Evening star., 1923-06-15

U
ly attractive child. Indeed, he became
passionately fond of her. and ended
/ by legally adopting her as his child
. and as the eventual heiress to his
throne. at the same time IegitimiZing
her birth by sovereign decree. 1t was
contended at the time that he might
have spared himself all the formali-
. ties and trouble of adoption of the
child IT he had merely contented him
self with recognizing her as his grand
daughter But there was a danger that
this might have been construed by the
courts as the acknowledgment OF the
validity of the marriage of the child :
parents, and have served as basis for
legal proceedings by the Child'S mother.
The girl-She is young married
woman now-has been duly proclaimed
as crown princess. and as the next heir
to her fathers throne. and has been
recognized as such by the governments
,of France. Great Britain and of Italy
and by most of the foreign royal per-
sonages who are accustomed to fore
gather each spring on the French and
Italian Riviera.
While at Moscow the soviet govern
| ment has just instituted a separate
department of state for the propaga
place of the former state department
iof public worship and of the holy
| synod. the government and people OF
the neighboring republic of Esthonia
formed of the formerly. Muscovite
provinces OF Etsland. of Livland and
of Pskoff, have recently given their
approval TO the production in it's capi-
| tai or Reval, the we'll known seaport
at the mouth of the Gulf Of Finland
of an intensely religious drama. en-
titled THE King of the Jews" The
scene is laid in Jerusalem at the time
of Christ's entry into the city, and
| the action concludes with the resur-
rection. The success of the drama has
been greatly enhanced by the accom-
panying music of Glasounofr, the pre-.
ludeS to the various scenes being par
tlcularly harmonious and appropriate
The program informs the audience that
the drama, which is drawing large
houses. is a translation of the Russian
/ the author being designated by the
| initials *. r.
These initials stand for konstan-
tine Romanon. and are those Of the
! late Grand Duke KonStantine the
most gifted and liberal al-minded of all
the scions Of the former sovereign
house of Russia, and brother of Queen
| Olga of Greece. He was the one grand
duke of all others with whom En-
peror Nicholas ii stood on the terms
| OF the closest intimacy, and his death
| in 1915 was great loss alike to the
unhappy monarch and to Russia, since
his influence was always exercised in
the direction Of liberalism and prog
ress. he was foe to reaction and
his poems, of which he published sew
eral volumes under the initials of K
r., and sometimes of K. X (stand.
ing for konstantine Konstantino-
vftch), are remarkable for their in
| tense patriotism, and above all fol
| their liberalism alike in political mat.
ters and in social life.
X !. X
His widow the former Princess
Elizabeth Of Saxe-Altenburg, a great
/ beauty in her day, who declined te
! become convert to the orthodox
| rites of the Russian church, and who
| adhered to the Protestant faith of her
childhood and youth, lives in strict
| retirement at Brussels, having los,
| three of her sons, the Princes John
| Konstantine and Igor. who were kill
ed at Alapalevsk on the 18th of July
| 1918, while her son-in-law, Prince
Konstantine Bagration, the husband
| of her daughter, Tatiana, fell fightine
| in the Caucasus in 1915. The late
| Grand Duke Konstantine was a great
Shakespearean scholar, translated 8
| number of his works in Russian, and
| on one OCCASION gave, at the Imperial
Palace of Peterhof, an amateur per.
| formance of Hamlet" in the presence
! of the entire court. in which he him.
| self took the role of the Prince OF
Denmark. He had little taste for mil.
| itary matters, devoted all his leisure
l to literature, and to art, and at the
/ time of his death was the active pres.
| ident of the Russian Imperial Acad.
| nr,y Of Scienca and of A rt