DIVORCE DISCLOSURES.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 November 1919, Page 12

DIVORCE DISCLOSURES.

FRAILTIES OP PRINCESSES. CULMINATING TRAGEDY OF THE HABSBURGS. (A "clironique seandaleuse" of tlie House of Habsburg could not bo published in English. E IU . ] ess <,„„],} it bo offered to readers of the (family journal. Here, however, are a few facts ;aade public recently by the Chicago Tribune). The loveliest of the Habsburgs, Princess Otto Vou Windisch-Graetz— selected by the Kaiser four years ago to be Queen of Belgium-has been divorced in common public court at Vienna by her Royal husband, who was to have succeeded King Albert of Belsiurn, in the irst democratic action of the kind which Wis: occurred to the Austrian Royal Family in its history, and the culminating tragedy 'of the Habsburgs. Picked by Germany to. succeed the noble Queen Eliazbeih when the Germans invaded Belgium, the Princess Von Windisch-Graetz, when the Habsbuvomonarchy first showed signs of topplin* yielded herself to a wild career 0 i carefree love, and finally her husband has been forced to disown her. Her downfall was the last of the series of amazjnS tragedies of the Habsburgs—the illfated, proud, Royal Ramily of Austria which has finally lost its'last for existence in the ruin or tlie Austrian Empire. No more sinister fate ever hung upon the destinies of a reigning house than that which has dogged the failing House of Habsburg to its decay. The only comparison history offers approaching the dire misfortune of the Austrian Royal Fanuly is that of the Scottish House of Stuarts, many of whose reining membprs died violent deaths. But while warm romance surrounds the memory of the Stuart line, throwing a pathetic gleam around the assassin's knife and the headsman's axe, no such afterglow will commemorate the descent of the members of the former Austrian reigning family into tlie quagmire of scandal. ILL-OMENED START. A merciless fate seemed to hano- over the head of the last real ruler of Austria, Francs Joseph, and over all his kith and km, from, the beginning of his ( roign. The boy ruler began his course 'amid sorrows and ill-omens, and amid tragic cares yielded up his life His predecessor ended in idiocy. His wife Elizabeth, was struck down bv an assassin Archduke Maximilian' was executed after the ill-fated Mexican expedition- The wife of Maximilian, still living, is insane. The Archduke .Tohami who assumed the name of,, John Ortli' disappeared without, leaving trace The sister of Empress Elizabeth', (he Duchess of Angouleme, was burned to death at a Paris fire. The Emperor's only son and heir was assassinated under'mr-;-erious circumstances a |. ] lifi ] lmti „„ (lodge, the Castle of Mvorliii". The 'lnter heir to the throne was assassinated at Serajevo, precipitating the European \\ nr. r ( But the latest, mishap of this ancient house has descended from the higher Plane of tragedy to thai 0 f ?llP( „. ~,.,,„;,, f«vre And the pathetic drama of 'tV Habsburg family seems lo be closing with a las) chapter of buffoonery, morn \iotihbsr even than Vienna's '"Merry VA nloir." Amid the poverty, starvation, and other miseries of Vienna to-day sounds the frivolous laughter of Francis Jos-lOPh-s grand-daughter, Elizabeth Mario (lie daughter of Crown Prince Rudolph! •Hiik is the Austrian Archduchess, wife of Prince Otto Windisch-Graetz The testimony given in her husband's case was of such a nature that many part* of it never will be made public. LOVED OUTSIDE HER CIRCLE. Like her mother, the widow of the Crown Prince Rudolph-thc Archduchess Stephanie, who a few years ago married a simple Hungarian, tlie Baron Lonyny —and like her aunt, the Princess Louise do Coburg, who broupht scandal to the Courts of Europe by her darins love adventures and uncontrollable flights of fancy, the Archduchess Elizabeth Mario loved and married outside her circle. Members of reigning houses, having i„ mind the temperament of the Crown Princess Louise of Saxony, also an Austrian Archduchess, who finally ran away with her teacher, looked with mis'dvin'o' upon the love affair of the Archduchess Elizabeth Marie. But the old Emperor, who was very fond of her, decreed, after her passionate attachment to the youim Windisch-Graetz had become known to all, that she marry this Prince of her choice, then a first lieutenant in the Austrian army-

Young Windisch-Graetz was verv vonng, very blond, and 'very ordinary, He was poor, as princes go', not quite stupid, and he had nothing to say in the matter of his marriage. It "was enough that the young Archduchess loved the blond youth. But the passion of the young Circe was as short-lived as it was tempestuous. Windisch-Graetz was forced to give up his military career after his marriage and devote'himself entirely to the service of the capricious Princess. It was noticed that while the young (Princess became more and more gay and effervescent her young husband wore a deeper and deeper air oi oepression. SECRET SCANDALS. Now, after the breaking down of Austria, and the disappearance of the dynasty, and the consequent sweeruns away of all.the old conventions, a' d£ vorce action against the Princess reveals unexpected secret chapters in the life of this fascinating Circe of Europe's once proudest house. Vienna is shocked over the disclosures of the private life led by the lovely grand-daughter of the old Emperor—the "lovely Princess." she was called by the admiring Viennese, who always crowded to sec her when she drove through the streets of the capital. The revelations of the -trial surpass anything that has ever been revealed in open court of the frailties of princesses. Testimony developed that the Princess had a special weakness for sailors, devoting much of her time throughout the war toward their entertainment and in their society. One scene described at length by tlie Prince in his complaint had the Princess at a wild party at a bar in the naval city of Polii, where she was the only woman in a gathering of young naval lieutenants, and, where the testimony ran, proceedings were of a most vivacious kindA young U-boat commander, Lieutenanc Egon Lerch, became the particular object of the attentions of the Princess and. as Circe kept Odysseus in her enchanted land, so this Princess kept the U-boat, commander enthralled upon her beautiful estate, the Villa Otto, on Brioni, a. lovely islet washed by the blue Adriatic. The only difference in this comparison is that, the Princess, unlike Circe, had no other companions. She spent manv months on this estate, an abode of dolce far niente. Elizabeth

Marie was also seen -with her young cavalier at Fmme and Budapest.* At Budapest the grand-daughter of Francis Joseph lived in the midst of war and revolution with the young and handsome sailor at one of the fashionable hotels. She 'became, so the testimony ran, utterly regardless of appearances. PRINCESS FINDS CONSOLATION. After the lieutenant had found a tragic end in his U-boat somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea the found consolation with another naval officer, who happened to be the cousin of her husband, Alfred Wnidisch-Griietz. Though war burned with its dread fury all around them, these two, in a paradise apart, lived an idyllic life in, the heart of famishing, grief-stricken Vienna, fl'here were late gay suppers and prolonged parties at the apartments of the Princess. And the war went on unheeded by tne Princess. . The husband oT the Princess was finally exasperated by happening to overhear his second son Ernest pray for his mother's lost 'Sweetheart, Lieutenantcommander Lerch. This, more than all else, decided the Prince to hrmg the action for divorceA year ago such action on his part would have been impossible, no matter what the provocation. Then matrimonial troubles of members of the Imperial family were handled with all secrecy and discretion by the Imperial and Royal Court Marshal. Times have changed, and the -,-w order has even sought nut old Vienna. There is no more Austrian Imperial family, no Court Marshal's office, and there are no more royal privileges. This wayward, lovely tempestuous Archduchess has experienced to the startling full the new regime in her answer before the common bar of justice.