Chapter II: 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?_