LONDON TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 November 1919, Page 5

LONDON TRAGEDY.

SOCIETY BEAUTY'S DEATH. ROYAL PARENTAGE SUGGESTED. fly Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyricht. Received Nov. 18, 5.5 p.m. London, Nov. 15. It is believed that Mrs. Alma Steane (a well-known London society beauty), who committed suicide, was the offspring of Crown Prince Rudolf and Mario Vetsera, with whom he committed suicide in 1889. The Empress Elizabeth took charge of the orphan, who, on the assassination of the Empress, was taken to America, the Emperor Francis Joseph providing her fortune. The mystery surrounding Mrs. Steane Is being widely discussed. She sometimes supported her claim to be a daughter of the Crown Prince Rudolf by asserting that her son by the first marriage wa3 the heir to the Hapsburgs. It is stated her features and general temperament bore a striking likeness to the Hapsburg Princess. The deceased's age was stated at the inquest to be twenty-nine. This, if true, makes her Royal parentage unlikely, but her son's age is thirteen and it is believed her age was wrongly given. The Coroner found she committed suicide whije suffering from impulsive sanity. —UnifcS Service. [Mrs. Steane, who was one of the most popular figures in the life of the West End of London, divorced her first husband and married Steane some months ago. She returned to her sumptuous flat after the Victory Ball, drank cyanide of potassium, and died in her husband's arms. Since 1809 the Hapsburgs have ruled Austria and" Hungary, but before that the dominion of this illustrious German family extended to Spain. Their recent history has been one of a continual chain of family tragedies, in which suicide often occurred, and it culminated in the tragedy of 1914, which provided the start to the European war, and which ended in the collapse of the House of Hapsburs. The Rudolf mentioned in the cable was Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary from 1858 to 1880, being the only son" of the Emperor Francis Joseph. He committed suicide over a love affair at Meyer- | ling, near Vienna.]