The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-03
MoRGANATIC MARRIAGES.
They Are Perfectly Legal In the
Eyes of the Church.
From Cassen's saturday Journal.

marriages are perfectly good and lawful.
They are recognized and celebrated by
the Protestant, Greek and Roman Church.
es. No stigma attaches to the wife in the
eyes of the world. There is nothing 70
prevent her being received as the lawful
wife of her husband at the court OF his
family If the head Of the family so wishes
and questions of precedence can be set
tied by comforting upon her some title
which will give her a 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 pur-
poses or because his family insists that
he must marry In his own rank In order
that he may continue the line It Is not
necessary 10 take any legal steps TO es-
tablish his independence. He need not
even inform the unhappy lady Of his in
tention. And when we consider the ex-
treme hardship OF her position, we must
also remember that the rule is as old as
the Oldest of the relgning houses OF Ger
many, and is as well known as the law
of military service. The victim of a NOR
ganatic marriage can no more plead that
he Qor the rule applies equally to mem or
she did not konw the possibilities of the
position 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 King Oscar of Sweden, who fell
In love vita Miss Ebba Munck, the pretty
daughter OF one of the Swedish minis
ters and insisted on marrying her. The
marriage, of course, was morganatic; 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
Barnadotte. 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 first TO stop the
marriage, and, secondly. when II was ac-
complished, TO induce the Princess to re-
pudate it. Another quite recent case is
that of the Grand Duke Michael of Rus
STA, who married morganaticully a Ger
man lady of noble but not royal birth. The
late Gar commanded the Grand Duke to
give her up and marry in his own rank
or be banished from Russia. 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 humiliation of being obliged to use her
maiden name still.
The reasons why Prince and Princess
Edward of Saxe-Weimar, Princess Victor
of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and her son,
Count Glechen reside in England and
Prince and Princess Louis of Battenburg
follow the British fleet are these: In the
first case, Prince Edward is married to a
sister of the Duke of Richmond and Cor
don; in the second, Prince Victors widow
was a daughter of a Marques of Hartford;
In the third Prince Louis, being the son
% a morganatic marriage, Is not on the
royal level All these marriages are NOR
ganatic, with tho result that in German
Princess Edward would be known as
Countess Dornberg "a title conferred on
her after her marriage); Princess Victor
would be merely Lady Laura Seymour,
and her son would have no title at all;
while Princess Louis would be styled Prin
cess Victoria of Hesse, just as IL she were
unmarried. Some idea OF what can be
done in circumstances like this may be
taken from the case of the late Grand
Duke of Hesse, who. after the death OF
his first wife (our Princess ALICE mar
ried morganatically a lady of non-royal
BIRTH A few days after the ceremony he
dismissed her.
Neither the common nor the court law
of England recognized these distinctions,
and marriages with subjects were by no
means uncommon up to about a century
ago. Queen Mary III and Queen Anne were
both the daughters of the marriage be-
tween James ii and Anne Hyde, daugh-
ter OF Lord Chancellor Clarendon. George
III, however, had German ideas, and re-
sented some alliances of this kind. He
got a law passed, called the royal mar
rage act which declared that members
of the royal family in tho line of success
sion could not marry without the consent
of the crown before they attained the age
Of Is. This law did not create a caste, It
only imposed a condition. The difference
between it and the morganatic rule is that
under the latter a marriage between a
royalty and a subject can never become
binding against the royalty.
The latter may be voluntarily bound as
long as he or she may choose, but no lon
ger; whereas a marriage between roy
atty and a subject celebrated In England
under the royal marriage act with the
consent of the crown Is as binding as a
marriage celebrated lawfully between sub
jects, and cannot be broken except by the
high court for legal cause. Moreover the
children Of this union have full rights OF
succession and inheritance TO both their
parents.
The marriages Of Princess Louise, Prin-
cess Henry Of Battenberg and the Ouch
ess Of Fife constitute exact examples OF
what in Germany would be styled NOR
ganatlc union. In England, however,
as they were celebrated with the consent
of the Queen, they are on the same foot
ing as other marriages. A strong proof
OF this Is to be found In the fact that the
Duchess of Fife comes next 10 the Duke
Of York's family in the line Of succession,
and her daughters come after her. In
Germany her marriage would have cut
the Duchess and her children out Of the
line altogether. The strongest case, how
ever, is that of the Duke and Duchess of
York. According to the German law, the
Duke of Teck, being the son of a morgan
attic marriage, could only marry the late
Princess Mary Adelaide morgantically
Their children were morganaticelly born
and when Princess May married the
Duke Of York Il was merely a Inorganic
tic alliance. 1t may be added, however
that not even the German Emperor has
ever ventured 10 treat the Duchess as a
morganatic wife.
Ancient English GnIIoyvs.
From the London Daily News.