Royal Annulment?

Spaniards of chivalrous and patriotic bent fetched dejected sighs, last week, at an authoritative report that the jaunty King Alfonso XIII has been constrained to consult the Vatican with a view to obtaining annulment of his union with Queen Victoria Eugenie, a tall and regal granddaughter of the late, dumpy British Queen-Empress Victoria.

His Most Catholic Majesty is thought to agree with Dictator Primo de Rivera that none of the four Spanish Infantes (sons of the King) are physically fit to inherit the Throne. For their weaknesses and infirmities His Majesty is understood to blame not his own ardent self, but Her Majesty. He is said to have tested this theory by begetting, under the rose, certain quite robust offspring.

Meanwhile, unfortunate Queen Victoria Eugenie is not likely to forget that she is descended (through her father) from the Teuton family of Hesse-Darmstadt. In the strain of that House abides the dread and mysterious disease, haemophilia.

The blood of a haemophile does not congeal normally upon contact with the air, and thus the slightest wound leads to profuse bleeding, due to the extreme retardation of the process vulgarly called "healing." Now it happens that from the haemophilic House of Hesse-Darmstadt have sprung the last of the Russian Tsarinas, Alexandra, and the present Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain. To each of these exalted mothers came the bitter pang of recognizing in her first born son a haemophile.

As everyone knows Tsarina Alexandra & Tsar Nicholas the Last came under the influence of the notorious "Black Monk" Rasputin because he could control--it is said by hypnotism--the haemophilia of the Tsarevitch Alexis. Not until the assassination of Rasputin and the execution of the Romanovs did History have done with that dark incident. Today Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain is said to repose a strong intuitive faith in a certain obscure Catalonian doctor whom she hopes may be able to cure the haemophilia of her first born, Don Alfonso, 21, Prince of the Asturias, and heir to Alfonso XIII's throne.

Last week this slender, pale and weak young prince was convalescing by almost imperceptible stages, at Madrid, from an operation upon his mouth which would have been negligible in a person of normal health. A pretense is kept up that the Prince of the Asturias is a "gentleman farmer" much interested in raising crops and breeding hogs; but most of his prolonged sojourns upon his estates are passed in pallid relaxation. Moreover, an inflammation of His Royal Highness' joints has set in of late.

Second in line for the Spanish Throne is Don Jaime, 19, a thickset, powerfully athletic youth, but congenitally deaf and mute. He now "hears" by "lip reading,"' and has been taught to make intelligible sounds; but Spaniards scarcely deem him fit to be their King.

Remain the two child princes: Don Juan, 14, and Don Gonzalo, 13. The King has several times indicated that he considers Don Juan the most nearly fit among his sons to rule.* Frequently Don Juan betrays signs of a hot, imperious temper; but on such occasions His Majesty is more apt than not to exclaim, "Isn't he cheeky!" and to smile contentedly. Last of the royal children are the Infantas Beatriz, 18, and Maria Cristina, 16. Both are "young for their age," due to sheltered upbringing by British & French governesses; but both are now exhibiting traces of self-emancipation, such as restiveness upon being told how many pieces of candy they may eat.

Among well-posted Spaniards there was emphasized, last week, the tentative character of the inquiries made at the Vatican as to whether any flaw exists in the marriage of His Most Catholic Majesty which could be construed as rendering it null. Should such a flaw be conveniently found it would be apparent that their Majesties have not been married all these years, and His Majesty would naturally be free to take another Consort and beget a perhaps more healthy heir. So far as the attitude of the Vatican could be ascertained, last week, the Beatissimus Pater, Pope Pius XI, appeared to deplore the possibility that a flaw could be found. His attitude resembled that of a secular judge reluctant to grant a divorce. In these circumstances, and because the British Government would be sure to resent any brusque treatment of Queen Victoria Eugenie, it was intimated at Madrid that impetuous but shrewd King Alfonso XIII and wary Dictator Primo de Rivera are reconsidering any intention which they may have had to ask the Vatican for an annulment.

* An oft mooted alternative, viewed with repugnance by the King & Father, would be to transfer the succession to Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Sicily, healthy and dashing son of His Majesty's elder sister, the late Infanta Maria-de-las-Mercedes, Queen of Spain until King Alfonso's birth.