Text Box: Text Box: Tragedy struck in February 1924 while the Royal Family was on their way to the cathedral on the Grand Duke’s birthday. A bomb had been attached to the floor of the royal limousine. The resulting explosion killed Queen Sophie, Grand Duke Rudolf, Grand Duchess Margareta and Queen Mother Flavia. Grand Duchess Magdalena died three days later of injuries suffered when she was thrown from the limousine. King Rudolf had been riding behind the car and was uninjured, as was Grand Duke Stephan who had stayed behind at the palace due to a fever. Following the funerals for the Royal Family, King Rudolf ordered a thorough investigation of the bombing. The perpetrator, Max Todebusch, was caught and executed. But it was then that the Swiss Conspiracy first came to light. Professor of History at the University of Strelsau, Friar Andreas Bickerta, a Jesuit priest, presented his study on the assassination of Rudolf V. He was able to prove that both the recent bombing and the assassination of King Rudolf V had been committed, not as random acts of anarchy, as previously supposed, but as part of a much grander plan to eradicate the royal houses of Europe. Both plots led inescapably to a shadowy group of Swiss nationals in Geneva known only as The Consortium. Friar Bickert also was able to tie this group, whose existence has since been documented to at least the early 1500s, to the untimely deaths of several other royal personages throughout Europe. The Swiss government has persistently denied the existence of this group or any involvement in the deaths. In October, 1929 a large, unidentified armed force crossed the frontier into Ruritania. They quietly infiltrated the country, eventually reaching the capitol. Guards were killed, the Royal Palace was overrun and King Rudolf VI was killed guarding the escape of Grand Duke Stephan. The Swiss Embassy announced that their government was invoking the protectorate powers allotted them in the Treaty of Versailles and that every effort would be made to find young King Stephan. The rest of the world was plunged into the Great Depression and the fate of an eleven year old ruler of a tiny kingdom was forgotten. Stephan was smuggled to safety in the Castle of Zenda by a small cadre of devoted officers. Word began to spread throughout Ruritania that the young King was in Zenda and under siege. Within a day of young King Stephan IV’s arrival at Zenda the entire Ruritanian Army was camped outside the Castle. The mysterious insurgents who were responsible for the attack on the capitol and the death of King Rudolf VI, disappeared as if they never existed. King Stephan was returned to Strelsau surrounded by the Royal Cuirassiers. Field Marshall von Tarlenheim assumed the duties of Chancellor and the Swiss Ambassador and his entire staff were escorted to the border. From that day to this, Ruritania has been the only country in Europe which refuses to open diplomatic relations with the Swiss. World War II was a dark and difficult time for Ruritania. A tiny nation on the border of Germany, fiercely maintaining its neutrality, established during the First World War, and constantly fearing what seemed the inevitable onslaught of the Nazi war machine. Amazingly, it was Hitler’s own belief in the superiority of the Arian race and his own propaganda which saved Ruritania. Unable to believe that a Germanic nation, headed by the scion of an ancient royal house, could be anything but sympathetic to his own beliefs, Hitler relegated Ruritania to the list of nations to be absorbed once victory was his. It was this hubris which allowed Ruritania to hide the many Jews who found their way across its borders. Eventually, King Stephan met and married Charlotte Rothschild in February of 1947. They had a son, Wilhelm-Rudolf Franz Nicholas, born March 15, 1948 and a daughter, Carolina Francesca Antonia Fredericka, born June 23, 1951. While on a state visit to France in 1953 Queen Charlotte was pushed from a curb into traffic and severely injured. Security for the royal family was increased accordingly, however both King Stephan and Queen Charlotte died in 1959 in an unexplained automobile accident remarkably similar to the one which killed Princess Grace of Monaco. It is believed that the Swiss were involved in all three incidents. King Wilhelm-Rudolf was crowned in May of 1960. He holds a degree in Astrophysics and Nuclear Physics from the University of Strelsau and received pilot training from the United States Air Force in Texas. In 1969 he met the Princess Royal of Lutha, Anastasia Sophia Maria Helena von Rubenroth. They married August 29th, 1970 and have two daughters, Grand Duchess Julianna Elizabeth Aurora Eugenia and Grand Duchess Lydia Sophia Tatiana.
Text Box: A Modern History Of Ruritania And The House Of Elphberg Continued