The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-06-30
MORGANATIC MARRIAGES.
They Are Perfectly Legal in the Fly


 of the Church.
 It must be thoroughly understood that, apart from the court laws, mor- ganatic marriages are perfectly good and lawful. They are recognized and celebrated by the Protestant, Greek and Roman churches. No stigma at taches to the wife in the eyes of the world. There is nothing to prevent her being received as the lawful wife of her husband at the court of his family if the head of his family so wishes and questions of precedence can be settled by comforting on her some title which will give her definite rank of her own. On the other hand, by the court law the marriage never had any binding force at all. Therefore, if the man chooses to be a scoundrel either for his own purposes or because his family in sist that he must marry in his own rank in order that he may continue the line, it is not necessary to take any le- gal steps to establish his independence. He need not even inform the unhappy lady of his intention. And when we consider the extreme hardship of her position, we must also remember that the rule is as old as the oldest of the reigning houses of Germany, and is as well known as the law of military ser vice. The victim of a norganatic mar riage can no more plead that he (for the rule applies equally to men) or she did not know the possibilities of the po- sition than the peasant who deserts his regiment could urge that he was not aware that the thing was punishable
 A notable case in the last ten years is that of Prince Oscar of Sweden, who fell in love with Miss Ebba Munch, the pretty daughter of one of the Swedish ministers, and insisted on marrying her.The marriage of course, was mor- ganatic; the wife did not become a member of the royal family, and the children could never inherit the throne. On the other hand the king and queen thoroughly recognize this lady as their daughter in-law, and treat her with the utmost affection. The king, moreover, has conferred on the pair the non-royal title of Prince and Princess Bernadotte. Another instance is that of Princess Frederick of Hanover, who fell in love with and married her fathers court physician in defiance of her family, who made every effort to stop the marriage, and, secondly, when it was accom- plished, to induce the princess to repu- diate it. Another quite recent case is that of the Grand duke Michael of Rus sia, who married morganatically Ger man lady of noble but not royal birth The late Czar commanded the grand duke to give her up and marry within his own rank or be banished from Rus sia. The grand-duke preferred exile with his wife, who has been created Countess Torby by the King of Bavaria | in order to relieve her of the humilia- l tion of being obliged to use her maiden name still.
 The reasons why Prince and Princess | Edward of Saxe-Weimar, Princess Vic- | tor of Hohenlohe-Lan and her son Count Gleichen reside in England, and Prince and Princess Louis of Bat l tenburg follow the British fleet are l these: In the first case Prince Edward | is married to a sister of the Duke of | Richmond and Gordon; in the second, Prince Victors widow was a daughter of Marquess of Hertford; in the third, | Prince Louis, being the son of mor- ganatic marriage, is not on the royal level. All these marriages are morgan attic, with the result that in German | Princess Edward would be known as | Countess Dornberg Ca title conferred on her after her marriage); Princess Vic | toria would be merely Lady Laura Sey- mour, and her son would have no title at all; while Princess Louis would be l styled Princess Victoria of Hesse, just as if she were unmarried. Some idea of | what can be done in circumstances like | this may be taken from the case of the l late Grand-duke of Hesse, who, after | the death of his first wife (our Princess Alice), married morganatically a lady of non-royal birth. A few days after | the ceremony he dismissed her.