The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-06
JUST A HUSBAND; THAT'S ALL.
Uncomfortable Position of a Prince
COnsOrt.
T. P. O'Connor in M. A. P.


T. P. O'Connor in M. A. P.
The happy recovery of Queen Will
helmina of Holland has once again set
all tongues wagging about the young
royal menage which began at The
Hague amid so many suspicious wishes
less than a year and a half ago. The
kindness and sympathy shown toward
Prince Henry from all sides prove that
some idea of the difficulties of his po-
sition as Prince Consort has begun to
filter through the public mind-even
through the prejudiced Dutch mind.
The lot of a prince consort is certainly
not q happy one. Prince Henry, for in
stance, as mere husband of Queen Will
helmina is not, in the eyes of either
Dutch law or of any of the foreign
courts, a member of the royal family
of Holland, nor entitled to the legal
rights or social prerogativeS' of the
dynasty. He is really in the position
of one of his wife's ordinary subjects,
and as such may be indicted at any
time by the ordinary tribunals of the
Netherlands for offenses against the
laws of the land, including those of
high treason and of lesema jeste. Both
of these last-named crimes lack defini-
ton. and are in consequence most elias
tic in their application.
According to all the recognized au-
thorities bearing upon the subject, the
royal family OF a monarchial country
embraces only the Queen Consort the
Queen Dowager and the lineal and le-
Ultimate descendants of the sovereign.
But no provision is made for the con-
sort of queen regent or an empress
regent. Consequently the matter
stands thus: That whereas a queen
consort is a mem&ar of the reigning
family and entitled to all it's ample
rights and prerogatives, the husband
of queen or empress regent is not so
unless specially empowered by letters
patent or by statute. 1t will be re-
membered it was not until Prince AL
bert had been married to Queen Vic
toria for is years that he became Of
ficially and legally a member of the
royal family through letters patent is
sued by the Queen in council, con-
ferring upon him the title of Prince
Consort of Great Britain" Up to that
time he had been without any Off
cially recognized status in England,
while abroad he was obliged to accept
the precedence due to a mere Prince of
the House of Coburg.
This goes to showA how exceedingly
difficult and far from enviable is the
position of the consort of the female
ruler of a state-a position for which
lhete - pIdCICdily no description OF
designation in diplomatic phraseology,
save that of lie Mari de la Refine"
Perhaps the best proof of all that the
position of the husband of a queen or
empress regent is abnormal is furnish
ed by the circumstance that so few
cases of the kind are to be found in
history. Indeed, there are not more
than half a dozen all told, namely,
Prince Albert, the husband of Queen
Victoria; Prince Ferdinand of Sake
Coburg. the consort of Queen Maria
Della Gloria of Portugal who. reigned
in the third and fourth decades of the
present century; Prince Francis of
Bourbon, the husband of Queen Isabel
la of Spain; Prince George of Den
mark, the husband of Queen Anne.
and Philip of Spain, the consort of
Queen Mary.