THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1012, 30 December 1910, Page 8

THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE.

A ROYAL ROMANCE. By the wedding of Princess Clementine of Belgium to Princo Victor Napoleon, the course of true love, which has been far from smooth, is happily fulfilled to ths music of marriage bells, says a writer apropos of month's ceremony. The story,of this betrothal is a romance. It was six years ago that the Princess Clementine first gave her heart to the heir of the Bonaparte dynasty and the Pretender to the French throne. As a pretender he was not formidable. It is true that there is a body of men in France who still chcrish the traditions of the Napoleonic regime, and who still dream and talk of a new .Emperor of. the French. To them Prince Victor is marked ont as the Man of Destiny; and for that reason the French Republic declines to have him within its borders. Princo Victor himself has no illusions on the subject. For years he has been an exile in Brussels, living comfortably enough on liis moderate .income of «£2oou a year, and discountenancing tho foolish little plots into' which his 'adherents have tried to drag him. As a comparatively young man of fortytwo f he fell genuinely in love with Leopold's daughter Clementine. ' They met many times at the house of the Countess of Flanders, mother of the present Iving of tho Belgians, and,-the. Princess, unhappy in her home life, and on bad terms with- both her parents, desired •earnestly _to be married to a man who has considerable strength of character and a simple heart. But the old lung Leopold refused his consent to tho betrothal. He favoured the Orleans family, he hated the Bonapartes, and it - did not suit his policy with the French Republic-to have his daughter married to one of the Rovalist Pretenders.

The Countess of Flanders interceded for them, but Leopold refused to reconsider his decision. The aged Princess Eugenie, I u;ith whom Princo Victor has always been I a favourite, travelled to Brussels and piffled for the lovers, but with no more ,^. r^ncess Clementine fell iil, and Dr. Thiriar; the Court physician, told the oid King oi> the Belgians that the shattered. nerv.es of the Princess and her en-, during unhappinefs reproached her father. Monsignor Simon, the Court chaplain, was another champion of true love, but Leopold would not give way. The Princess, living apart from her parents, and Prince Victor, an exile from France, met each other in private houses 1 frj en^s an d in the drawing-rooms of the Countess of Flanders and the present ??* , never appeared together publicly, and both were absentees at

A celebrated incident which caused some sensation a year or two ago, took place at a paper-chase on horseback, which was won'by Prince Victor?". Princess Clementine had been appointed to give away the prize, and when the victor came for his reward and she pinned tlie ribbon upon his breast she burst into tears,' so that all present were profoundly touched. Upon the death of lung Leopold, the two lovers again. appeared at Court, and shortly afterwards it was announced that young King Albert had given his cordial consent to their union.

Princess Clementine is now 3S years old, a .charming and beautiful woman, in spite of her extreme pallor and her sad dark eyes. Her husband, who is now 48, is a square-built, soldierly man! who would hear a strong resemblance to the great Napoleon if he did not wear a big black moustache.