GIRLHOOD
Princess Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena was born October 24, 1887. She
enjoyed the distinction of being the first royal baby born in Scotland
for precisely two hundred and eighty-seven years. Through her girlhood
she was much with her grandmother, Queen Victoria of England, and she
also enjoyed the particular interest of her godmother, the Empress
Eugenie of France, who later on was largely instrumental in bringing
about the meeting between the young King of Spain and her godchild which
resulted in her elevation to a throne.
Princess Ena was the only daughter in a family of four children, and her
childhood was spent much in the company of her brothers, whose studies
and play she shared. Before she was twelve years old she had learned to
ride like a boy, to manage a boat and had acquired considerable skill
with the fishing rod. After the death of her father, Prince Henry of
Battenberg, Princess Ena assisted her mother in the administration of
the Isle of Wight, which was the particular bailiwick of her family.
Doubtless the early lessons of administration which she learned at this
time was the kind of preparation for the administrative duties of
Queen, which, after her marriage, were to devolve upon her.
She received an education befitting a Princess of Great Britain. When
still very young she had acquired a knowledge of French and German, and
this practice in mastering new languages proved of great value later
when she came to take up Spanish--a rich and full-throated tongue in
which she became fluent within a few months.
Princess Ena also showed a decided talent for music and she is not only
a ready, skilful pianist, but she also composes music.
Her young life was happy. She was the favourite, not only of Queen
Victoria and Empress Eugenie, but of all the Royal family in England.
There was no touch of the hard and sordid in those years. She dwelt in
the midst of wholesome, happy people and always in beautiful places. The
Isle of Wight, her home, is a sweet, tranquil haven, remote from the
frequented paths of the world, far from the hurry and noise and dirt of
modern England. In Spring and Summer it is like a great garden with
abiding places set therein.
Balmoral in Scotland, where she was born and where she frequently lived,
especially when her grandmother, Queen Victoria, was in residence in
Scotland, is one of the most glorious spots in Britain. The magnificent
Royal Park is widely encircled by the rugged mountains of that
Northland. The river Dee, famed in song and story, runs close to hand.
This Northland is more mountainous and stern than Ayr or Dumfries, the
land of Bobbie Burns, and as instinct with tradition of the fighting
Jacobite times as the Border country--the land of Scott--or Loch Leven
with its memories of Queen Mary. Princess Ena revelled in the stirring
past as she breathed the strong air of the Cairngorms, growing
physically strong and sturdy, innocent of the Destiny which was to shape
her life and make her a Mother of Kings.
One winter Princess Henry of Battenberg went to Egypt, taking with her
her four children. This proved a memorable year to Princess Ena, for she
became familiar with new surroundings and acquainted with ancient
civilisations, in which she evinced a remarkable interest. Here, too,
the Princess had her first experience away from royal precincts, as the
winter was mostly spent in the Cataract Hotel at Aswan. It was the wish
of Princess Henry that she and her children be treated precisely as the
other guests of the hotel were treated, and the Princess Ena came to
know many people who were of a world far removed from her own.
Many stories are told in Egypt to-day of the laughing golden-haired
English Princess who was never so weary as to cease from fun and
mischief, and many a prank instigated by her and her brothers is
recalled. Her brightness and abounding good nature were widely
appreciated and the memory she has left there is sweet and good.
Christmas Day in a foreign land is always dull and dreary, and English
people, perhaps, miss home on this day above all others in the year.
The manager of the Cataract Hotel--Herr Steiger--being anxious to lift
in some measure the pall of gloom which hung over his guests that
Christmas planned a little surprise which he sprang at the dinner hour.
Toward the close of the meal the lights in the dining salon were
suddenly extinguished and a band of picturesque Orientals entered the
room bearing lighted tapers and trays of gifts. Their fantastic garb of
white bournous, red fez and white turbans looked weirdly strange against
the darkness and as the file approached the table where sat the royal
party a burst of loud applause came spontaneously from the guests at the
other tables. No sooner had the first defile circled round the royal
table than other similar groups entered the room and ranged around the
other tables. In a moment of silence the Princess Ena was heard to
exclaim: “Oh! how nice of Herr Steiger to have given this pleasure to
everyone and not only to us!”
