The Washington herald., 1912-03-28
HISTORIC LUXEMBOURG

reached sooner than anticipated In my
recent remarks about the succession
The Grand Duke william. who has suf-
fered from paralysis Of the brain. sue
cumbed at last after years Of suffering
and misery. He was nephew Of the
late Queen OF Denmark, who was very
anxious for him to marry one Of her
granddaughter, as he was considered
one Of the best royal matches IN Europe
However. the grand duke remained .
bachelor until he was past forty. and
then took as his wife Princess Maria
OF Braganra, Infanta OF Portugal, TO
the great annoyance Of his own fam
ny. His father. the Grand Duke Adolf.
was q strict Lutheran, and. OF course,
was horrihed At the idea OF his son
marrying a Roman Catholic.
As / stated before. the grand duke
had q family Of six daughters. the eld-
est OF whom, Grand Duchess Maria.
born In 1894, succeeds to the throne Of
Luxembourg. The male line OF the great
historic Houseaof Nassau now Is repre-
sented only by Count Nicholas Meren-
berg. con Of the late Prince Nicholas
Of Nassau. who contracted q morganat-
ic marriage. Hence his son Is excluded
from the Luxembourg succession.
The late grand duke was the head Of
the senior branch of the oranse-Nazsau
family. the junior branch being repre-
sented by Queen iWilhelmina OF the
Netherlands He was a cousin or Queen
Alexandria and also OF the Duchess Of
Albany. His father. the Grand Duke
Adolf. succeeded to the throne OF Mas
sau when a mere youth and lost his
crown during the war Of 1855. when he
took sides against Prussia as the ally Of
Hanover and Bavaria.
He concluded a satisfactory pecuniary
arrangement with the victorious Prus-
sian government and then lived as grand
seigneur In Austria until In 1880 he sue
ceeded TO the throne Of Luxembourg on
the death of the late King William of
Holland. He possessed an immense for
tune and owned extensive and very val
liable private estates. His hrst wife was
the daughter Of Grand Duke Michael
Pawlowitch. who had a large fortune OF
her own. but died one year after her mar
riage. His second wife was Princess
Adelaide OF Anbalt. His children were
the recently deported Grand Duke Will
liam and the present Grand Duchess OF
Baden, who is childIess, so that her for
tune also will revert ultimately TO her
brothers six daughters
The Official world. the railways. and the
mines Of Luxembourg are in German
hands. The Grand Duchy 10 being Ger
manized rapidly. The Dowager Grand
Duchess Is noniinaiiy a Braganza, but in
reality Austro-German- Her entire
household is German. The late grand
duke was more Austrian than anything
else until his brain became paralyEed.
He served In the Austrian army ever
since Bismarck confscated his fathers
German principality of Nassau, and. so
far as a person Of his apathetic disposi-
ton can be said TO have liked anything.
he was extremely fond OF Vienna and
the hapsDurC Court.
In fact he married the Princess Maria,
who Is a sister Of the Duchess Of Parma
(whose daughter. Zita. is the bride OF
Archduke Karl Franz Josef. the heir ap-
parent Of Austria). and OF the Duchess
Theodore OF Bavaria, in order TO be as
near to the imperial family as such
union could bring him. His sisters mar
riage to the hereditary Grand Duke of
Baden brought the deposed Nassau house
into near connection with the hated Prus-
sian Hohenzollerns, who despolled them
OF their crown, as the mother OF the heir |
Of Baden was the only daughter OF the
FIRST Emperor Wilhelm.
The Inhabitants OF Luxemburg for the |
most part are Catholics, and the infiux |
CT Italians to work In the big iron mines |
may give them now an "ultramonta mist" |
tinge. Society. aside from the little |
court. affects French polish and encour-
ages French actors, lecturers. and pur-
veyors' TO feminine elegance from the
Rue de- Ia Paix
Neither the seventeen-year-old new
sovereign nor her five younger sisters. |
until very lately, have not had the ad- |
vantage of a French educational train /
ing. She has inherited some OF her faith |
er's apathy, but II is not at all pro-
nounced.
She is placid. serene. even sweet and |
decidedly pretty. quite interesting. a
blonde gentille'' with Teutonic blue /
eyes and naxon hair. Without being a |
spirited horsewoman. she has learned to |
present an elegant figure on horseback at /
reviews. Her sisters are all much livelier /
and darker. Placed in a row the six |
girls appear like the steps Of stair
case.
The little Grand Duchy. because SO
Germanized. is the most vulnerable point
Besides IT Is too small and Insignificant
TO enforce neutrality.
Only recently there was quite a rum
pus at the little capital because the gov
ernment was planning to increase the
army of Luxemburg by fifteen soldiersl
You will laugh? But none the less.
there 10 no more prosperous spot in
Europe. and 90 II has always been since L
II fell under the scepter OF Maria The
resa- But II Is extremely quiet.
II was less so in the time OF that
wealthy and gentlemanly Prince Henry |
Of the Netherlands. whom l remember
doing in Chesterheldian style the honors
OF the capital to strangers. He was
then his brothers regent, and spent his
great income entirk among his peo-
pie. His hospitality had a warm-heart-
ed cordiality that came from the heart.
and he cultivated and patronized with
success the arts-music in particular
and the sciences. The change from him
10 the penurious and crotchety Grand
Duke Adolf. and then to the late ever
ailing Grand Duke William. was a sad
one.
The Dowager Grand Duchess Maria,
whose mother ended her days as a nun,
was, In the early years OF her welded
life, a queen bee," but soon enough
she had to assume the role of a sister
of charity, her ailing husband needing
all her care.
The vast amount Of money paid by
Bismarck as compensation for the State
of Nassau when the Prussian government
seized that territory in 1856 forms q per-
petual family fund, invested with the
Rothschild banking house at Frankfort.
and II Is accommodating steadily. as the
House OF Nassau Is so wealthy that none
of its members is obliged TO touch even
he interest, which continues to COM II
pound with the millions Of the principal