The times., 1901-03-10
ODD MORGANATIG 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-
bIe monarchs and royal families and to
furnish the common people with enough
gossip to crowd out everything else for
months at a time. And such marriag ges
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.
y morganatic marriage. as is quite gem
orally known is a 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
hrst was both civil and religious con-
tract and was entered into In the pres
eHce of a priest and ten witnesses, and 7
the offspring of such a union were called
p3trimi ct matrimi The second form of
marriage was merely civil and although 1t
was completely binding the honor of pat
TiTni ct matrimi was not conferred upon
the children The uSuS, or third form of
marriage, was still less honorable To
make 1t binding in law no forms or cere-
monies Were necessary. The parties
thereto simply lived twelve months to-
gether and their marriage was a fact
After the overthrow OF the Roman EN-
pire 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 ana no.
bleS. and thus arose the marriage which
is called mOrganaJic Ad mOrganaticam
is Ar expression OF Lombard origin winch
referred to the ancient German custom Of
giving the bride 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 as a 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 We're the causes OF many storms
In royal and legal circles. One reigning
duke OF Germany made herculean euOrIS
To have his morganatic wife raised To
royal rank as his Queen but ne ulu-
msJeIy 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 1850. and
Archduke John of Austria in lS24- In the
fall of 1924 the King of Prussia was mar
ried TO Countess Augusta Won Harrach. 4
young woman twenJy-fOur years of age
The union stirred up much comment, for
the bride was Roman Catholic She ac-
quired great influence over the aged mon
arch and il was rumOred that she would
convert him to Catholicism. Two years
after the marriage however, the countess
embraced Professionalism. She was there
upon created a princess by her husband.
and afteTward AT all official feteS and as
semblies she was treated as the declared
consoTt 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
.rsri-tg of X
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 milliners 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 in the
Government OF Denmark
Archduke John of Austria had quite as
romantic a first meeting with the girl
whom he took 10 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 a respectable man
and she volunteered to take him in q 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 FASTENED back TO the village ana
before ten days were past he asked the
postmaster for the hand of his daughter.
The postmaster was enraged when the
suitOr 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 archduSe
met in the twO-wheeled cart they were
married.-The Chicago Chronicle.