The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-23
nConvright. 1als. by curtis BrownO


Y 7 JENNA, November 22.-(special9
NJ There is now being enacted in
this country one of the most re-
rnarkable dramas In modern history 1t
has to do with the struggle between two
women in high places, the Duchess Ho-
henb,irg, wife of the Archduke Franz
Ferdinand. heir to the Austrian throne,
and Princess Zita. the child wife of the
Archduke Karl Franz Josef, the next in
succession. 1t is not really a struggle
for power between these two women in
stead. they are fighting for the right of
their eldest sons to one day sit on the
throne of this great dual kingdom Franz
Ferdinand, as all the world knows, re-
nounced the rights of his children when
he married the Duchess Hohenhurg, then
the Countess Chotek, a lady-in- waiting in
the royal household but the latter has
given many signs that she does not in
tend to be bound forever by the declara-
tion of her husband. For the moment a
thin truce exists between these two
women. While the aged monarch, EN-
peror Franz Josef. lives these will be no
open warfare. But he is now SO and rap
idly failing and the day of decision can
not be delayed much longer.
1t is a remarkable facu that while the
daily life of the Emperor is lived so to
exactly what he is doing and where he
is al any given hour of the day or night,
very little indeed transpires about the
other archdukes. This mystery is more
especially impenetrable in the case of
Archduke Karl Franz Josef, who, If he
lives, will one day become Emperor of
Austria Hungry Rumor tells some queer
stories of the relations between the two
men. who are not merely uncle and
nephew. but guardian and ward as we'll
The ward in this case Is entirely in the
hands of his uncle, who has arranged
every detail of life since his fathers
death, and as he is in the army, sends
him to any garrison town that he pleases.
II is very certain that Duchess Hohen-
burg, as the wife of the heir to the
throne is now called, regards the man
who will occupy the place that she COW
cts for her own children with no very
friendly eye The missions to small
towns in Galicia and other nests" as
they are referred to In the army on
which the young archdulke has often been
dispatched. are thought to be thinly
veiled plans of the duchess for keeping
him away from the capital, where he has
always been very popular.
Archduke Karl Franz Josef is a man of
joyous, somewhat happy-go-lucky tenn
perament. He was carefully educated for
the throne from his earliest childhood,
Ferdinand made his marriage and his re-
nunciation of the succession on behalf of
his descendants. The little archduke
spent his early years in learning a num-
Der of accomplishments which are abso-
lutely necessary for the heir to a throne.
He had an English governess and spoke
the language before he learned German.
She taught him to love games and move
ment. and there is no doubt that he owes
his happy disposition to an early child
hood spent in the charge of a woman
who was not always ready to say don't -
To this very day his body attendants
complain of his cratic English ways.
which do not accord with the precon-
ceived ideas of what an archduke should
do.
The love of dancing, which is implanted
in the heart of every Austrian, is very
strong in the archduke. He also likes
skating and INDUCED in the exercise to
such an extent that he injured one leg.
and cannot waltz with the same grace
and abandon as before the accident This
was sad news to the ladies of court So
ciety in Vienna, who were always in
clined to make a special favorite of the
archduke. The little archduchesses are
so penetrated by beauty of movement that
they would not sacrifice a single dance
for the sake of being the chosen partner
or the heir to the throne did he moi
dance gracefully. They are, too, little
aware of distinctions among the members
OF the imperial family, and within its
pale there is kind of equality Thus
the archduke has not been spolit by fiat
terry at any rate within the family circle
At the bottom of the archduke's frank
ness and kindness, of which many stories
are told, there is a certain childlike SIM
picity He has no idea of the value of
money His attendants, as in the case of