Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-10-06
CQ(Ottester 4aiIg Spy.
The Future Queen of England.

SEVEN ELIGIBLE BRIDES IN THE WORLD.
The latest news from England positively af-
firm that early in the ensuing spring the
Prince of Wales will wed the Princess Alex
andra of Denmark; but it remains for the
London Spectator to take the trouble to ascer-
tain how many young ladies in the world are
eligible candidates. The whole number is
seven. Why it is so restricted, and who the
princesses are, appear in the Spectators en-
pertaining sketch, which we copy entire =
THE PRINCE AND THE PLEBIAN.
The fortunate heir to the English crown is,
in one respect, the most unfortunate man of
the age. His royal highness Prince Albert
Edward of Great Britain is young, accom-
plished, wel-looking, thoroughly well educa-
ted, generally beloved, and in the prospec-
tive possession of one of the most glltterlng
diadems in the world; and yet in the plenti-
tude of all these earthly and heavenly gifts,
can only select his partner through life from
among seven fair damses. Tom Brown, the
city clerk, who tries to be a gentleman upon
sixty pounds year, would not tolerate for
moment the idea of having his matrimonial
horizon narrowed to such dimensions, nor
would even John Styles, the plowman, who
and on the seventh courts all the girls of the
parish, bear the restriction. Both Tom and
John would certainly think themselves hardly
used if, in this era of liberty, when locomo-
ton is cheap and girls are as plenty as black
berries, they should not be allowed to Dick
their spouSes at least among a hundred fair
ones. 1t is only on the pinnacle of the pyra-
mid that the space is contracted, until, as in
the case of live prince of the blood royal, the
matrimonial field is circumscribed by the fatal
number seven.
THE MODERN DooMsDAY-BooK.
The land on this elevated ground is meas
ured out and registered by a royal Doomsday
book more formidable than the one preserved
at the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey.
The book is well known and deeply rever-
enced as the Almanach de Gotha. The great
modern Doomsday book, the Almanach de
GothG, divides all mankind-and womankind,
of course-into the three classes of princes,
mobiles and plebeians. The boundary between
each of these classes is laid down most mark
eddy and distinctly, making trespass all but
impossible. Sharpest in outline and best
fenced off is the topmost division, comprising
the various members of the royal families of
Europe The catalogue of princes and prin-
cesses is a toerably long one, extending over
near hundred pages of the royal Doomsday
book; and it seems rather extraordinary that
there should be no more than seven fair ones
in the list eligible for the selection of the heir
apparent to the crown of England. The fact
is owing to some general and particular
causes. There are about eight hundred men,
bers Of royalty in Europe, all ebenburtig and
legitimate; but the vast majority of them are
in the sere and yellow leaf past marrying and
being married. Like English law lords and
bishops, princes and princesses, as rule, at
tain to good old age, far above the average
of vulgar humanity.
CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT.
The greater number of sovereigns of Eu-
rope and their families are above fifty years
of age; and the case is not at all rare of four
generations basking together in the sunny at
mosphere of the throne. Many page of the
AIDaGnaCh de Gothic has to be turned over be-
fore the eye alghts, in a maze of venerable
seXa, septa, and octogenarians, on name fit
to match, in point of age, with that of the
young heir eXpectant of the British Isles.
But the search becomes still more difficult
& from the fact that it is not only age, but re-
ligion which has to be looked after. The con-
sort whom England wants for her future king
must not be only young and comely, and scion
i of sovereign princely family, but must be,
above all, believer in the Protestant faith.
But it happens, curiously enough, that though
the majority OF European sOvereigns are Pro-
Observation-Disclosures to the mosaic constitution of
the German empire-there are, nevertheless,
considerably more young princes and princes
ses brought up in the Roman Catholic creed
than after the tenets of the Reformed Church.
The Catholic princes, it seems, multiply
more than their Protestant brethren, al
though, as rule, they do not arrive at quite
SO old an age. The largest of all the royal
e ~ L
burg and Lchtenstein, u5i supra, both Ro-
man Catholic, and including within their
sacred circle more matrimonial eligibilities
than dozen ordinary Protestant households.
Tho house of 'Hohenzollern in itself far more
productive in its two Catholic branches of
Hechinger and Sigmaringen than in the
younger line which has given kings to Prus-
STA. The hahdsomest and, it is believed, most
accomplished princess of Europe at the pre-
sent moment is Frustinn Maria of Hohenzoll-
-Sigmaringen, born November IT, 1915,
and, therefore, exactly four years younger
than the Prince of Wales. But, owing to the
difference of creed, the radiant Furs tim is
aloLi me tange1e to his royal highness.
THE ELIGIBLE FAIR ONES.
After sitting and distilling the contents of
the royal Doomsday book with the utmost
care, the sad fact remains at the bottom, that
as already said, there are really no more than
seven eligible ladies in the world to whom the
eldest son of Queen Victoria may offer his
hand. The list being SO extremely circum-
scribed, it seems worth while to set forth the
names Of this galaxy of beauteous candidates
for the throne of Great Britain and the Indies.
First on the list, according to rank stands
Princess Alexandria of Prussia, born Febru
airy /, 1912, the youngest daughter of Prince
Albert, brother of the king by Princess Mari
anne of the Netherlands. 1t is unfortunate
for this young princess, that from an early
age she had to be the involuntary spectator of
Domestic discussions, which ultimately led to
judicial divorce of her parents, pronounced
BY judgment of the consistory of Berlin, in
March, 1919.
a happier home was that of the second
princess on our list-Wilhelmina of Wurtem~
berg, born July IL, 1874, the daughter of
Prince Eugene by Princess of Hohenlohe-
Langenburg. Prince Eugene died some five
years ago, and his children are known to be
all well educated but the formidable Dooms-
day book reveals that there is much 'morgan-
attic" blood in this family, and the fact thatth
mother of Princess Wilhelmina is related to
Admiral Sir George Seymour would probably
act as an obstacle to a union with the royal
house Of Great Britain.
The third candidate is Princess Anna of
Hesse, born May %, lS43, the eldest daughter
Of Duke Charles Of Hesse-D armstadt, and
sister of Prince Ludwig, who lately married
our own Princess Alice. Little is known OF
THIS young royal lady; but she is said to be
oil 1.