Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1898 — ALPHONSO BETROTHED. [ARTICLE]

ALPHONSO BETROTHED.

He la Only Twelve Year* Old, and Hla Fiancee Ie Fifteen. A cable dispatch says that Francis Joseph. Emperor of Austria, will shortly announce the betrothal of the Archduchess Elizabeth, his little granddaughter, to Alphonso XIIL, the King of Spain. The Archduchess Elizabeth seems to have been born to trouble. Her little life has been often clouded. 'Tragedy has chased scandal and scantlitl tragedy. Her father was the Crown Prince Rudolph, whose tragic death, murder or suicide, at Meyerling. after a life of escapades, was one of the most extraordinary stories of his generation. Her mother, the Crown Princess Stephanie, is the daughter of the King of Belgium, a woman erratic as the wind, whose acts have frequently given rise to scandals, and who has never shown a rnotner’s love for her child. Were it not for the affection of the aged Emperor, who has been not only a father but a companion and playfellow of the little heiress to his throne, her life would have been far from happy. But the Emperor and to a less extent the Empress, have played the parts of father and mother and shielded her to the best of their ability. She was born—the child of a loveless marriage—on Sept. ”, 1885, aad was named Elizabeth Marie Henri ette Stephanie Gisela. She took her first communion when 12 years old in the chapel of the Imperial Palace at Vicnta. At the conclusion of the ceremony she gave her mother the out direct, and walking up to the old Emperor, of whom she was passionately fond, was clasped in his arms and covered with affectionate kisses. The Austrians and Hungarians, both of whom were very fond of good-na-tured but profligate Rudolph, '“Unser Rudl,” as they called him, give his place In their hearts to Eltzabeth, whom they called “Our Little Lady.” By Rudolph’s will she was made the ward of her grandparents, and nobody was surprised or displeased, unless it was Stephanie herself, who never showed any signs of anger at this post-mor-tem evidence of the Crown Prince's sentiments regarding his wife. Should she become the consort of the youthful King of Spain, who is three years her junior, she will likely find more trouble awaiting her in trying to rest easy upon that tottering throne.— New York World.