New-York tribune., 1912-02-21
4 DIAMOND WEDDING
Austrian Imperial Couple Sixty
Years Married To-day.

Golden weddings are very rare among
ro;cning houses of Europe. Diamond
u.oAdings are even still rarer In fact,
T.. .arrot recall any at the present moment
~. nearest approach thereto having been
c,orre III Of England, who. although
,,rotic lived to srend with his wife the
oftv-seyenth anniversary Of their weddlns'
"a oId Emperor william of Germany, who
oe,ehrated with Empress Augusta the nifty
nth anniversary of their wedding. only
tey months before his death.
That IS why the diamond wedding or
,-cb5rke and Archduchess Rainer of Aus
,,Ja to-day, when they Will complete fun
etxtv years of singularly happy marriage
-1iu be made a subject for rejoicing
throughout the length and breadth of the
dual empire.
- The only sorrow of his threescoro years
of matrimonial alliance has been that 1t
5 has remained chlldless; but they have
made an adopted child Of their niece ana
rodchilG, Maria Ra1neria. Countess Wal
deck in her own right, and daughter Of the
late Archduke Henri and Of his morganatic
wife. Leopoldine Hofmann, both Of whose
deaths took place with tragic suddenness,
AZ an interval of only a few hours, at
Vienna. Their orphan daughter was there
upop adopted by Archduko Rainer and is
now the wife of Count Enrico Lucchesi
Pari, eleventh Prince of Campofranco and
ninth Duke della Grazla- 1t is said she
will be tho principal heiress Of the great
wealth Of her uncle and aunt.
Archduke and Archduchess Rainer are
among the richest members of the house
Of Hapsburg. They are homely old
couple-I do not mean il in the sense OF
p,ain looking-who, although possessed OF
one Of the finest palaces in Vienna and OF
irnumerable chateaus and palaces else
where, were formerly never so happy as
when they could slip away from Vienna
and travel about without gentlemen or
ladies in waf'u-. under the very strictest
incognito ana lnJcr the most bourgeois OF
names, iourneyirg quietly in Switzerland
or else turning up IN England, where they
would take up their quarters at Worthing'
Bognor or other of the quieter seaside re-
sorts on the coast OF Sussex-not dt the
-leading hotels. but in some unpretentious
lodgings, and both the archduKe and the
srcbdncbess used sometimes afterward 10
ioLe with acouaintances who knew II their
sojourns in England about their pronounced
fondness for that peculiarly English ma
tional dish of boiled mutton ana caper
sauce
The archduke is doubly related to the
refining house Of Italy, his mother having
been a princess Of the house OF savoy
while his sister. Archduchess Adelaide was
the wife Of the late King Victor Emmah-
uel. He was, therefore, an uncle OF King
Humbert and is grand-uncle OF the pres
ent King Of Italy. The archduke ana
archduchess are. next to the Emperor the
most popular members Of the house OF
FIapsburg, and. although soldier through
and through, his country being indebted 10
him for the complete reorganization OF the
Landwehr which ne commanded for so
many years. he has all his life long been
the one Austrian prince of the blood VINO
has figured more prominently than any
other as patron Of everything pertaining
10 science and art. To him, indeed. are the
Austrians indebted for the creation OF the
magnificent science and art museum at
Vienna and of many similar institutions
throughout the empire. II was he, too' VINO
was the chief organizer and promoter OF
the great Internal tional exhibition at Vienna
in 1873 and Of the international dramatic
and musical exhibition held in the Prater
in 1889.
g, Moreover. the Austrian scientific world
owes to him the possession Of what Is
probably the rarest collection Of ancient
papyrus records and manuscripts OF one
Kind or another in existence. While sun
. Young man, and long before Egypt had
been explored TO the extent that 1t is TO-
day. the archduke spent nearly year ln
ne land Of the Nile, and. abandoning the
reaten track Of the ordinary tourists, de-
vo+ed himself almost exclusively TO the
oyplorati of the many hundreds OF an
,ient Coptic monagteries Whicn DOT lhe
Gases Of the Iibyan Desert ana Whlch were
until then terra incognlta 10 Europe ne
passed from monastery 10 monastery, pc
mo i'm many instances the first European
VINO had crossed their threshold IN many
centuries; and as they were almost an "a
them poverty stricken, ne look adNanldSe
thereof 10 buy from them all the docu-
r,Ients, books and reading matter thdt were
contained in their Libraries lie dld not at,
Tempt 10 discriminate, but he merely used
his vast wealth to purchase en- DIoC ever!
thing of a documentary CHARACTER IHat 'lV'
were ready TO sell. ,,---...... \,
II was not until long after his return TO
Austria, and the safe arrival al trieste OF
iwo entire shiploads of documents tnus cor
'aotcd that the wisdom OF ms ehterpIlsS
and it's priceless value 10 history rensloII
science and archaeology began TO be APP
prcciatod. Among a good deal OF the trash
tEoT- we're found some of the earliest man
iscriuts of the Gospels and OF the EplsueS
that are now known to nave Reen ~ ~, * gA-
istarcc writings OF the fathers OF the ChIls-
tian Church dating from the first hVe cen
ruries OF the Christian era, innumeraple
classics that are now known 70 nave
formed part Of the world famed npTdrS u
Alexandria and TO have escaped its, de-
struction by Omar, and papyrl dating from
Tho Mosaic and even earlier times.
MARQUISE DE FONTENON.