Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-08-03
ROYAL WEDDINGS.
Thirty nine Families in Europe Per
mitted to untermarry

Thirty-nine Families in Europe Per
mitted to Intermarry.
The great topics of the past week
or two, says the Pail Mall Gazette.
have been the royal wedding, the loss
of the Victoria, and the state of bust
ness in the house of commons. One
hundred and twenty years ago the
people of England, from the lord
chancellor and. the archbishop of Can
terbury down TO the plowboy and the
scullery-maid, had their heads as full
of royal marriage as ours can be today.
1t was the year OF the strongest nation
al excitement about royal marriage
that had been known in England since
the days of the Tudors; it was the yeal
1II2 when parliament passed the
shameful marriage act, which caused
so many arbitrary allianc IS in George
ILLS time. The act is still on the
statute book, but fortunately the
sense of the moral evil and political
lost by the nation.
The present royal, wedding sets one
thinking of some of. the peculiarities
which distinguish royal families and
royal alliances in Europe. OF the
marriages of most of our Saxon prime
eSSes little is known. save the record
of the fact. There was the wedding
or betrothal, and the subsequent mar
riage. In the latter ceremony there.
was some sOlumn prayers, but there
was no actual contract 1t was, not
till the reign of Henry l. that the
groom was taught to say, Il take.
thee, n, to be my welded wife," and
the bride, in like sense. II take thee,
NJ, to be my welded husband"
Royal, noble, and all sorts and condi-
tions of people have since used this,
same form of words.
Some time after the Norman. con-
quest elapsed before Il. princess of
England was married on English ground
since none of the daughters of William
l. were truly English. princesses. In
Henry Is time we get Il princess
BORN on English soil and descended
from the SaXons by her mother This
was Matilda She, too, was the first
English princess for whom we had to.
provide Il dowry. Mary, second daugh-
ter of Stephen, was the first English
princess after the conquest who was
married in England. This; however,
WAS Il runaway match!. and not legal
III the eyes of the church.. The. first
really lawful marriage of a princess
royal was that of Joanna, daughter OF
King John, who married Alexander IL
of Scotland, which took, place at York
The reign of Henry Ill. presents us
with another royal marriage at York
between an English princess, and a
Scottish king
The nrSt real love-match. OF a princess
royal is said TO nave Deen that OF
E]eanora, eldest daughter of Edward
l., with Henry duke of Bar. We pass
over other royal marriages to mention
that of Mary, daughter of Charles L.,
to William, afterwards prince OF
Orange. The bride was but 10 years of
age, and the bridegroom IL, the event
being solemniZed in May, 1914, in the
chapel royal, Whitehall. There was
Il bevy of very little bridesmaids, all
in cloth of silver, and the wedding
festivity had much the aspect Of good
romping "'children's party" This is
noteworthy, as being the last of what
may be called chiid-marriages.
Thirty-siX years after this another
Mary, daughter Of the duke of York
DANES ID, was married to another
and greater William of Orange, the
son Of the couple above mentioned. By
far the most important characteristic
of European royal families is the
custom Of inter-marriage. 1t is said
that there are thirty-nine royal fami-
lies in Europe permitted to intermarry
with one another, thirty-fOur of these
being German, either by birth or origin.
OF course, there have been numerous
instances of royal people marrying
others more humbly born, but then the
real kings and queens nearly always
contrive to let the parvenu feel the
OffenSe to royalty.
Another popularity connected with
royalty is the proneness to give a multi
tude of Christian and other names.
There seems to be love for particular
names in particular families The
Austrian royal house shows a strong
prediction for Joseph, the Prussian
for Frederick. There is one little
place in Germany called Ruess which
had Henry for its sovereign dur
ing period of 800 years. In the choice
of names our own royal fairly is
compare lively modest
The nine sons and daughters of
Queen Victoria, though possessed of
names quite numerous enough to be
known by-thirty in all, or rather
more than three each ON an average
are far below the level of their Ger
man cousins in this matter. Portugal
eclipses all other countries in the num-
Der Of names given to the royal
each is the average
they generally indulge in. Queen
[sabella's sister, the duchess of Mont
'ensier, had a daughter to whom
.wenty-one names were given.