Evening star., 1923-05-28
Prince of Wales Holds Billboard Is
Art Gallery of Great Republic

the English king. Richard Coeur de
Lion was shipwrecked on his way
home from the Holy Land ana In
gratitude for being saved he putt
and endowed monastery. whlch
fiourished for centuries at the expense
of the British crown, in spite of King
Richard having been held in German
captivity for several years by his
bitter enemy Archduke Leopold OF
Austria. until discovered in the dun
goons Of remote Alpine castle by
his devoted minstrel. Blondel. who
brought the news of his whereabouts
to the outer world and caused such
an international stir that, by orders
Of the German emperor, Archduke
Leopold was reluctantly forced to
restore the king to liberty and to
permit him to proceed to England
without further molestation.
Emperor Macmillan of Mexico. the
sailor brother of Emperor Francis
Joseph of Austria, who already owned
the beautiful seacoast castle of Mira
mar. near Trieste, developed such a
liking for Lacroma that he trans
formed with the permission of the
papacy, the monastery on Lacroma
island. or rather it's ruins. into a won
derfully beautiful and picturesque is
land home. to which before departing
on his unfortunate adventure in Mex
leo, where he lost his life, he was
wont to retire with his devoted wife
Che now octogenarian eX-Empress
Charlotte of Mexico under restraint
for more than half a century, indeed
ever since the execution of her hus-
band by a file OF Mexican soldiers on
the plain of Queretro, in the Belgian
Castle Bouchoute, near Brussels). for
ever tired of the pomp and ceremony
by which they were surrounded at
Miramar and Vienna.
X X
When Macmillan died Lacroma
reverted to his elder brother. En-
peror Francis Joseph, who was like
wise his executor and the legal
guardian of the demented widowed
Empress Charlotte Crown Prince
Rudolph, who was devoted TO the sea,
and who spent much of his time In
yachting, visited Lacroma. took great
session from his father, Emperor
Francis Joseph. and made it his
favorite retreat, bequeating it by
means of the letters which he wrofe
on the eve Of his shocking death at
Meyerling. to his only child. Arcn-
ever. that he wished his widow to he
barred from the island and from hav-
ing anything to do with 1T.
His daughter. Archduchess Eliza
beth. who had been kept as much as
possible aloof by her Austrian rela-
tives and especially by her grand
father, the old emperor, from her
Belsian-born mother, ex-Crown Prin-
cess Stephanie, became infatuated
with young Prince Otto Windsch-
Gratz, and when she insisted upon
marrying him in the face of the OPP
position Of her grandfather. the latter
turned over the Island OF Lacroma to
her as part and parcel Of her fathers
inheritance and of her dowry. |
BY the treaty of Trianon, that is to
Raeusa, along with the Island of
Lacroma and, indeed, the entire prov
ince of Dalmatia. were transferred
from Austria to Serbia as part and
parcel of the latter's. spoils. The
city of Ragusa had meanwhile taken
possession of Lacroma, with the OBJ
iect of converting 1t into public
park and pleasure resort, and ap-
peaIed to the Serbian courts to de-
clare the island to have been part
and parcel Of the Austro- Hungarian
crown, and as. therefore, transferred
to the ownership Of the kingdom of
But Archduchess Elizabeth resisted
this pretension in the Serbian courts.
showing that on the occasion of her
Windsch- Gratz in 1902, she had been
REQUIRED to renounce all her rights
and status as q member of the i'm
perial family of Austria, that she
had become thereby the wife of a
mere member of the upper Austrian
aristocracy; that is to say, of a pri-
vate citizen, and that this being the
case the Island of Lacroma, to which
she held the title deeds, could not be
considered in the light of former Aus
trian crown property or as belonging
to the Hapsburg dynasty.
= The Serbian courts in final appeal
decided in her favor, but as both the
Serbian government and the city of
RaEusa were very anxious to secure
entire control Of the island, which is
indispensable to the system of mari
time defenses of Ragusa, they nego-
tiated a compromise with her by
means Of which they agreed to pay
her the sum Of $150,000 in gold for
her rights. Her marriage turned out
very unhappily. Her matrimonial ties
have long since been severed, the
Austrian courts awarding to her the
custody of her four children and as
suring her OF protection from any
interference and persecution by her
thoroughly disreputable husband. She
divides her time between her hand
some mansion in the Strohgasse at
Vienna. her castle of Schoelau- -Triest-
ing, in lower Austria, and her villa
near Baden. within the metropolitan
N n pfHt A6 VfmnHA. $