Electress Elizabeth of the Palatinate - part 2

And now began her happiest days. Her "honeymoon" lasted five years. This beautiful castle, which provoked the wonder of the English visitors, had been enlarged by the English building and the thick tower at the west end, built by Frederick for his English bride. He also laid out the rough wild mountain back of the castle into a most beautiful garden - a blooming paradise where she might rest and enjoy herself. Here in summer, oranges and limes spread their fragrance. Here was an English orchard, there a mulberry grove. Beautiful beds of many tinted flowers varied the view. From the edge of the precipices fell an artificial waterfall, while silvery streams of water would flow when bidden through the garden, and as they flowed, musical symphonies, supposed to be breathed by naiads, fell on her ears. There were grottoes from which issued streams of melody. The beauties of the garden were so great that Louis XIV. of France became jealous lest it would eclipse the splendor of his gardens at Versailles. Here passed the happiest years of her life. Her happiness seemed to culminate when in 1619 she became a queen, for her husband was elected king of Bohemia. Her mother could no longer sneer at her for marrying only a prince, for she was now a queen. She gained the coveted rank, but alas, heavy hangs the head that wears a crown. But she was ready for it, for she writes to her husband, when he accepted the throne, "I shall not repine, whatever consequences may ensue, not even though I should be forced to part with my last jewel."

The time had now come when Queen Elizabeth was to set out for Prague, to ascend the throne of Bohemia. Her departure from Heidelberg was ominous of her future sorrows. The day before she left was Sunday. She attended service on that day, and her chaplain, by a curious coincidence, preached on the text: "Go to now, ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and buy and sell, and get gain, whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow," etc. Strange to say, "the year" in that text was fulfilled, for she remained just a year as queen in Bohemia before unexpected disasters came upon her. When she arrived at the Bohemian border with her husband, she was received with great honor. Her journey reminded her of her triumphal bridal journey up the Rhine a few years before. Her beauty and rank seemed to dazzle the Bohemians. At Waldsach the women and children gathered around her, touching the hem of her garment, or prostrating themselves before her as if she were some new divinity. Her journey was completed and crowned by a magnificent triumphal procession into Prague, October 21, 1620. "Never," says her biographer, "since the days of Queen Elizabeth has any princess inspired the sentiments of such impassioned affection in the people of Prague. The horses of her carriage were adorned with housings of gold and silver, and she sat under a canopy of gold and silver not more splended than becoming to her fair complexion." Her husband was crowned on November 3, and three days later she was also crowned in great state. Amid music she approached the chancel of the Hussite church, and knelt to recieve the crown of Bohemia. The administrator of Bohemia, who crowned her, preached a long sermon, which he closed with the wish that "the piety of the new queen might be rewarded with the longevity of Sarah, in that all her undertakings she might be as prosperous as the beautiful Rebecca, that she should prevail over her enemies like the intrepid Judith, and be meek and magnanimous like Queen Esther, and that finally she might be persevering like the Queen of Sheba in the search of truth and wisdom, and above all, be crowned with spiritual gifts like the blessed Salome, who had been chosen and solemly approved by the Savior of the world." He solemly crowned her as the walls resounded with the shouts, "Long live Queen Elizabeth."