Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-15

The Duke of York Was Married Before, b.
the Ceremony Was Not Legal

The Duke of York Was Married Before, but
the Ceremony Was Not Legal.
Harold Frederic, the London correspondent
Of the New York Times, writes as follows re-
garding the report that Prince George of Wales,
who married Princess May, was already mar
ried:
The most authentic version which comes to
me, and rests upon the authority of one who
has gathered the facts at first hand in Malta
upon his word of honor not to divulge the
family name involved, Is that between four and
five years ago George was married by the Ro-
man Catholic ritual to a daughter of British
naval officer of high rank and that there are
two children by the marriage.
Information from an absolutely reliable source
says the lady from Malta is the daughter Of q
British naval captain who has been stationed at
Malta for number Of years. It is quite posi-
ble If 1t were necessary, to give the date Of the
marriage at yaletta, and even the names OF the
people who witnessed the ceremony. It is told
By lady now living at Richmond, near White
Lodge. whence Princess May drove Tuesday to
be married, that week ago a letter received
from Princess May was being shown about In
court circles, furtiyely. of course. in which the
princess said to titled lady correspondent
that she knew all about the whole affair. This
of course. was to be taken for granted, but the
fact OF her letter being handed about for
prurient inspection shows how speedily the en-
tire matter may be expected to obtain publicity
OF course the contracting parties knew that
by the royal marriage act this really no
marriage at all; but the theory is that George,
who was then not in direct line to the throne
counted on his elder brothers marrying anu
having heirs. when his irregular connection
would be accorded q quasi-sanction such as
was given the Duke of Cambridge and other
collateral English princes.
By the light of this occurrence it NAV be
seen how infinitely more tragic was the death
OF that elder brother, Clarence than at the
time appeared. 1t helps one now to compre-
bend all the strange, obscure vacillations and
cross currents which marked the conduct of
the ROYAL family during the succeeding year.
with the protracted breaking up Of the Mari
borough house menage and the long, aimless
journeying abroad of George and his mother
has seen a curt official note in the London
papers correcting, on behalf Of the Princess
of Wales. a mistaken report that she attended
the court ball on the 30th.
Az for the current club reports that the
''Iady from Malta" she is popularity styled,
il in London and not only went to the state
ball on Tuesday night, but also made her ap-
pearance a. st. James Palace, it perhaps
deserves repeating part of contemporary
gossip. but need not be taken too seriously. 1t
is incredible in these DAYS that the secret should
be kept much longer; that it will filter by word
of mouth through all England is matter of
course. So far be judged up to the
present, its effect ia to create kind of SYM
pathy for George, who seems to have stood out
as long as possible under the of course terrific
pressure and at last succumbed only because
the interests Of the dynasty seemed impera-
lively to demand submission.