This charming consideration for others is a characteristic of her nature
which has deepened with years and has proved one of the qualities which
so quickly endeared her to the people of her adopted land.
At the age of eighteen Princess Ena had her formal “coming out” into
Society. The event took place at the Infirmary Ball at Ryde, and
immediately after she was presented at Windsor and entered upon a gay
season in London. It was toward the end of this very first season that
she met for the first time the impetuous and dashing young man who at
first sight of her surrendered his heart and in record time led her up
the steps of a throne to share with him the ermine of sovereignty.
In their meeting and courtship lies a tale of pure romance. No story of
any “castle in Spain” runs more delightfully, and no tale of the storied
Alhambra quickens the pulse beats faster.
Don Alfonso XIII of Spain, who was literally born a king, his father
having died several months before his birth, at the early age of 28, was
still in his teens when his court and ministers began to drop thinly
veiled hints concerning a possible alliance for the young sovereign. The
King from earliest boyhood had showed that he had a mind and
determination of his own, and whenever the matter of his marriage was
broached he would make reply: “I shall marry a princess who takes my
fancy, and nobody else. I want to love my wife.” A noble and worthy
ambition surely, especially for a king!
The Emperor of Germany had long hoped to arrange a match between the
King of Spain and a German princess, while several princesses in other
countries of Europe nourished secret hopes that they might one day sit
on the Spanish throne. Political exigencies, however, demanded an
English princess if a suitable and acceptable one could be found for the
youthful monarch.
During the spring of Don Alfonso’s twentieth year, the very year of
Princess Ena’s coming out, he went with a regal suite to London.
Wiseacres had picked Princess Patricia of Connaught as the probable
choice of the dashing young sovereign. Indeed the whispers of Mayfair
drawing-rooms had the match entirely arranged long before the King
arrived in London.
June in London is often a delightful and beautiful month--a month of
awakening surprises, when the trees and flowers come quickly into bloom
and blossom through the spring haze. The June week chosen for the visit
of the Spanish King, however, proved a disappointing exception, for mist
and drizzling rain characterised the period of his stay, but all the
rain and dampness of Britain, if concentrated in London, would not have
marred the indefatigable energy of this strenuous young man, who not
only participated in all the festivities arranged for him by the
committees of the Court and Municipality, but also managed to do much
extra sight-seeing and, most important of all, to make up his mind which
princess should be the next Queen of Spain--his bride.
Despite the gossips who already had Princess Patricia the affianced
bride of the young King, when these two met it was evident that neither
attracted the other. Far too often in the history of nations personal
attraction has not been a dominating influence in royal marriages. If
reasons of state have demanded the marriage the individuals
[Illustration: THE QUEEN OF SPAIN.]
have sunk their own feelings, surrendered their personal happiness--and
lived on, perpetual victims of the political demands of their respective
states. But Don Alfonso XIII had no desire to martyr himself in this
way. No more the Princess Patricia.
The late King Edward had arranged dinners, dances and fêtes in
Buckingham Palace in honour of the King of Spain. There were gathered
the very flower of the youth of Britain. Don Alfonso was seen to be
instantly struck by the sight of a certain golden-haired girl whom he
saw flitting here and there across the rooms.
“Who is she?” he finally inquired.
“Princess Ena of Battenberg,” was the reply.
The two were presented. They talked together and were visibly interested
in each other. They met again and each day so long as the King remained
in London.
A few months later, King Alfonso confessed that the first moment he saw
Princess Ena, he determined that she was the one who must share the
responsibilities of his Kingdom with him, and that if his suit were not
accepted by the Princess, or if any reasons of State intervened to
prevent the marriage, his country would go without a queen so long as he
lived. Fortunately, no reasons of State developed to hinder the marriage
and the one obstacle raised by the Church was overcome when the Princess
declared her readiness to accept the Roman Catholic Faith, for King
Alfonso is known as His Most Catholic Majesty, and church influence,
though waning, is still strong in Spain.
The marriage was favoured and encouraged by King Edward, that gracious
and genial Uncle of Europe, and his sanction was sufficiently strong to
bring about what was to King Alfonso and to Spain an exceedingly
desirable union. No public announcement of the betrothal was made for
six months after the visit to England, but rumour carried abroad the
suspicions which were later confirmed.