The Washington herald., 1913-04-04
Court Gossip of Interesting
EpentS on THO Continents


her, have been at the diplomatic resi-
dence in Mexico during the revolutionary
troubles. Their numerous relatives and
friends in Ireland have suffered much
anxiety on their account. Embassies are
usually, no doubt. looked on as sacred
places, immune from the ordinary perils
of war, but in cases of revolution there
is always the danger that accidents may
happen.
No date has been set as yet for the
wedding of the Kaisers only daughter,
Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, and
the hereditary Prince Ernst OF Braun
lschweig- Lueneburg, scion of the i'll
fated house of the Hanoverian Guelphs,
Iwho lost their throne of Hanover by an
ltagonizing Prussia in 1866 in her fight to
wrest the supremacy in Germany from
Austria OF course. 1t is a well-known
fact that the present head Of the house,
the Duke of Cumberland, who is styled
your majesty by his loyal retainers on
his magnificent estate of Gmunden, in the
Bavarian Alps. where he resides in soli-
tary grandeur, but why this should be
so is not so easily to be explained. His
| father, the blind King George of Han
lover, even after his defeat at Langen-
salza, where his army was crushed by
the Prussians under Herwarth Won Bit
tenfeld. was offered to keep his throne
and country If he would refrain from fur
ther anti-Prussian demonstration and in
trigue, but the man hated everything Ho-
henzollern to such a degree that he rather
gave up his throne and kingdom than to
swear allegiance to the newly created
Norddeutsche Bund. Just the same, when
one considers what the Kaiser had to
overcome in order to pacify deep-rooted
hatred, IL must be admitted that he has
done wonders to accomplish this union,
which makes new friends for his house,
provides Brunswick (Braunschweig) with
her old line of rulers and incidentally
makes of his only daughter the wife of
the new ruler.
| 1t is expected that the wedding viii
take place at Berlin in October. Definite
| arrangements are to be made at the visit
of the princes father, the aforemen-
| toned Duke of Cumberland, and his wife
| to the German court at Potsdam. If
things work out all right as planned the
King and Queen of England (Hanoverian
Guelphs) and their children may attend
the nuptials, and the youthful English
| Princess Mary even may act as one Of
the bridesmaids. Though ii is rather I'M
usual for a sovereign to attend wedding
at foreign court, even in the case of
such near relatives.
Who. that has Travelled in the Harz
Mountains or in the small Saxon prin-
! cipalities of central Germany, has not
visited or heard of the city of Hanover
or of Braunschweig, the latter dear TO
all lovers of ''Braunschweiger Mumme
| und Wuerste" (beer and sausages). The
quaint old city of Brunswick can boast
of a history that dates back a thousand
years and longer; in fact, the duchies of
Brunswick and Luxembourg have been
ruled by their lords in the days Of
Charlemagne and hence have a his
torical record that far outstrips that Of
any of the other German principalities.
AS a matter of history the Brunswick
Guelphs (the family was founded by q
prehistoric Count Welt. but the name
appears first as battle cry in the fierce
fight at Weinsberg Ql40) when Welt Of
Saxony rallied his forces against those
of Conrad of Hohenstauffen (of the
House Of Waiblingen-Ghiballine) by ex-
claiming: HE Welt, HE Waiblingen"
as the chief theater of the conflict be-
tween these two houses for the imperial
crown of the Holy Roman Empire Of
the German nation" was Italy, the good
old Teutonic names of Welt and Wal
blingen were Italized into Guelphs and
Ghibellines.
Brunswick, though ruled by Guelphs
ever since 1235, has repeatedly seen
changes in her dynasty, when cadet lines
inherited the throne In 1863 the present
house of Brunswick luxembourg DAN
nenbers) assumed the reins and from
that sprang the Wolfenbuettel branch,
who in 1915 became kings of Hanover.
But the senior line continued to rule at
Brunswick. the dukes being Amounted
in the quaint Cathedral of the old city,
which contains some interesting relics
brought back by Duke Henry the Lion
OHeinrich der Loewe), the Crusader, from
the Holy Land.
But the little country has not been
fortunate with its rulers of the last CEN
fury. Duke Karl known as the "Dia-
mond Duke" treated his subjects so
much as an autocrat that despite his
vast riches the sturdy Nether-Saxons of
his capital city got tired of his 'allotria,'
paid their ruler one evening a polite
call, demanding the restitution to them
of certain of their constitutional prerog-
atives, and when his grace declined
and tried to bluff them by calling his
soldier-guards, bodily lifted him out of
his throne seat, thrashed his ducal body
well and thoroughly, ordered his carriage
for him, and then and there sped him
out of town and country" (Historic)
The duke avenged the insult by be-
queathing his vast fortune (mostly dia-
monds) to the City of Geneva, in Swift
zerland, where he had found refuge and
which came pretty near to declining the
gift, saying it belonged to the City of
Brunswick.
Duke Karl's brother. Leopold Ernst.
who succeeded him as sovereign, never
forgave the Brunswick citizens the les
son they taught his wicked predecessor
He never married $50 that the country
should go to the Hanover Guelphs, whom
the Brunswickers hated bitterly, and who
in return, would rule the little dukedom
with an iron hand"
This was to be his revenge. But he
made his calculations without Bismarck.
The Hanover house in 1866 lost its in
heritance to the Prussians who annexed
the kingdom, and when later on the Duke
of Brunswick was gathered to his fathers,
the Kaiser installed one of the Hohen-
zollern princes of Prussia as regent of
the fine little realm, over which his
daughter now will reign as consort of
Prince Ernst, his prospective son-in-law,
under the title of Duke of Braunschweig.
Luxembourg.
Dancing at the "Koenigliche Schloss" at
Berlin at state balls is an art which can
be practiced only according to the dictates
of a rigid etiquette. There is much that
is imposing, but also figures which are
to the select who are entitled to
admittance to these ultra-aristocratic
functions by virtue of their rank or birth.
1t is all, so TO say, in the tap of the
cane in the hands of the master of cere-
monies. His imperative tap tells the
dancers whether to turn to the right or
left during the "grande polonaise' (co-