The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-06
WHEN ROYALTY WEBS.
Only Thirty-nine Families in Europe
Are Permitted to Intermarry.
From tho pail Mall Covp++n

From the Pail Mall Gazette.
One hundred and twenty years ago the
people of England, from the lord chan
cellor and the Archbishop of Canterbury
down to the ploughboy and scullery- maid
had their heads as full of royal marriage
as ours can be to-day. It was the year of
the strongest national excitement about
p oval marriage that had been known in
England since the days of the Tudors; it
was the year 1772 when parliament pass ed
the shameful Royal Marriage act, which
caused so many arbitrary alliances in
George III s time. The act is still on the
statute book, but fortunately the sense of
the moral evil and political danger in
vOlved in that law is nearly lost by the
nation.
The present royal wedding sets one
thinking of some of the pecularities
which distinguish royal families and
royal alliances in Europe. Of the mar
riages of most of our Saxon princesses
little is known save the record of the
fact. There was the wedding" or be
trothal, and the subsequent marriage
In. the latter ceremony there were some
solemn prayers, but there was no actual
contract. It was not until 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; 81
take thee, M, to be my welded hus-
band" Royal, noble and all sorts and
conditions of people have since used this
same form of words.
Some time after the Norman conquest
elapsed before a princess of England was
married on English ground. since none of
the daughters of William /. were truly
English princesses. In Henry l. s time
we got a 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 pro-
vide dowry, Mary, second daughter of
Stephen, was the first English princess
after the conquest who was married in
England. This however, was a runaway
match, and not legal in 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 H. of Scotland which took
place at York. The reign of Henry III.
presents US with another royal marriage
at York, between an English princess
and a Scottish king.
The first love match of a princess royal
is said to have been that of Eleanora,
eldest daughter of Edward l., with Henry,
Duke of Dor. We pass over other royal
marriages to mention that of Mary, daugh-
ter of Charles l., to William, afterwards
Prince of Orange. The bride was but 10
years of age and the bridegroom II the
event being solemnized in May, 1914, in
the Chapel Royal, Whitehall. There was
| a bevy of very little bridesmaids, all in
cloth of silver, and the wedding festivity
had much the aspect of a good, romping
"'childrens party" This is noteworthy
as being the last of what may be called
child-marriages
Thirty six years after this another
Mary, daughter of the Duke of York
Games IL 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 intermar
| riage 1t has been said that there are
thirty-nine royal families in Europe per-
mitted 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 al
ways conJrive to let the paryenu feel the
Offense to royalty.
Another popularity connected with
royalty is the proneness to give. multi
tude of Christian and other names. There
seems to be a love for particular families.
The Austrian royal house shows strong
prediction for Joseph, the Prussian for
Frederick. There is one little place in
NItEuldIy, tdlltu NtuSS, WHICH iIeb a AAtli-
ry for its sovereign during a period of
eight hundred years In the choice Of
names, our own royal family 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 German cousins in this matter.
Portugal eclipses all other countries in
the number Of names given to the royal
princes and princesses-sixteen each is
the average they generally indulge in. In
one instance Spain eclipsed her, when
Queen Isabella's sister, the Duchess of
Montpeusier, had a daughter to whom
twenty-one names were given.
llr .,l,,,,. moss that hnnse thai do not