The second son of Leopold I was Philip, the Count of Flanders, who was married to Princess Marie of Hohenzollern, sister of the Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern and King Charles of Roumania. The son to this marriage is King Albert of Belgium, who succeeded his uncle, Leopold II, in 1909. The Queen of Belgium is Princess Elizabeth of the Ducal House of Bavaria. Through her King Albert is allied to the Crown Prince of Bavaria, the Grand Duchess of Luxemburg, the Duke of Parma, the late Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and the present heir-apparent, Archduke Charles Francis Joseph. The King and Queen have two sons, Leopold, born in 1902, and Charles Theodore, who is two years younger. There is also a daughter, the Princess Marie-Josephine, born in 1906.
King Nicholas I, ruler of the picturesque little country of Montenegro, which was the scene of much bitter fighting, was born October 7, 1841, and proclaimed Prince of Montenegro, as successor to his uncle Danilo I, in 1860. He became king in 1910. Nicholas I married Milena Petrovna Vucotic. The children are Princess Militza, who married the Russian Grand Duke Peter Nikolaievitch; Princess Stana, who married George, Duke of Leuchtenberg, but which marriage was dissolved, the Princess subsequently marrying the Russian Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaievitch. The other children are Prince Danilo Alexander, heir-apparent; Princess Helena, who married Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy; Princess Anna, who married Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg; Prince Mirko, who married Natalie Constantinovitch; Princess Zenia, Princess Vera and finally Prince Peter, who was born in 1889.
KING OF SERVIA.
Peter I, King of Servia, one of the figures of the war, is the son of Alexander Kara-Georgevitch. He was born in Belgrade in 1844, and was proclaimed King after the murder of King Alexander and Queen Draga. He ascended the throne on June 2, 1903. He was married in 1883 to Princess Zorka, of Montenegro, who died in 1890. He has two sons and a daughter; George, who was born in 1887, and who renounced his right to the throne in 1909; Alexander, born in 1889, and Helen, who was born in 1884. Because of his ill health King Peter, for a long time, delegated authority to his son Alexander for the purpose of government.
Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia, who abdicated in June, 1917, was born May 18, 1868, and succeeded his father, Emperor Alexander III, on November 1, 1894. He married Princess Alexandra Alice, daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and has four daughters and one son: Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia and Alexis.
The family is descended in the female line from Michael Romanof, first elected Czar in 1613, and, in the male line, from Duke Karl Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp. As the result of intermarriages and connections with the royal houses of Germany, they are practically Germans by blood.
It was in fact the German influence, which is said to have been the immediate cause of the revolt in the great country.
The revolution may be said to have had its inception when a small group of men opposed to the German influence at court assassinated the monk Gregory Rasputin, who had a great influence over the Czar.
A REACTIONARY CABINET INSTALLED.
Czar Nicholas in anger dismissed Premier Trepoff and installed a thoroughly reactionary Cabinet. Trepoff had been in office only a short time, having followed M. Sturmer, who had bitterly fought the Duma. It had been commonly reported that the real power in the Russian Government after Sturmer went out was in the hands of the Minister of the Interior, M. Protopopoff. Sturmer had been called to the premiership to succeed M. Goremykin, who was in office when the war began.