Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1882-05-19
A Coming Royal Marriage,


dispatch from Berlin has already an
houhced that marriage has bcen arranged
hetween Princess Beatrice, Queen Eictoria's s
youngest daughter, and Prince Frederick
William, eldest son of the Landgrayc of
ltessc. The Princess Beatrice Mary Victoria
feodora, whose betrothal has been reported.
Is the youngest and only unmarried child of
Queen Victoria. She was born at Buckin"-
ham Palace on April II, 1857, and has thus
entered upon her twenty-sixth YEAR The
Princess Beatrice did not long cnioy her
accomplished fathers care, being but "A little
over iour years old at the time of his death.
FOR lhls reason, perhaps, she has grown up
III greater seclusion than any of her sisters.
She has seldom gone abroad without being
accompanied by her mother. In fact the
Queen for years past has acted the part of a
lailor, rather than that of Il mother, to her
llckieSS young daughter whom she has
nit fed up as closely as though she was u
clolSlcrcd nun, instead of Il marriageablc
young lady Of royal blood. No one ever
secs the Princess in public with the Prince
anu IrnccSS of Wales, as she remains
buried with her mother in dreary Sc
rlllslon from one years end to another.
The l'rincrsS has Inherited much of her
mothers clcrerneSs in music and scientific
study, but the public know her ONLY by
sight her pretty, cold face appears photo
%rlphcd in every shop window, and is f:l-
miliar to all Windsor people for she drives,
rides and walks in the immediate nci"hbor-
hood OF the castle constantly. Reserved
and proud III temperament she can scarcely
he called faVorlte. yet many stories of her
tlllll dcv0tcdncss are told She has the re -
utation of being the Gle crest mc.,ber of the
royal family ; in fact it is doubtful if there
he any unmarried princess living who pos
scsScs her amount of mental ability. Asa
child she 81 ip'y astonisicd and nonplusscd
poor Dc IN Stanley, who could not answer
the slnc 1t theological riddles offered him
by the. OF ~ Princess for. olu iol. A thous-
and anecdotes of her marvellous precocitv
are told. The Princess has one hero and
idol, and that hero is hcrbrothcr, the Prince
OF Wales. She simply thinks ''Bertic" per-
Get, and the model of all that is best and
good. II. X. II. always pcttcd and spoiled
her as Il child, and, after the late Princess
Alice she was his iavo lite sister For sev-
eral years past the marriage of Princess Be-
atricc has been al cngrossing topic in court
circles OfQuecn Nictoria's five daughters
the Crown Princess Of Germany married at
eighteen, the late Princess Alice of Hessc at
nineteen, the Princess Helena at twenty,
and the Princess Louise ut twenty-thrcc.
The reason apparently is that Beat
rice is tastidiOus and hard to please.
having, it is said, had offers from all
the eligible royal bachelors in Eu-
rope and having refused them all.
The Duke of Baden, and Prince Thomas of
Savoy, brother Of the Queen of Italy, have
both been mentioned in connection with her
land. It has also been widely believed that
IN attach.nent existed between the late
Prince Imperial and the Princess Beatrice.
who manifested deep grief at his untimcly
death. Her name has also been associated
with that of Prince Louis of Battcnbcrg, and
it has also been declared that the only thing
standing i'll the way of her marrying the
widowed Prince Louis of Hesse. and taking
charge of the children of her deceased sis
ter, the Princess Alice, is the fact that the
act lcgalizing marriage with the deceased
Wlte's sister has not yet passed Parliament
Eut the Princess has remained to this day
her mothers constant companion at Wind
sor. Osborne and Balmoral. and on her re-
pcItcd visits to the continent.
The young man whom Princess Bcatriccis
to we'd is his Royal HighncsS Frederick
William Nicholas Charles, eldest son of the
Landgnve Frederick, the present head of
the old Electoral House of Hessc. His
mother, the second wife of the I.andgravc
Frederick, is the Princess Anne, daughter
of Prince Chan cs Of Prussia. and sister of
Prince Frederick Charles the celebrated
Prrssian soldier. The young man is thus Il
grand nephew Of the emperor William He
was born at Copenhagen on Oct. I5, 1854.
ing thus i'll his twcnty-cight year, or not
quite three years older than his prospcntive
bride. The family to which the young man
belongs is one Of the numerous German
families which were formerly possessed of
sovereign po vcrs, but We been dcthroncd
in late years through the grasI ing policy of
Prussia.