NEW YORK
DUFFIELD AND COMPANY
1911

Copyright, 1911,
By DUFFIELD AND COMPANY

TO
H. E. THE MARQUIS OF VILLALOBAR
A SLIGHT TOKEN OF A HIGH APPRECIATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword[ix]
[PART I. QUEEN VICTORIA EUGENIE OF SPAIN]
CHAPTER PAGE
[I][An Island Princess][3]
[II][Girlhood][7]
[III][Courtship][15]
[IV][A Royal Wedding][24]
[V][A Baptism of Blood][36]
[VI][Winning a Nation’s Love][40]
[VII][Don Alfonso XIII][49]
[VIII][A King’s Life][54]
[IX][Courage and Kingship][67]
[X][The Prince of Asturias][75]
[XI][The Royal Nursery of Spain][86]
[XII][The Princes at Play][96]
[PART II. THE EMPRESS ALEXANDRAOF RUSSIA]
[I][“Sunny”][107]
[II][Courtship and a Journey to the Northland][114]
[III][Assuming the Burden][124]
[IV][Motherhood and Queenship][134]
[V][Spirit Whisperings][149]
[VI][Family Life at the Russian Court][169]
[VII][The Grand Duchess Olga][185]
[VIII][Tatiana, Marie and Anastasie][193]
[IX][The Tsarevitch][204]
[X][The End of the Road][210]
[PART III. QUEEN ELENA OF ITALY]
[I][A Mountain Princess][219]
[II][The Romance][229]
[III][Victor Emmanuel][234]
[IV][A Royal Honeymoon][240]
[V][Elena the Mother][249]
[VI][Simplicity of the Italian Court][256]
[VII][The Heroism of Queen Elena][261]
[VIII][Elena the Queen][267]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[The Tsaritsa][Frontispiece]
PAGE
[The Queen of Spain][12]
[“The End Crowns the Work”][26]
[The Procession of Bull Fighters][44]
[Don Alfonso and His Heir][60]
[The Prince of Asturias][78]
[The Court of the Virgins at Seville][90]
[The Tsaritsa Is Honorary Colonel of the Uhlans of the Guard][118]
[The Five Children of the Tsaritsa][136]
[The Winter Palace, the Scene of “Bloody Sunday”][178]
[The Tsar and Tsaritsa at the Head of a Reviewing Party][212]
[Princess Milena of Montenegro, the Mother of Queen Elena][222]
[The Queen of Italy][232]
[Four Generations: The Prince of Piedmont, His Father the King, the Dowager Queen Margherita, and her Mother, the Duchess of Genoa][244]
[The Royal Children of Italy][252]
[Snapshots by Queen Elena: The King and Her Children][272]

“Your task is difficult,” remarked a friend to whom I had just explained that I was writing the lives of the Empress of Russia, the Queen of Spain, and the Queen of Italy. “Your task is difficult, because these are three good Queens, and good Queens, like all good women, have no history.” Now that I have told the stories of these three good Queens, I wonder if my friend will not grant that they have been worth the telling?