Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1889-05-01
MORGANATIC MARRIAGES.

MORGANATIC MARRIAGES.
They Are Perfectly Respectable, hut Con.
Ter No Rights ON the Vile.
Morganatic marriages are but little
understood either in the United States
or In England. BY some they are re-
garded as kind OF semi-legalized con-
oubinage; by others they are believed
to confer the full rights and privileges
OF an ordinary marriage Even the
origin of the word morganatic is un-
known. Its most likely derivation,
however, is from the Scandinavian
verb "morgjan." to ''shorten or limit"
implying that the rights of the inferior
of the two contracting parties are
limited, and do not extend to
the full condition of the others
rank. Thus morganatic wife
has no right either to her husbands
title or fortune. He is not permitted to
charge the family domain with a life
interest in her behalf. She is deprived
from the appanage ordinarily reserved
for the wife OF her husbands family,
and if he dies without specially pro-
viding for her and her children out of
his savinge or private and unentailed
fortune, both she and her offspring are
left penniless. Moreover. although the
position of a morganatic wife is regard
ed as perfectly respectable, yet her hus-
band Is at liberty during her lifetime
and without obtaining any separation or
divorce, to contract another marriage
with a Princess of his own rank.
Among the numerous instances there
OF may be cited that of Prince Chris
tian OF Schleswig -Holstein, who at the
time when he married Princess Helena
OF Great Britain, and became the SON.
in-law of Queen Victoria, was known
to possess a morganatic wife and a
numerous family of morganatic chill
dren, who lived in a small provincial
town near Frankfort-on-the-M Main. An
other case was that of the Due de
Berry, at one time the heir presump-
tive TO the throne of France. who al
though morganatically married to an
English woman, Miss Lydia Thomp-
son, was forced by reason of state to
become the husband of Princess of
the royal house of Naples.
Notwithstanding these drawbacks,
the sister of the present Duke of Rich
mond and Gordon, the most naughty
and powerful peer of Great Britain, did
not consider it beneath her dignity to
become the morganatic wife of Prince
Edward of Saxe-Weimar, a cousin of
the reigning Grand Duke of one of the
smallest OF the petty German States.
She is entitled to appear at court both
at home and abroad, not as Princess
of Saxe-Weimar, but only as Countess
OF Dornburg. Another member of the
same house, Prince Gustave of Sake
Weimar, is married to a Dalmatian
'diva" of *'cafe chantant'' fame, who,
on the day of her wedding, received the
title of Baroness Neupurg. In
the same way Prince Victor of
Hohenlohe, who does not even
belong to a reigning dynasty, but
only to a mediatized family, and
who holds the rank of Admiral in the
English Navy. is married morganatical-
ly to a Miss Seymour. who is known as
the Countess of Gleichen. One of
the sons of this union, a young Count
Victor Gleichen, was recently in New
York..
The only American girls who have
contracted morganatic alliances are
Miss Lea, of New York, now the
Countess of Waldersee, but who On
her, marriage with the late Prince
Frederick of Schleswig- Holstein re-
ceiyed from the Emperor of Austria
the title OF Princess of Norr, and Miss
Elise Hensler, of Boston, an actress,
who, on becoming in 1869 the wife OF
the late King Consort of Portugal,
was created Countess of Edla.
Among the sovereigns who have con-
tracted morganatic marriages are the
late King Victor Emmanuel of Italy,
who gave his left hand at the altar to
the notorious Rosina. subsequently
created Countess of Mirafori; tho late
Car, who married the Princess Dol
gorouki and conferred upon her at the
time the title of Princess Turieffsky;
the late King of Portugal, whose name
has already been mentioned above,
and the reigning Grand Duke OF Sake
Meiningen, who is married to an act
ress of the name of Helene Franz,
created Baroness Heldburg. The late
Frederick William III. of Prussia con-
ferred the title of Princess Liegnitz on
the Countess of Harrack when he con-
tracted a morganatic marriage with
her, and the late Queen Christina of