



Produced by Dave Morgan, Wilelmina Malliere and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.










LOVE AFFAIRS
OF THE COURTS OF EUROPE

BY

THORNTON HALL, F.S.A.,

Barrister-at-Law,

Author of "Love romancies of the Aristocracy",
"Love intrigues of Royal Courts", etc., etc.






TO

MY COUSIN,

LENORE




CONTENTS

CHAP

I.     A COMEDY QUEEN
II.    THE "BONNIE PRINCE'S" BRIDE
III.   THE PEASANT AND THE EMPRESS
IV.    A CROWN THAT FAILED
V.     A QUEEN OF HEARTS
VI.    THE REGENT'S DAUGHTER
VII.   A PRINCESS OF MYSTERY
VIII.  THE KING AND THE "LITTLE DOVE"
IX.    THE ROMANCE OF THE BEAUTIFUL SWEDE
X.     THE SISTER OF AN EMPEROR
XI.    A SIREN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
XII.   THE CORSICAN AND THE CREOLE
XIII.  THE ENSLAVER OF A KING
XIV.   AN EMPRESS AND HER FAVOURITES
XV.    A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY CINDERELLA
XVI.   BIANCA, GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY
XVII.  RICHELIEU, THE ROUE
XVIII. THE INDISCRETIONS OF A PRINCESS
XIX.   THE INDISCRETIONS OF A PRINCESS--_continued_
XX.    THE LOVE-AFFAIRS OF A REGENT
XXI.   A DELILAH OF THE COURT OF FRANCE
XXII. THE "SUN-KING" AND THE WIDOW
XXIII. A THRONED BARBARIAN
XXIV. A FRIEND OF MARIE ANTOINETTE
XXV. THE RIVAL SISTERS
XXVI. THE RIVAL SISTERS--_continued_
XXVII. A MISTRESS OF INTRIGUE
XXVIII. AN ILL-FATED MARRIAGE
XXIX. AN ILL-FATED MARRIAGE--_continued_




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


BIANCA CAPELLO BONAVENTURA GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY

CATHERINE THE SECOND OF RUSSIA

COUNT GREGORY ORLOFF

DESIREE CLARY

JOSEPHINE DE BEAUHARNAIS, EMPRESS (BY PRUD'HON)

LOLA MONTEZ, COUNTESS OF LANDSFELD

LUDWIG I., KING OF BAVARIA

FRANCESCO I., GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY

CAROLINE OF BRUNSWICK, WIFE OF GEORGE IV




LOVE AFFAIRS OF THE COURTS OF EUROPE




CHAPTER I

A COMEDY QUEEN


"It was to a noise like thunder, and close clasped in a soldier's
embrace, that Catherine I. made her first appearance in Russian
history."

History, indeed, contains few chapters more strange, more seemingly
impossible, than this which tells the story of the maid-of-all-work--the
red-armed, illiterate peasant-girl who, without any dower of beauty or
charm, won the idolatry of an Emperor and succeeded him on the greatest
throne of Europe. So obscure was Catherine's origin that no records
reveal either her true name or the year or place of her birth. All that
we know is that she was cradled in some Livonian village, either in
Sweden or Poland, about the year 1685, the reputed daughter of a
serf-mother and a peasant-father; and that her numerous brothers and
sisters were known in later years by the name Skovoroshtchenko or
Skovronski. The very Christian name by which she is known to history
was not hers until it was given to her by her Imperial lover.

It is not until the year 1702, when the future Empress of the Russias
was a girl of seventeen, that she makes her first dramatic appearance on
the stage on which she was to play so remarkable a part. Then we find
her acting as maid-servant to the Lutheran pastor of Marienburg,
scrubbing his floors, nursing his children, and waiting on his resident
pupils, in the midst of all the perils of warfare. The Russian hosts had
for weeks been laying siege to Marienburg; and the Commandant, unable to
defend the town any longer against such overwhelming odds, had announced
his intention to blow up the fortress, and had warned the inhabitants to
leave the town.

Between the alternatives of death within the walls and the enemy
without, Pastor Glueck chose the latter; and sallying forth with his
family and