17 JULY 1920, Page 3

We regret to record the death of the Empress. Eugenie,

widow of Napoleon III. She died in Spain, her native centrttry, and her death cuts a very real link with the past. Born 'at Granada in 1826, she was a daughter of the Count of Montijo, and her mother was of Scottish descent, having been a member of a Jacobite branch of the Kirkpatricks of Closeburn. As Countess of Ube she married Napoleon III. in 1853. The marriage had all the elements of romance and experiment, but the Empress won her way (particularly into the affections of Queen ViCtoria) by her charm and social tact--we say social tact because whether she had political tact is another question altogether. It was often said that the disastrous war against Germany in 1870 was in its origins of her making.