The New York Herald reports the betrothal of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and Princess Stephanie has brought great joy to both countries. "Surprise, general and unmitigated surprise," appears to be the general impression in Vienna and Brussels. There is also "unmitigated satisfaction" as the Crown Prince is the second most popular man in the Austrian Empire, after his father, Emperor Franz Joseph. Rudolf, fluent in several languages, is affable and his "simple manners have won the people's hearts." He has a "taste for natural history," and has written two books. He also attends "with great punctuality to his military duties at Prague."
The Crown Prince has also traveled outside his father's empire. Last year, he went on a shooting holiday in Africa and enjoyed his last visit to England and Ireland, where he became good friends with the British heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales.
The future Archduchess and Crown Princess is "one of the most handsomest Princesses of Europe." Stephanie, one of three daughters of King Leopold II, has an "amiable disposition, and, even for a Princess, exceptionally well-educated."
The princess has been brought up in the "strictest seclusion," and has never made a public appearance, not even at the school children's fete two years ago in honor of the King and Queen's silver wedding.
Stephanie has never been seen on the streets of Brussels, "or enjoyed the envied pleasure" of window shopping. Her only companion has been her ten-year-old sister, Princess Clementine, and her only real recreation is on Sundays when she visits a local convent, where she is "allowed to join in the amusements of the pensionnaires of that aristocratic school."
Now that Princess Stephanie is the fiancee of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, she will have a full public life including state dinners and visits to the opera. Flags will fly in her honor. With "all the freshness of youth and bright with the first impressions of an unknown world," Stephanie will soon be transported to a new life at the Austrian court.
Those who know Her Royal Highness speak of "her grace, her engaging manners, her kindness of heart." She is "fair, with golden hair and blue eyes, and she is slight and rather tall." When her older sister, Louise, married Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Stephanie "escaped to a corner and was found pouring over the Almanach de Gotha,", to find which Prince would choose her as his wife. Then and there, she decided that the Crown Prince of Austria would be the perfect husband. It appears that her parents -- Queen Marie Henriette was born an Archduchess of Austria -- concurred.
Princess Stephanie turns 16 on May 21. The wedding could take place later this year or sometime next year. The wedding ceremony will, however, take place in Vienna, and not in Brussels, as Rudolf is the heir to the throne.
The Austrians are delighted with the match. Rudolf had few choices for a bride. Although it was not against the family law to marry a Protestant princess, it was more likely that Rudolf's bride would come from one of the Catholic ruling houses.
Queen Marie Henriette is one of five children of Archduke Joseph of Austria, Palatine of the Rhine, and his third wife, Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg, who was a Protestant.
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