Evening star., 1922-04-30


er of history will remember the IA
NOUS Alexander Farnese. Duke OF
Parma, who conquered the Neither
lands for Philip II. Popes and cap
tains alike descended from the capa-
BILE lineage, but finally the Farnesi
decayed and no longer ruled In Par
ma. In the eighteenth century, when
Italy was divided up fantastically be-
tween Austria, France and Spain. the
Duchy of Parma was given to a
young son of Philip v OF Spain. Now.
Philip v was a Bourbon. grandson
of Louis XIV. whom that powerful
king had placed on the Spanish
throne, and so we have the Bourbon
family reigning in Parma. In the
succeeding history of the Parma
Bourbons dispossession prevails as q
constant motif.
With the French revolution and the
Napoleonic. conquests. the then reign
ing Duke Of Parma was deposed. and
the duchy became at first republican
and then a part of Napoleon's empire.
When the Bourbons were restored in
France the ma-Bourbons were
not at first returned to their duke
dom Parma was given as a princi-
pality to Marie Louise, daughter of
the Austrian emperor and wife of
Napoleon. The Duke OF Bourbon
Parma was made King of Eturia, but
upon the death Of Marie Louise. he
lost his kingship and became Duke
Of Parma once more.
He was the great-grandfather OF
the present ex-Empress Zita, and he
was an extraordinary fellow. At first
he went in for extreme liberalism.
and then reacted to the bitterest
despotism. He interested himself in
theology and became a Protestant.
Then he became a Catholic again.
Finally his extravagances OF opinion
and action became so great that all
Europe laughed at him.
All the while the italian risorgi-
mento was stirring, and there were
revolutionary movements and riots in
Parma, as in other cities. At times
the duke was driven from the city.
but the Austrians. overlords OF the
province, always restored him. Upon
his death. his son. grandfather OF the
present ex-Empress of Austria. sue
ceeded him. The new duke proved
himself q sanguinary tyrant, and
when. after few months. he was as
sassinated in a crowded street there
were public demonstrations of joy.
His son, Duke Robert. reigned. under
the guardianship OF his mother. He
had not reached maturity when the
unification Of Italy sent him into
exile.
Now this Duke Robert Of Bourbon
Parma, in contradistinction to his
father, and grandfather, was a good
and prudent man. He retained pos
session Of the private properties of
his family and was able to live in
tranquility and dignity. He married
twice and fathered more than a dozen
children, Of whom the tenth was to
become Empress Of Austria Hungary.
4 i +
DR1NCESS ZITA was born at
l Pianore. in the Italian province
of Lucca. Her girlhood was passed
in a convent at Zangbert and later
with the French nuns in the Ryde
Abbey, Isle Of Wight Her sister.
Princess Adelaide, is today a nun in
the Ryde Abbey. Princess zita was
fresh from the convent when she
went to live with her mother, the
former Princess Of Braganza, in a
castle in Austria
Now, shortly afterward. the Arch
duke Charles of Austria was impelled
by decorous courtesy to pay formal
call on the Dowager Duchess of Par
ma He was then young man placed
quite curiously. He was second in
line to succeed the Emperor Franz
Joseph to the Austrian throne, and
that meant at the same time little
and much. The heir. the Archduke
Francis Ferdinand. afterward mur-
dered at Sarajevo, seemed likely to
be a flAture for a long time as heir
and later as emperor. but he had made
a morganatic marriage and his chill
dren were ineligible to succeed to the
throne. This meant that while the
young Archduke Charles was only a
slight prospect as future emperor,
the succession to the crown would
descend through him. Thus his choice
of a wife was an important matter
and one to be regulated as carefully
as that of a crown prince.
When the Archduke Charles paid
his ceremonial visit to the Dowager
Duchess of Bourbon-Parma. he quite
inevitably, met the young Princess
Zita. He fell in love with Zita and
she with him.
They were both Of amiable and ro-
mantic disposition. His Hapsburg
family, the most rigidly aristocratic
in Europe, had nevertheless been
marked by a succession of wild mar
rfaRes for love. The strain, was In
the blood and in tradition. Charles
courted Zita with ardent infatuation.
AS for herself, when she was youns
girl in the convent she had chosen
this motto for herself: "More for you
IN for me" She regarded life a.
affair Of sentimental self-sacri1ce;
and at the wooing OF the handsome
young archduke her gentle phiioso-
phies crystalIized Into . resolve "a
deyota her life 70 fhs serv1cs q, The