Once, when I was making an official visit to the South of Spain with my brother (who was then King), we were told of a gentleman of the Province of Sevilla who had had a talking parrot sent to him from South America; and this parrot had been taught to say “_Viva la Reina!_”--that is, “Long live the Queen!” But soon after its arrival in Sevilla there was a revolution, and Spain became a republic; and it was not at all comfortable for the gentleman to have a parrot screaming “Long live the Queen!” So he shut it up in a room in his house and set himself to teach it to cry “_Viva la Republica!_”--“Long live the Republic!” It was a very intelligent parrot, and he easily taught it to say “_Viva la Republica!_”; but it had a tenacious memory, and it took him a long time before he could be sure that it would always say “_Viva la Republica!_” and never forget its change of politics and cry out, inopportunely, in a voice to be heard by the neighbours, “_Viva la Reina!_” Then there was another revolution, and Spain became a monarchy again, and every one shouted “_Viva el Rey!_”--“Long live the King!” And the gentleman carried his parrot back to the closed room, and after many days spent in trying to teach it to cry “_Viva el Rey!_” he wrung its neck. It was a very valuable parrot, and most intelligent, but it was not sufficiently facile to take a speaking part in Spanish politics in those days. I have remembered this sad story of the parrot because the events of its life were so important to my own. The Queen whom it first supported was my mother, Isabella II. The King on whose account it lost its life was my brother, Alfonso XII. And the Republic (which lasted from 1868 to 1874) was the one that made it possible for me to escape, at least mentally and spiritually, from the prison--very gilded, very luxurious, but more guarded than a Bastille--in which Royalty is compelled to live. Such an escape, I think, is more difficult than any of Baron Trenck’s. It is one that leaves, as you might say, the impediment of fetters on the mind, even when the body has gone free. And I have long been curious to consider what it was in me that made me struggle out of this splendid confinement, in which one is so envied and so many are so content.