Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1891 — SERVIA’S UNHAPPY NATALIE. [ARTICLE]

SERVIA’S UNHAPPY NATALIE.

Story of the Ki-Queen That Beads like a Chapter From the Middle Ages. — t New York World. ~~jZ The life of Natalie, ex-Queen of Servia, who has just been expelled from the kingdom over which she once ruled, and where her son is to sit on the throne when he comes of age, is crowded with romance, vicissitude and sorrow such as have fallen to the lot of but few women in the closing years of the century. The narrative reads like a chapter from the tragic records of the middle ages, when, as a rule, kings and queens moved in an atmosphere of intrigue, conspiracy, plot and counterplot, eventuating, as the fortunes of war or diplomacy ran, in dethronement, exile or death. Years ago Natalie was compelled to pass’through the bitter and humiliating tribulation of being forced frouj the throne by the hand of a brutal husband, on what are believed to be trumped-up charges of dishonor that have no foundation, or at the most, a flimsy one/in fact. Banishment, too, she has more than once suffered, so that in the chalice of affliction there is only very little left for her to drain.

Natalie is the daughter of Colonel Kechko, of the Russian Imperial Guard’ and one of the richest of the residents of the province of Bessarabia, in southwestern Russia. In 1875 there was considerable excitement over Bulgarian affairs in Servia and in Russia. The Turk were committing outrages and atrocities without number in Bulgaria, and the Servians were loudly clamoring for war in support of their suffering brothers. Milan was only twenty-one years old at the time. His reputation for courage was not of the most exalted character, and he hesitated about entering into a conflict with the Ottoman power, His people, however, were pressing him hard on the subject, and finally he so far yielded to their demands as to visit the Czar and ascertain if he would have the sympathy, if not the support, of Russia in the event of Servia declaring war against Turkey. On his way to the Russian capital Milan stopped at the fine old castle on the Pruth, of Colonel Kechko, whose wife was the well-known Princess Pulcherie Stourdza, a relative of the great Gortschakoff, who was the Czar’s Premier. Colonel Kechko re ceived the young ruler of Servia in royal style. Milan was then very popular with the Russians. A large number of Servians were engaged in the revolt in Bosnia and Herzegovina against the iron x-ule of the Sultan, and Milan was desirous of expelling the Turks from Bosnia and uniting that country to Servia, proclaiming himself King of the two lands.

THE COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. , While Milan was the guest of Col. Kechko he devoted .himself exclusively to Natalie from the very moment of his introduction. She was then between sixteen and seventeen years of age, and was noted for her beauty over nearly the whole empire. The attentions of her royal suitor she received with marked coldness. She had, it is said, fixed her affections on a young Russian officer, and declined to listen to the overtures of the voung Servian King, however flattering they might be. But Milan was not to be discouy*.ged, and asked the Colonel for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Col. Kechko was far from insensible to the advantages of the alliance held out to his house, and promptly overruled all the objections that, were raised by Natalie. The betrothal took place and was celebrated at a series of festivities which were attended by all the nobles within a radius of many leagues. Prince Milan then continued his journey to St. Petersburg. The fame of his conquest of the beautiful Natalie had preceded him, and he was kindly received by the Czar, who, in addition, aided him in his political designs. The marriage,took place in the summer of 1875, and Natalie threw herself with the utmost enthusiasm into the cause of her new country when war was delared against Turkey the following spring. She made a personal appeal to tne Czar for assistance, interested herself in the. hospitals and the widows and orphans, for all of which Servia almost adored her. Then came the war between Russia and Turkey, in which the latter power was badly beaten. Sex-via was free and powerful and Natalie had become a mother, the child being christened Alexander. He was bora Aug. 14, 1876. All the inborn depravity in Milan’s nature began to develop itself. He neglected the beautiful and accomplished woman who had done so much for him and his people, and plunged into debaucheries too gross even to be named. Natalie centered all her affection on her child, and on the Servians, who reverenced her, while they pitied her for the sorrows she was compelled to endure. When young Alexander became of that age when it was necessary to determine on the method of his education, the breach between Milan and his wife became wider and deeper. Natalie desired that he should be educated by Russian teachere. The King decided that Austrian tutors should have tjhe care of the young Pi-ince. In the bitter quarrel that followed she reproached her husband with the scandalous life he was leading. This, according to one set of chroniclerß, led him to set a trap for his wife, the result of which should leave her reputation very little better than his own. One day, the story goes, she reoeived a visit from the Metropolitan Bishop Michael, who said he

' i. j .. ..... came in answer to a note she had sent to him. She was indignant, and declared that a conspiracy whs on foot to destroy her. The King’s minions were close at hand, and the Bishop was arrested for alleged intimacy with the Queen. At the same time the King applied to the synod. Natalie, while protesting against the insult, decided, for the sake of her child, to prove her innocence, but after this she never lived with him. She never went near him until one day in 1884, when she besought clemency for some soldiers who had revolted. He returned her the brutal answer that they should be pardoned if she would come and live at the palace and be chambermaid to one of the women he was then maintaining around him. HER ENEMIES AT WORK. ■ The enemies of Natalie, on the other hand, assert that she has been engaged in numerous liaisons, thq most notable of which was one with a former Austrian envoy at Belgrade, Count Rudolph Khevehuller. She denies each and all of them. Finally, in the spring of 1887, after hearing that the king had openly accused her of improper relations with M. Ristics, a Servian diplomate devoted to Russian interests, she took the boy Alexander and fled from Belgrade to Russia, where King Milan’s agents tried to kidnap the child. The Kina managed to obtain a divorce, which Natalie has never ceased to declare was wrongfully obtained. Bismarck, anxious to please Austria, finally compelled her to surrender the child, after which Milan abdicated and had the boy crowned, providing at the same time a regency until he should beeome of age. In September, 1889, when the Servian Premier proposed to her an arrangement, by the terms of which she and the ex-King Milan were only to visit Belgrade in the future for three weeks twice a year, she replied in these terms: “I have already given you my answer. I refuse to sign any compact as a condition for securing to myself what you yourself concede to be the inalienable right of all Servians—l mean the right to reside in their own country. As to my maternal rights, if you arbitrarily withhold them by force, others must judge between us. But I will never sacrifice one thing for the other—my rights as a mother to secure my rights as a Servian. I ask no honors. I ask only my civil rights. If you knew how firm is my resolution you would not waste words, Now that I have happily returned, there exists no power or authority to compel me to depart again. I am not on the same footing as King Milan, who would not live in Servia on any consideration; who has no friends or interests here; who, in fact, has sacrificed the crown in order to amuse himself in his own fashion elsewhere. I, on the contrary, feel as an exile when abroad, and find it a relief and pleasure to find myself again here. While it is inexpressibly painful to me not to see

my son, yet-at least I feel that I am near at hand and at home. Ido not know how long you care to keep us apart. If you expect to find any cause of offense in my conduct you will be disappointed. I shall live quietly here in my own house among people who love me. Do you imagine that I, young, rich and free, have saci'ificed nothing in order to E reserve the dignity of a Qxieen of ervia and mother of the King? Yet you wish me to sign away the few rights left me, that I may enjoy on an equality with King Milan honors I have never demanded. If you can bring any reason why I am unfit to associate with my son, or that I should contaminate him, mention it.”