The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-10-18
PARK ON
SITE OF STRONGHOLD

soever to his taking up his residence
in England
The widowed Empresss decision to
spend from henccforth portion or
each year in England Is attributed not
only TO her desire to be with her sis
ter. Queen Alexandra, but also to be
near her youngest son, Michael, whom
she is credited with having always
preferred to all her other children.
tie has never been particularly strong
in health, and as such has been AN
object OF her particular care and solic-
itude.
Some confusion is liable to result,
owing TO the fact that there is another
Russian Grand Duke Michael. second
cousin of the Car. namely, Michael
Michaelovitch. who also makes his
home in England, at kenwood. Hamp
stead, in the outskirts of London. lie,
however, took up his residence abroad
because no was banished by Car
Alexander III. for marrying. in defiance
OF his orders. Countess Sophie Meren-
berg, now Countess TorDy. He was
also deprived OF all his military honors:
and foreign courts and governments,
as we'll tho Russian embassies
abroad. were requested to withhold
from him the honois duo to n grand
duke OF the reigning house These
disciplinary measures against him
were repealed few years ago by tho
present Emperor, largely through the
intervention in his behalf of King Ed
ward. This Grand Duke Michael, how
ever. stands on a far less intimate or
favored footing with the reigning fam
lily of England. than is the case with
the Emperor's brother, Michael Alex
androvitch.
Prince Joseph Caraman, who,
through the scath of his father last
Monday. has become chief OF the sec
ond and Belgian branch OF the ducal
and princely house of Caraman-Chi-
may. is nineteen years of age. and half
his mother having been Clara
Ward, of Detroit, Mich, daughter and
heiress Of that Captain Eben II. Ward
who owned the largest fleet of freight
crs on the Great Lakes 1t is unnec-
essary 10 recall here the shipwreck of
the union OF Clara Ward and OF the
late Prince dc Chimay. her intrigues
with the late King Leopold and with
others, her elopement and marriage TO
the Tsigane Rigo. her divorce from
him, and her subsequent marriage to
Iticcardo, an Italian railroad employe,
whom sho also sued fort divorce, her
appearance in vaudeville, her expulsion
by the police from several countries.
as an undesirable alien, and the police
prohibition of her appearance on tho
stage In living pictures. In Paris. have
all been rccounted over and over again
in the press, during the last two de-
cades. They are not pleasant reading.
The late Prince de Chimay. her eX-
husband, was in receipt OF $4,000 a
year alimony from her. which was
awarded to him by the Belgian courts,
at the time OF his divorce in 1897, and
she was compelled by the same trib-
unal to settle Immediately q sum OF
$4,000 upon tho two children of the
union. namely. the fifth and present
Prince de Chimay and upon his TWEEN
ty-two- year-old sister Countess Marie
de Chimay The young prince will
probably inherit still further share
Of the large fortune of his mother al
though he has seen nothing of her
since she deserted his father
Chief among his new possessions Is
the grand old Chateau OF Chimay, in
the province OF Hainault near the
French border. II is one OF the finest
feudal places In belgium. In the Mid
die Ages 1t was the principal strong
hold of tho ducal house OF Croy, from
whom IT passed, by marriage, to tho
D'Arenbergs. in the seventeenth cen
fury. From them 1t went to tho an
tt'Ht piiHSctS HOUSE OF tni1nay, whose
last survivor married Victor de Riquet
Comte do Caraman. This couple had
two sons. Louis and Francois The
elder inherited his fathers property,
and founded the line now represented
and healed by the old French Duo de
Chramnn. The younger son inherited
his mothers Castle OF Chimay, and
was created Prince de Chimay, In the
Kingdom OF the Netherlands and af-
forwards in the kingdom OF Belgium.
The origin OF the fortune OF tho
Caramans was tho construction by
Pierre Paul Riquet. Il clever engineer,
some ESQ years ago. of the Canal du
Midi, which still to this day furnishes
a waterway between the Mediterranean
and the Atlantic Ocean, across French
territory. Louis XIV and his Finance