The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-26 00:00:00

THE ROYAL MARRIAGE LICENSE•

issuin,,o•.of this
The circumstances attending the
important document are
of parliament passed in the
interesting. By an act
G r e 111 , called "An
somewhat peculiar and
12th year of the reign
al Family, it is enacted that "no
Reoguf late,;_gg. the .Future Mar-
Ariagct
ofsorof thethe
Rbeotyter
esty King George 11. male
descendant of his Maj .Q ,
or
female, other than the issue of princesses who
•
have married may hereafter or marry into foreign
families, shall be capable of contracting matrimony .
without the consent of his Majesty, his heirs or
successors, signified under the Great Seal of Eng-
landand under the provisions of this act the
royallicense was issued from Doctors' Commons.
This highly interesting document was beautifully
engrossed on vellum, and presented a masterpiece
of clerkmanship. To it was attached the ordinary
official seal, the outer covering of which was of
tinted paper, the better to agree in hue with the
vellum, and which seal was appended by white
silk ribbon, the ends formed into pretty bows.
' The document commences by the Archbishop of
Canterbury greeting his " well-beloved in Christ,
Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, Princess Royal of
England, and his Royal Highness Prince Frederick
William Nicolas Charles of Prussia," to whom his
Grace wishes " health andin Christ everlasting ;" and
then, after reciting that her Majesty was graciously
pleased to consent that Her Royal Highness
might contract the holy state of matrimony
by letters under the Great Seal of England,
given on May 16, 1857, quotes the portion of
the act of parliament given above. It then again
records that her Majesty has consented to the
august alliance, and has signified her consent in
due form, under her own hand; and his Grams then
states that at a privy council at Osborne, on May
16, 1857, at which her Majesty, the Prince Con-
sort, Earl Granville, the Lord President ; Sir Geo.
Grey, Secretary of State for the Home Department;
Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer ; the Right Hon. R. Vernon Smith, Pre-
sident of the Board of Control : Lord Stanley of
Alderley, President of the Board of Trade • the
Right Hon. M. T. Baines, Chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaatei ; and Earl Spencer, Lord Steward,
were present, her Majesty declared that she gave
her consent to the alliance between her " most be-
loved" daughter and her now royal husband under
the Great Seal of England, and that her Majesty's
consent was entered in bhe books of the Privy Coun •
cil accordingly. His Grace then recites that as her
Majesty has directed her royal warrant to him he
grants the license for the performance of the cere-
mony notwithstanding that the usual oaths be not
taken previous to its issue, he being "assured there
are no impediments to the contraction of the
alliance." The usual form of a special license then
follows, to the effect that his Grace grants the
license and faculty to the contracting parties and to
all Christian people willing to be present at the
solemnization of the marriage, at any time, or in
any church, or chapel, or other right and convenient
place, by any bishop of the realm, or any rector,
vicar, curate, or chaplain of such church, or chapel,
or by any other minister in holy orders. About a
fortnight since her Majesty's warrant was trans
mitted to the usual department of Doctors' Com-
mons, and the Queen's Proctor delivered the royal
license at Buckingham Palace last week.