THE HOUSE OF SWEDEN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 304, 28 December 1907, Page 4

THE HOUSE OF SWEDEN.

UO.MAXCt; oi'' ITS I'AST MISToIiY ]n vk-w of tin- death «f Oscar 11., King ,f Sweden, lln- following page from the .krone ol Sweden i.> of especial interest. There was absolutely ■> strain "' luad■less in the Yusas- the ancient fino oi ,<ings who had rescued Swodcn Hon. ihraldom and impotence and placed he: in tin' frout rank ol Kuropcau conning -fur how el«c can we account lor tin ,ceciitricities, bordering "» !»*""{>'' ul !i«e..n Christina and of i'.ric M\., to mention but two ol the precursors ul mstavus 111., whose strange story »e ,ire to It'll. . „ When Uu-lavns 111. came to tli. Lhrone of Sweden it was connde 1,0,1011 that he, at Wast would no t worthy of the great traditions o hi, house and would revive he glo. e uf the days of Gustavus Adolp us, to ll( , ww a man of remarkable g U a i.-eomplishments; but unhappily his gil ■ wen- argelv obscured by grave detect* fc.uact.er, which were responsible lor •te sii.rv of romance and mystery which i .- W aH fl tm( r nPr!uce he was forced, by political exigene -. „to an unpalatable alliance w, i Sophia \ "d lena l'rimw. Royal ° f D ? nmi, I rk ; ho" ome personal attraction, bu ,f a«.ld and unresponsive temperament SucY a marriage, .lfctaslctul to both, w foredoomed to unhappmess; ami. „ .ed from the moment the nuptial '" ' i.i hride and bridegroom ,;.?,,,. the role of a wedded pa.r- . • were man and wife only in name. 1 hen. in the year 1777, a Strang thin.- happened, tiustavus caused a pi. - nation to be issued that a rccom-ilia-between h-e , „„1 his Queen, and inviting lib, »hl.ju» 1 ; tteml a tlmuUKgiving s.uwice in 1 l , ml ,,iofKiddarhom; and gc. u the rejoicing throughout the an a l-.,1 there was a prospect ol an lnii u> ~ 1 me of Vasa, which, apart from SluXpi'V-ent. was threatened with how thi. tardy recuncilhttio hid been brought abuut throws a ™ n'le light on the relationship o King '■> ~l Ouecn. When (iustavus was tiavci- ,' Finland a courier arrived in ito'ekholm hrinpinjj letters Iron, urn to S ™ ,O ,TV Hler i answer to that of '''"'r 1 'T • t,Sn aw sl.o took it to her 1...jal .-isi. ' , f „ ml(1 that „f her own letter, which she w,.s h.uiuin r to ~m- of In'.' ladies to be cop.e ••Vint whv," exclaimed the i iimess, ..J' u "t forward the letter u,; you „ handwriting, instead ol -em m P - ~,.,1 and formal copy!'" 1» <•■»" «;» IJnW n protested that she al»,}» pu f „,e.l to have her letters to th V, n transcribed, as her knowledge of t Swedish tongue was imperfect. -Non , e" reU.rted the duchess, playliilly snv.tchin- 'the letter from the hands of patched wtl. the rest, just as it had left the Queen's hand. When the letter reached l iii»tavi» 1. j blh.hl was so "Veat that he read it lanl to several o~f his attendants, dwellIn., willi obvious pleasure on certain passhuiate phages if contained. « I could almost believe," he exclaimed, that be ' Ouccn reallv loves me at or all. Sireelv had'the word, left his hpsw-hen a young noble called Kosenstcm made a singular revelation to his Majesty. lie ' informed him that ever since, his weddiim dav there had been a conspiracy beweVn certain Banish courtiers to keep him and the Queen apart; and with this I object the lady whose duty it was to - copy her Majesty's letters had eliminated all the affectionate passages and re'ulaced them with words of coldness and . ndill'erenee, at the same time assuring : her that she wa* an object of aversion ;■ to her husband. At this disclosure of i baseness and treachery the anger of Custavus wan naturally great; the Danish I conspirators were packed oil' to their own country; and he and his Queen were reconciled; and all Sweden was called upon to rejoice at their new, it late-iound,

happiness. Within a year the glad news ran from one end of Sweden to the other that an lieir had been born to the House of Yasa, and the whole land was transported with iuv To "ive due expression to the nation's delight the Diet voted lo0,U0l)dol. •is i "ill to tin- (Jiieen. and 50,»00dol. lor 'the' «i.,'«sc, of the Koyal christening. The infant was named dustavus Adi.lphus. after the greatest of his aneestors; and for a week' Sweden abandoned itself in a feast of revelry, with bunmieU, proicssion-. illuminations, fountains, Mil; ning wine, and every manifestation of extravai'ant joy—which were marked, liowever, liv one tragic incident, the crushing to'death of a number of persons in the struggle to gain admission to a

free banquet. . .Never was an heir lo a throne so idolised as this scion of tho Yasas, the "hope and glory of Sweden," who proved to be a perfect prodigy of brains—so gifted, in fact, that at tho age of twelve he was set to catechise his professors at the University of L'psala. As the Professor of Botany humorously said of these vain displays of learning, " f have been summoned lo wait on the Crown rrinee lo receive a lesson in botany from his liuvul Highness!" But Uustavus's jov was destined to be short-lived. Mis nobles had long resented the subjection he imposed on them, and, linding a suitable tool in a fanatic called Ankarstrom, thev decided to rid themselves of the

