when elena was twelve years old an important change came into her life. she was sent away to st. petersburg to enter the most wonderful school of its kind in the world. this was the famous, glorified boarding school for the daughters of the nobility which for many years has been patronised by the empress marie feodorovna, wife of tsar alexander iii and mother of the present emperor, nicholas ii. fancy a girls’ school where every pupil is a little countess or princess or grand duchess! in russia the family titles usually descend to the children, so that this is no exaggeration. this school corresponds to one which exists for boys known as the corps des pages—or school of pages. the young sons of the nobility are sent here at an early age and are commonly spoken of as pages of the courts. most of the boys who go to this school become officers and generally are assigned to the crack regiments which guard the persons of the sovereigns. as a rule only native russians are admitted to these two exclusive schools, but the daughters of prince nicholas were easily granted place, because they were the daughters of a ruling{230} prince, and also because they had the rare advantage among non-russians of already knowing russian, or at least the slav tongue which is very similar to russian.
for six winters elena continued at this school, and on her way to and from the northland capital she was taken to visit many of the famous art galleries of europe. in st. petersburg she had the privilege of the hermitage gallery, where is one of the foremost art collections in europe, and in dresden and munich she became yet more widely acquainted with the masterpieces of the world’s art. thus was her fondness for art gratified, and her general education broadened and enriched.
another talent that elena inherited was that of writing poetry. her father, nicholas, is a poet of no mean rank. many of the folk songs of montenegro which mothers croon to their babes at night, which shepherds in their lonely huts far up the mountain sides sing to give them cheer when fierce storms are sweeping over their steep pastures, were written by the prince when he was a young man and during the forty years of his reign they have become so universal that already they are classic. once indeed he wrote a very long poetic and romantic drama called “an empress of the balkans,” which his son, mirko, elena’s oldest brother, set to music. and this poetic instinct which her father has made such good use of in endearing himself to his people, is also strong in{231} elena. for some reason, however, elena has never been so proud of this talent as of her painting. nevertheless she has published minor verse from time to time, and as one member of her suite told me once: “she writes still—but she does not own it.”
curiously enough she once wrote a sonnet to venice, which she called a “city of poetry, love and feeling.” this sonnet was published in a school magazine, and was written before she had ever visited the romantic city of islands. it was in this same venice that she later met the prince who was to make her a queen, and where the love story of her life began.
in the spring of the year 1895, when elena was twenty-two years old, she and her sister anna came with their mother, princess melena, to the opening of the annual international art exhibition at venice. this is one of the events of the year in the art world of europe and is looked forward to almost as much as the annual salon in paris and the spring academy exhibition in london. the king and queen frequently open the exhibition, and not infrequently distinguished members of other royal houses are also present. so it was in the memorable month of april 1895. king humbert and queen margherita with their son, the heir to the throne, the young prince of naples, travelled up from rome to inaugurate the exhibition. of course courtesy calls were exchanged between the sovereigns and the other{232} royal visitors present, including princess melena and her daughters.
princess elena was now a tall, large-framed woman of twenty-two. she had the physique of one much older, but her manner and face showed all the keenness and freshness of a young girl. by this time she had outgrown the hoydenish traits of her girlhood and there was dignity and repose in her manner. one feature distinguished her from other princesses in europe. she was totally free from the social veneer which comes inevitably from a long continuance of ceremonious life. any prince of a western european court would have been quick to notice this, and prince victor emmanuel was by no means the least to fall under the spell of its charm.
prince victor emmanuel as heir to the italian throne was one of the most sought-after princes in all europe. popular gossip had successively betrothed him to princess clementine, daughter of the king of the belgians, to princess feodora of schleswig-holstein, sister of the emperor of germany, to archduchess annunziati, daughter of archduke carl ludwig of austria; and to princess mary magdalene, daughter of the king of greece. the trouble with all of these alliances was, according to the prince, that they were political rather than personal, and may it be writ large on the page of history that victor emmanuel had a romantic soul which would be satisfied whatever came of the political ambitions of his family.
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the queen of italy.
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when grey and hoary councillors of state approached him in regard to the desirability of his marrying one or another of the royal princesses in the eligible list, he would shake his square head and turn aside saying, “i have time enough.” he knew that one day he would see the princess whom he would love, and for her he was content to wait.
when in venice, “the city of poetry, love and feeling,” he met for the first time princess elena of montenegro, he promptly said to his royal father, “there is the princess i will marry.” politically, little was to be gained for italy by a marriage alliance with the little balkan state, so humbert, a wise king, counselled patience, though not actually opposing the will of the crown prince.
elena and her mother and sister returned to their own country after only two days. but in those two days the prince had found a time and place to speak. only two days! surely a brief courtship with an interminable round of official ceremonies consuming, as it seemed, all of the hours. two busy days, yet the prince of naples had whispered the thrilling words and elena, the balkan princess, knew that her future was henceforth spread in greater europe.
