EUROPE'S YOUNGEST SOVEREIGN.

Evening Star, Issue 14932, 19 July 1912, Page 5

EUROPE'S YOUNGEST SOVEREIGN.

On February 25 Queen Whilhelmina of Holkiitid was robbed of the distinction of being the only female monarch in Europe. The Grand Duke William of Luxembourg has passed away, and his proud office devolves upon bis young daughter. Princess Marie. This fortunate young lady is ;:? yet too young to take up the reins of office, being only 17 years of age, though it requires but three* months before she reaches her eighteenth birthday and her majority. In the meantime her mother is acting as Regent, which is merely a continuation of office, for during tho .V.st- four years the late Grand Duke was incapacitated by mental and physical paralysis, the bi rden'of State affairs thus falling entirely upon the shoulders of his Consort. _ That a young, pretty, high-spirited girl should become ruler over a community numbering some quarter of a million persons is m itself unusual enough to evoke more than ordinary interest. But there is more in it even than this. The ruler of Luxembourg is possessed of virtually autocratic sovereignty, for the small legislative body is onlv in season for four months of the yea-r, and has hardly any powers of restraint upon the Monarch. " Moreover, there is a creat fortune to be included, worth some £10.000.000. which is- hers by every right, and makes her anite independent of the Civil list of £B.OOO odd. This fortune was amassed for the most part by the Dukes of Nassau previous to 1866, when thev were driven into Austrian exile, through the prosperity of Monaco's forerunner, Wiesbaden, onco the gambler's paradise, and other place* of a similar nature. Besides this, the rulers of Nassau, through the extinction of several branches of their family, became heirs to various considerable sums from time- to time. This fortune cf the House of Xassau is invested well, for the most parts in large estates in Austria, Hungary, Germany, and Luxembcurg. including'' mines, distilleries, and

m;mv industries of all kinds. Tho outlook is very interesting, for it is difficult to conceive a more romantic figure than a beautiful girl of barely 18, possessed of virtually autocratic sovereignty, the. mistress of millions of pounds, and who, in spite of all the efforts of her mother and grandmother, has been so spoiled by her other relatives and by her entourage that she is bent on having her own way in everything ; impatient of advice, impulsive, quick-tempered, and so unmindful of the obligations of her position that at several public ceremonies at which she represented her father she positively refused to kiss the young girls deputed by the local authorities to present her with bouquets on trie plea that thev—that is. the young girls, not the flowers—were too ugly, and, moreover, offended her olfactory ueryes.__ Perhaps, under the circumstances, it is jusc as well that the standing army of Luxembourg does not exceed 150 men and officers all told, supplemented in the case of emcrsrencv bv a. gendarmerie or constabulary force" of" as many more, otherwise there is no knowing 'what might happen if she fell out with the rulers of some of the neighboring Stntes. It is needless to state that all sorU of rumors have been current as to her prospective husband. The most popular is that he is to be. found amongst the younger sons of the Emperor of Germany. To those who really know, however, it would seem most probable that the young Piincess, being somewhat wilful, and having no one powerful enough to check any such wilfulness, will choose just exactly whom she likes. True, the family statutes of the Uouse of Nassau, we aie told, lestrict the matrimonial alliances of its members to Koval personages, and to those whose patents of counts and countesses of the Holy Roman Empire date from the seventeenth century. But as the principal stipulation is that the marriage, in order to be valid, should have the consent of the head of the house, who is now the young Grand Duchess Marie, the statutes are open to construction that she herself, as such, could many whomsoever she pleased. That is, in so far as the possession of the Nassau fortune it; concerned. With regard to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, all that is required for the marriage of a member of the reigning bouse is that the alliance should receive tho sanction of the head of the house—namely, of the Grand Duchess—and of the Legislature, which has always shown itself to be extremely subservient. Onlv about two years ago there closed one of the most sensational lawsuits in Europe of modern times, in which the young Princess vae the defendant. It will be remembered that Count George Merenburg laid claim to the Throne of Luxembourg in the event of the decease of the then Grand Duke, father of Princess Marie. Count Merenbuxg's claims were in the first place presented to the Legislature of Luxembourg with the object of liis being recognised as next heir to tho Crown of Luxembourg, on the plea that he was the son of Prince Nicholas, the only brother of Grand Duke Adolf of Luxembourg, and that, according to the family statutes of the reigning House of Nassau, recognised by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the rights of the women of the dynasty did not become active until there were no males left. To this objection was made that the marriage of Prince Nicholas to Natalie Pouchkine, divorced wife of General Doubelt, Chief of the Russian Police, was of doubtful validity, and had at the very best been of a. morganatic character. In Mipnort of this allegation a document was produced from the Luxembourg State archives, which exists in duplicate in the familv archives of the House of Nassau, in which, under the date of the beginning of June, 1868, Prince Nicholas, in return for the restoration of his allowance by his elder brother, then Duke Adolf of Nassau, explicitly and formally promised that under no circumstances would either his "future wife or his children by her ever assume the name or the armorial bearings of the Royal House of Nassau." Other objections were many, and a rather disgraceful action ended m a settlement by ■which, in return for a withdrawal of all his pretension*, he was to receive an annuity of some £2,000 a year for himself and the senior of h:s descendants in the male line direct in perpetuity, and the payment of his enormous legal expenses.