Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 12, No. 33, December, 1873Various
Science
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 12, No. 33, December, 1873
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
The people of Monaco pay few taxes, enjoy many privileges, like and
laugh at their sovereign, and by no means desire annexation either to
France or Italy. By law they are strictly prohibited from gambling,
and are a quiet, thrifty, peace-loving set, kept in order by an army
of sixty-one men, ten officers and a colonel, of whom more anon. Just
at present the court of "Liliput" has given room for a great deal
of gossip. His Serene Highness the hereditary prince, and Her Serene
Highness the princess, after a few months of matrimonial bliss, have
quarreled and separated. It happened on this wise. (The information I
give I know to be correct, as it was communicated to me by an intimate
friend of the young princess, and I was at Nice myself when the affair
occurred.) About four years ago the young prince of Monaco married,
through the influence of the empress Eugenie, the Lady Mary Douglas,
sister of the duke of Hamilton and daughter of H.I.H. the princess
Mary of Baden, duchess of Hamilton, and grand-daughter of the
celebrated Prince Eugene Beauharnois. The wedding was magnificent, and
the bride and bridegroom appeared exceedingly well pleased with each
other. After a brief honeymoon both their highnesses returned to
Monaco to reside with the reigning prince and princess. Very soon
afterward the young lady commenced making bitter complaints to
her friends of the court etiquette, which she declared was utterly
unendurable, especially to a free-born Englishwoman. An instance will
suffice: One morning Her Serene Highness came down to breakfast before
the whole family was assembled. To her amusement, she beheld on each
plate an egg labeled "For His Serene Highness, the reigning prince,"
"For H.S.H. the reigning princess," "For H.S.H. the hereditary
prince," "For H.S.H. the hereditary princess." Being in a hurry and
hungry, "Her Serene Highness the hereditary princess" sat herself
down and ate her own egg and the eggs of her neighbors. Horror! Court
etiquette was over-thrown. The egg destined for the august prince
Florestan II. had been eaten by his own daughter-in-law! The outraged
majesty of Monaco was indignant, and the youthful aspirant to the
throne by no means mild in his reproaches. However, true Douglas as
she is, the old blood of Archibald Bell-the-cat boiled over, and the
princess Mary is reported to have read the serene family a famous
lecture. Matters went on in this way until the poor girl could stand
it no longer, and one fine day escaped from "jail," ran down to the
station and took the first train for Nice. A telegram was sent to
the gendarmerie at Nice to arrest her as soon as she got out of the
carriage. Accordingly, to her terror, when she put her foot on terra
firm a there stood two gendarmes ready to pounce upon her. It was,
however, no joke to arrest an imperial princess, for such Lady Mary
is by birth. The men hesitated, but not so the princess. Brought up
at Nice, she knew all the roads and bypaths of the place by heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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