Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-08-23
ROYAL RGNANCES.
N0rganatsc Marriages Among the No
biliiy Of the Old World.

Queen Of England and Others to annul the
union have naturally aroused some general
interest in the left -handed marriages of kings
and princes. ceremonies which, it must be adj
mitted. have not always been attended by cir
cumstances rejecting credit on the gentlemen
taking part in them. 1t will be seen, from
definition Of a morganatic marriage that the
name can only be properly applied to unions
wherein the husband is of royal lineage and
the wife is not The marriage of royal
ladies with subjects does not follow the
rule of the intermarriage of ranks everywhere
l. e., the superior rank of the wife in no degree
raises that of her husband Thus, though plain
baron may wed duchess. he does not thereby
become duke, but remains a baron till DEATH
and his children can only claim the humber
title. But the bride of duke is always en-
titled TO the duchess cOrOnet. though previous
to her marriage she may have been the daugh-
ter OF but hod-carrier. And the only excep-
ton to the rule which renders legally welded
life, by the marriage contract, her husbands
equal in rank is found in the mOrganatic mar
riage. which originated among the German
princes Of the tenth century. its idea being Dor
rowed, however, from secondary custom of
the Romans.
The name given to this form of marriage was
nadt,-i'noniuna ad n,OTgdndticatn the latter word
taken from the mOrgengabe or morning gift, a
dowry by ancient custom given to the bride,
usually by the bridegroom. on the morning
after the uptias-correspOnding to the mar
rage settlements of later cviZation-the
implication being that the wife mnst expect
nothing more from her husband than this gift
conferred.
Customs in time become law. so this practice
brought into existence royal code of matri-
mony in which marriages of princes to ladies
OF lower ranks in other than mOrganatic form
was held to be punishable with severest penal
ties-penaties more usually visited on the more
innocent party the wife. Thus. in 1416. Duke
Ernest of Bavaria had q beautiful girl, Agnes
Bernane, put to death for marrying his son
Albert. The cruelty and injustice of this code
affected the morals of the kings. SO that some
came to think that they might contract NOR
ganatic marriage over and above one in their
own station. Philip. landgrave of Hesse one
OF the champions of the Reformation, contracted
second marriage OF this kind during the life
time of his lawful wife. After becoming a
Protestant, his scruples were aroused on the
subject of retaining Mrs. Phillip No. g. and he
consulted Luther, Melanchthon and others
about it.
THE REFORMER's SANCTION.
The reply of these fathers of the church is
curious document. They demurred little at
the marriage, saying that they "could not adj
wise that the license Of marrying more wives
than one be publicly introduced, and as it were
ratified by law" since this would cause lex
cessive scandal" yet-for the sake of sparing
hS ihShhcoS NcIlukS, IlO uOuUU-Iney aufnlCUCu
that there was room for dispensatiOn;"
that they would not Condemn prince who
should thus take a second wife, but would
advise THAT the marriage should take place
secretly, so that no scandal may arise" So
Philip kept his two wives and others followed
his example, but the custom did not meet with
general approval even among the princes. In
1919 Charles Ludwig. electOr of Palatine, the
brother of Prince Rupert. though already we'd
ded to the Princess Charlotte of Hesse, fell vio-
1nr,fI L. in D,-
Marie Won Dagenfeid, and resolved to marry her
in left-handed fashion. He did so, according to
the forms OF the church. i'll spite of the pro-
tests OF the court. The fair Marie had fourteen
children, nearly all boys, who became well
known as counts of the Palatnate Several of
them were soldiers of fortune. and won some
military repute in other Kingdoms, but the
sons of Princess Charlotte succeeded to
the throne. And. though morganatic maria ges
have continued to flourish in Germany. this one
was the last involving the act of bigamy.
The royal family of England has had number
of these lelt-handed marriages. George l. was
married in morganatic fashion to Fraulein Schu-
lenburg. afterward Duchess of Kendall. which
marriage gave to English society Lord Chester
field and his descendants. an offshoot of the
royal family which never laid claim to iegiti-
macy. George III. came very near making
similar marriage with Lady Catherine LennoX,
but the opposition of the German hangers on at
his court dissuaded him, and he soon after mar
memory OF what he had lost added not little to
the bitterness with which he prosecuted those
of his brotl ers who preferred the beautiful
daughters OF the English nobility to the dowtly
and awkward German princesses.
SECRET MARRIAGES IN ENGLAND.
September 6, 1866 the Duke Of Gloucester
was married secretly to Maria. the countess
dowager of Waldegrave, and October 9. III.
the Duke of Cumberland welded, also secretly.
the Hon. Annie Horton. These marriages
were not made public until 1772. King George
on hearing of them, was furious. and mmed-
ately had the royal marriage act passed by
parliament. according to which absurd docu-
ment no member of the royal family under
20 years OF age can marry without the consent
of the crown. The marriages already con-
tracted were not intertered with indeed, the
social standing of the Duchess of Gloucester
was such that the king did not dare to
offend her family. Her son succeeded to
the dukedom, and subsequently married
one of King Georges daughters. George
rage act, by his marriage to the beautiful
and excellent Mrs. Fitzherbert, 1857. This
marriage was declared void by the ecclesiastics
immediately, and the royal reprobate lost his
last chance of becoming respectable member
of society. In like manner the marriage of the
Duke of Sussex, the sixth son of George I'LL,
in 1873, to Lady Augusta Murray was annuled
by the ecclesiastical court. Eminent jurists,
however. declared the annulment of these mar
riages far more illegal than the marriages them
selves; that penalty might be adjudged, if de-
sired. for the violation of an act of parliament,
but the marriage in itself was entirely legal
The eldest son of the aforementioned marriage
was the famous Col D'Este He served in the
army for number Of years. then, as several
successive deaths OF his uncles opened the way,
he put forward his claims In 1880 to the Hano-
Verian succession.
The interest excited by this action was great,
both in England and Germany. He employed
two able lawyers to bring his claim before the
Frankfort Diet, but at hint from Prussia that
body dropped the matter. The Duke of Cum
berland, who became king of Hanover in 1884,
had but one son. who was blind. Col. D'Este
now took his demand before the Hanoverian
chamber of mobiles. Being threatened with as
sassinaton he went to Berlin in 1886, and laid
his claim before Frederick William Ill. himself
morganatically married. The king received him
as prince. but did nothingfOr him. The colonel
is dead, but his descendants are to-day the hope
OF the liberal party of Hanover.
In 1925 the Duke OF Sussex again married
subject, this time Cecilia, the daughter of the
Earl of Arran, Scotland. She was not received
as his lawful wife, but, as in the case of Mrs.
FitZherbert, the verdict of society was in her
favor. The queen, recognizing this, after the
dukes DEATH made her Duchess of Inverness.
and the young Guelphs always treated her as a
quasi member of the royal family. She died in
1869.
RECENT MORGANATIC MATCHES.
Some OF the comparatively recent morganatic
marriages of royalty are worth notice for the
spice of romance in them. For instance, the