Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 276, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1912 — SEEKS LOST TITLE [ARTICLE]

SEEKS LOST TITLE

Honor Denied Wife of a Czar’s Brother Sought by Daughter. Would Be a Grand Duchess—Romance In the Career of Grand Duke Michael, Long a Resident of England. London.—One of the most beautiful girls now in England is the young Countess Nada Torby, who is with her lather and mother, the Grand Duke Michael and Countess Torby, who are paying a round of visits in the north. The mother never received her title of grand duchess because of the stern point of view of the Romanoffs, but now that the beautiful Nada has grown up—and she is one of the most beautiful girls imaginable —it is generally supposed that she will demand for the rank that her mother has never attained. When the late King Edward was still the prince, of Wales he made a move to obtain for the mother the rights that the Russian government had denied her. But he became king and died without gaining this delightful end. What the attitude of the present English sovereigns is in the matter is not known. But the story of the Torbys remains an interesting episode.

It all took place when the Grand Duke Michael was the gayest of princes and was living in reckless extravagance at Monte Carlo. He was riding one day in Nice when his horse plunged'wjußt as he was approaqhing a young woman who was also seated on a spirited animal. The horse of the prince frightened the horse of the lady, which promptly bolted with her. The grand duke rode in pursuit, caught the flying animal by the bridle and rescued the maiden, who immediately fainted in the arms of his imperial highness. The prince then fell desperately in love with the girl and pursued her for months, begging her to marry him. But the gay life of her suitor, together with her knowlege of what morganatic marriages always lead to, gave the young woman pause, and she refused to smile upon her royal lover. It was then, however, that the grand duke made the most solemn vows, declaring that he would abandon his fast life forever and take up an existence that would be a model of domesticity—vpws, by the way, that he has kept with the utmost rigidity ever since. He was so sincere that the lovely Countess Torby consented to wed the duke. The ceremony was performed in the Greek church, and the once dashing prince settled down to a quiet life in the utmost seclusion in out of the way places in England. Two daughters were the fruit of this union and the devotion of the royal father to his family became in Europe. For many years he was never separated from his wife for a day. Now, the late czar was a brother of the grand duke, and he always refused to receive or even meet the Countesß Torby, and the present czar holds firmly to the same rule. 'lf the marriage of the Grand Duke Michael and the Countess Torby had been merely an ordinary morganatic marriage there would probably not have been so much fuss made about It But there is something underlying all this attitude of the Russian court The mother of the countess was Countess Natalie Merenberg, morganatic widow of Prince Nicholas of Nassau and Luxemburg. The lady, moreover, was the youngest daughter of Russia’s famous poet Pußhldn. Now, the latter *was a great-grandßon, in some strange way, of Peter the Great’s coal black negro, Hannibal. The Countess Torby, therefore, has a ■train of. negro blood In her veins, and this seemß to militate against her recognition. At a very recent date the mother of Countess Torby was still living and the romantic remlniscenses connected with the Pushkin episode are too near to endear either her daughter, or her granddaughters to the Russian court