" ivrant." The opportunity for the fatal blow came at a masked ball held at Stockholm in 17!)2, when the assassin, stealing up behind flustavus, discharged a pistol loaded with rusty nails into the Sovereign's back. For a few weeks the. King lingered in terrible agony; once, onlv. for a few moments, he consented to ,-ce his wife; his son he refused pointblank to see, in spile of the boy's pleadings to be admitted to the •sick-room, j His last act was to ask his brother lo seal certain papers with his own private seal and to place them,, in his own presence, in an iron chest, with instructions that the che-t .should be deposited in the librarv of the f nivcisity of t'psala, and ( that it should not be opened until he had | been dead fifty years. To further safe-1 guard its contents each ol the three, locks of the chest was sealed, and tic three keys were entrusted to the keeping ' of the 'King's brother, the Chancellor,, and the Archbishop of l'psala respec-

What was the mysterious secret so jealously guarded by the dying King in this iron chest ol L'psahi? 't„ this day, we believe, no one knows. Xhe three seals -till remain unbroken, and the secret which ilu-iaviis carried with him to his grave -till remains as inviolate in its iron receptacle as if it had perished with him,

After a period »f regency (liu-lavus ]\'. took tlic rein-, tti government into his own hands., mill ipiirkly demonstrated lliiil lie had inherited tin' weaknesses of lii" pri'deces-ors without their talents for ruling. J''i'iiiikly. lie was little more sane tliiin Krii- XIV. -11.' would pure over the !!nokof Revelation," say- ;i contemporary, ''• till lie lx!«iiw nearly insane. I n'coeni-ine. liim-i'ir as one inysleriuu-dy alluded to in Scripture, and hailed in his own person that 'toming man' who as prophet, priest, and kin;:, was to rule the world.'' Alter coniluctinn; his hride. I'riiifess Fredrica of lladciu from the altar to her apartments, he hade her read the first chapter of the liook of Esther, and warned her that, if she should ever disobey her lord and nia-ter she would he punished as Vashti had keen. He perpetrated every folk and freak that a di-ordered mind eonld uiv.'iit, until several of his courtiers, in threw it|> their patents of nobility; while tor three year* he ran away from hi; kingdom and wa- satirieallv' advertised for on the walls of Stoekhoim as a runaway Kinir. a reward h.'inj< .ilfercd to anyone «ho should restore him to his ".iiseon-olatc -übje.-ls." He died ob--.enrely. What w.i, tin' true hi-iorv of the de--.'lteiMte ;,.|.| lull niad Kin-' with wlidni P'Ti-hed i.L'ii inion-ly the ureat linn-i----of Vas,,-': W.i* be reallv son of Cih iav,|, 111., or was he. a- seem, more prolinble. .111 ab-olule to him ..f title to his ev.nvn-r (in this mvslerv the following strmiM,' iiieidenl thrown some li-lit.

(in an American ve-cl. whiih wainto I'lymmiil'iii, ISO?.'' w,',r found''.i Hani-h iii.inu-eripl. eiideiill.v writ ten by -'"" ■' v.lio wa„ iiiiimateiv aeipiainteil with the I'ourl of Cu-tavu- 11.. and who pr"l'ess,. ( l |„ ~„,,!; u . it || aulhorilv „„ the ,eerel hi-lory of the -n„ wi ! f alll n v "f Sweden. Aeeonlin- to this writer (h'e formal reconciliation between f!ii=tavuand his wife, which had eaused so much rejoi:'in,ir lliirty years earlier. w n s nothiii.L' but ;i fiirce—a practical joke played

on Ins subjects. Gustavus had realised ilint the stability of his throne depended on the birth of an heir, and, in order to compass this desirable event, ho decided on a ruse which, however, base, would make his own position secure by restoring the loyalty of his disaffected ■uhjecK Immediately after the so called reconciliation his own marriage with Sophia was annulled, and a few ; hours later the (.lueen was privately married to his friend. Count .Mmicke, who was nil such intinuite terms with his Majesty that the latter had a statue of himself, arm in arm with the count, placed in the park of one of the palace*! Thus, while- all Sweden was rejoicing over the lmppy relations that hail been established between the King and Queen. Hie hitter was actually thp secret wife nl "lie of her husband's subject*. When, less than a year later, an "heir" to the Swedish throne was born, the infant was the son of this secret union, and had not a drop of Vasas blood mi his veins, although for seventeen years he wore the Swedish crown. Was this the reason why Oustavus, when on his bed of suffering anil death, refused to, seejiis -son," and ivas this the secret which he committed with such jealous safeguards to the keeping of the iron of I'psala? None can say with certainty, but some day. no doubt, the chest will be opened and the mystery which has puzzled the world for so iminy generations will at last lean to light.