Evening star., 1923-04-04
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoNTENoY.

BY THE MARQCIsE DE FONTENoY.
Few leave this side Of the Atlantic
either from North or South America
without visiting Rome before their
return. 1t is difficult, therefore, for
them to realize the fact that the i'm
pending visit of King George and
queen Mary to the eternal city Is OF
an epoch making character. SO much
so that the ultra-Protestant element
Of the population of Great Britain Is
up in arms about the matter, and
that their denominational press, their
platform speakers, and even their
clergy are voicing their protests
a against the projected call of King
George and Queen Mary at the Nau-
can during their sojourn at Rome
this month in the most unvarnisheo
language as an unwarranted abase-
ment of the reigning house of Great
Britain. to Popery,
There was much the same outcry
when King Edward VII visited both
King Victor Emmanuel II ana rope
Leo XIII a few weeks before the lat,
the attacks made upon him. real
izing that as long as he remained.
not merely a member, but the chief
! Of the state Church Of England, tnere
was nothing whatsoever either IN
the letter or in the spirit of the law,
and of the constitution, to prevent
him. while at Rome, from paying
call Of courtesy and or reverence 70
the then nonagenarian prelate VINO
was the spiritual head OF d, his ennFsh most
loyal and patriotic subjects belonged1;; g1;
King George and Queen Mary Will
treat the present agitation in GreaI
Britain against their projected eau
Of the Vatican. as did Edwaro ",
when King Edward visited Leo XII
in 1908, near a thousand years
elapsed since an English monarch
had been in Rome. Indeed, TO ma
a president for his call, 1t was neces-
Chanute, the Danish prince. who reign.
ed in England in the beginning OF
the eleventh century, and Who came to
Rome in 1927 on the occasion OF the
coronation Of Conrad II OF Germany
and Of his consort as emperor aa anu
hv pope John XIX In the Ancient
Basilicia Of st. Peters.
But Canute was not the first king
of England to come to Rome King
Rome as king of England In A. D.
8b5 by Pope Leo vi, and 1t Is OF In
terest to recall that he was accom-
nanied to the Eternal city by his
Youngest son, who afterward reigned
in ENGLAND as King Alfred the Great.
Still earlier in A. D. 727, Ina, king
of the west Saxons-not only came to
Rome, but founded there. an institu-
ton for the instruction OF English
princes and priests. which subsist to-
day in the form of the present Eng
lish College. King Ina died in Rome
like his predecessors. King Cead-
waila of Wessex, Conrad of Mercia
and Offa of Essex. The tomb of
King Ceadwalla in the vestibule Of
ST. Peters, had a long epitaph which
has been preserved by Bede, narrat-
ing how the king was christened and
died there. But, although the monu-
ment was visible at the end of the
sixteenth century, and pictures thereof
are still extant in the Vatican library.
no fragrant of the monument re-
mains.
Another of the pretty sisters of the
Sovereign Grand Duchess Charlotte
of Luxembourg has just been mar
ried off: namely. Princess Elizabeth,
now twenty-five years of age, and
whose hand has been won by Prince
Louis Philip Of Thurn and Taxis,
third son Of this former petty sover-
eign housexaf Germany. He Is Of the