LIFE OF ARCHDUKE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 847, 16 December 1929, Page 5

LIFE OF ARCHDUKE

LEAGUE of penwomen hears INTERESTING TALK presidents reminiscences An interesting lecture, dealing with the later life of the Arch'duke Luclwig Salvator of Austria, when he lived in the Balearic Islands, was given by Mrs. Mary Stuart Boyd, president, to a large gathering of members of the League of New Zealand Penwomen at the club rooms on Friday afternoon. The Archduke was one of the Austrian Royal Family and the younger brother of Johan Orth, whose disappearance was one of the greatest mysteries of history. The Archduke Ludwig was about to be married, when on the day before th* wedding his bride-to-be was burned to death. Some such tragedy is said to befall all women who love Austrian Royalty, she said. Leaving Austria, the young Archduke travelled for many years? with his Kngish tutor, thus discovering the Balearic Islands, which so delighted him that he bought up all the estate available. Mrs. Boyd then gave a vivid description of the Archduke, with whom she and her husband became very friendly while living in the islands. He was quite unlike the popular idea of royalty. being a stout man of about 60 pars of age who wore very shabby clothes. On the third finger of his left hand he always wore a ring hidden by a delic ate covering of silk, and no one on the islands had ever «eer> the actual jewel. Of a generous disposition, lie had bought a house, and turned it into a liosplderia, where visitors might spend three days and three nights free of charge. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd had stayed there. Referring to his death in 1915, Mrs. Boyd said that he was “an unspoiled man with a beautiful, generous and sympathetic nature.”