishing woman. The instant the
royal dream vanished Marie emerged
from the chrysalis of loveliness to appall
the world by her amorous escapades. 1t
return from his honeymoon. left Marie
Theresa, his young and lovely Austrian
bride, at Saintes, on the Loire, and made
a journey to Bruges to have a last
glimpse of the sweetheart of his youth.
But on reaching Fontainebleau the love-
sick King discovered that Marie hardly
had waited to be off with the old love be-
fore she was on with the new. The effem-
mate Prince Charles of Lorraine banish-
ed from the court as a demoralizing in
fiuence upon the Kings brother, CASTOR,
already had replaced the image of the
King in the ardent breast of Marie.
The wrath OF Louis was beyond words.
He considered ii sort of treason for a
woman to transfer the love for him
to another Marie became hateful to him.
Worse than all, now that the radiance
reflected from the throne no longer fell
upon the bewitching Marie. her uncle, the