The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-10
ODD MORGANATIC UNIONS.
Marriage Affiliations Between Roy
atty and Lower Rank Persons.

atty and Lower Rank Persons.
Every now and then morganatic mar
riages still bob up over in Europe to trou-
bic monarchs and royal families and to
| furnish the common people with enough
| gossip to crowd out everything else for
\ months at time. And such marriages
have played their part in history, for
many time they have resulted in COM
| plications which have distracted kings,
! queens, princes and ministers of state.
morganatic marriage. as is quite gem
orally known, is legal union between a
royal parsonage and one of inferior rank
OF course almost invariably, perhaps al
ways, the royal parsonage is the husband
and the one of inferior rank the wife.
The federation of more than one marriage
can be traced back to the ancient Ro-
mans, who had three forms. The confar-
reatio. the coemtio. and the usus The
Z first was both civil and a religious con-
tract and was entered into in the pres
ence of priest and ten witnesses, and
the offspring of such union were called
patrimi ct matrimi. The second form of
marriage was merely civil and although 1t
was completely binding the honor of pat
! rimi ct matrimi was not conferred upon
the children. The usuS, or third form of
marriage, was still less honorable. To
make it binding in law forms or cere-
monies were necessary The parties
thereto simply lived twelve months to-
gether and their marriage was fact.
After the overthrow OF the Roman EN-
Dire Roman customs became more or less
diftused all over Europe and the coemtio
form Of their marriage came into great
favor with the German princes and no
bles. and thus arose the marriage which
is called morganatic. Ad morganaticam
is an expression of LON bard origin which
referred to the ancient German custom of
giving the bride q present the morning
after the nuptials, p morning gift, as
1t was called in this morganatic mar
riage the prince conferred only his hand
and not MS title or fortune to his new
wife, or not more of the latter than he
wished morning gift. The morgana-
tic marriage is in character about the
same today as it was In those olden
times.
History recites many morganatic mar
riages which attracted the attention of
almost the entire civilized world and
which were the causes OF many storms
In royal and legal circles. One retgnlng
duke of Germany made herculean eHortS
to have his morSanauc vile raised TO
royal rank as his Queen, but he ultt-
mately failed to accomplish his object.
The most notable morganatic marriages
in what may be called modern times were
those of the King of Prussia in 1924 King
Frederick VII of Denmark in 1880. and
Archduke John of Austria in ISL In the
fall of 1924 the King of Prussia was mar
ried to Countess Augusta Won Harrach, a
young woman twenty-four years or age.
The union stirred up much comment for
the bride was a Roman Catholic She ac-
quired great influence over the aged mon
arch and it was rum0red that she would
convert him to Catholicism. Two years
after the marriage. however, the countess
embraced Professionalism. She was there
upon created princess by her husband.
and afterward at all official fetes and as
semblies she was treated as the declared
consort of the King. Even after the death
of the King she was treated with the
greatest respect by her husbands success
sor and all the members Of the royal fam
lily.
Perhaps to the general public the NOR
81. II I'M oil
of Denmark was, and still Is. far more in
teresting because of the greater difference
in rank between the contracting parties.
1t is related that the King first saw Lola
Rasmussen a milliner's apprentice, while
she was taking an active hand in working
a pump in the streets Of Copenhagen dur
ing a great fire. She was not beautiful
woman. but had great mental energy and
she exercised considerable influence ii the
Government OF Denmark.
Archduke John of Austria had quite as
romantic first meeting with the girl
whom he took to be his morganatic wife.
Little Anna PlOchel was the daughter of
the postmaster of the small village of
AurSee in the Alps Mountains. The Prince
on one of his hunting trips in the mount
aims applied at the house of the postmas-
ter for horses to drive him some distance
through the mountains The postmaster
was not at home, but Anna thought the
applicant looked like respectable man
and she volunteered to take him In a cart
to his destination. The Prince accepted,
but did not reveal his identity. His driv-
er was not especially pretty, but the arch
duke thought she was about the most in
teresting girl he had ever met. The next
day he hastened back to the village and
before ten days were past he asked the
postmaster for the hand of his daughter
The postmaster was enraged when the
sutton said he was a son of an Emperor,
and turned him out of doors. but the suit
or returned with good evidence and in
three weeks after Anna and the archduke
met in the two-whesfad cart they were
marrled.-The Chicago chronicle.