New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-11
"R0YALTY'S G0SSlPS."
Diuerse Faiths Represented by the
Sponsors of ItaIy's Groom Prince.

King Edward supreme head of the Protestant
| Church of England; Emperor William. Lu-
theran and Prince Nicholas of Montenegro. a
member of the Orthodox Greek rite assumed
on Sunday last sponsors grave responsibilities
| in connection with the religious weitare OF the
future ruler of Italy. on the occasion OF his
christening at Rome. Indeed his grandmother,
| Queen Marguerite. the only one OF his four
| godparents who belonged to the Roman Cath
olio Church. into which he was baptized with
water brought for the purpose from the River
Jordan, that is always used for royal and i'm
perial Christenings, matter what the rite
! The British and German monarchs were rep
resented by ~,roxy, Prince Albert OF Prussia who
I is considerably six feet in stature. and one
! of the very tallest men of the Germany army
! towering above everybody present. But sturdy
! Prince Nicholas there in person. and' IN ac-
| cordance with the requirements of the ritual
| held one hand on his little grandson's shoulder
and in the other a lighted candle throughout
| the ceremony.
AS the selection of the infant Prince of Pied
| rnont's Sponsors or "gossips." which is the old
| Anglo Saxon name by which they were known
! has created some surprise, it may be as well
| to explain that the Catholic Church Will allow
| Protestants members Of the schismatio rite
! to act as godparents. providing there Is one
! sponsor who is a Catholic, the Catholic III thlS
| instance having been Queen Marguerite. There
! was consequently no ecclesiastical obstacle TO
| the three foreign monarchs in question acting
! in this capacity. while there were very obvious
! advantages. For sponsorship in baptism not
| merely imbues godparents with more than or
! binary interest in their godchild. but actually
establishes a bond Of relationship between them.
! To such extent Is this recognized by the
! Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches that
marriage between godparents and their god
children are strictly forbidden. while sponsor
is debarred from wedding the mother or
! father of the child. unless dispensation has
been obtained from the ecclesiastical authori-
| ties, without which the union is invalid in the
! eyes of the Church.
| King Victor Emmanuel, by inviting Emperor
| William and King Edward to act as the god
| fathers of his and heir, aimed at assuring
| TO the child their friendship and support which
may be of immense advantage not only to the
! young prince, but likewise to his dynasty and
! to his country later on. No more striking IL
lustration Of the political advantages to be OBJ
! talned by the selection of influential and
| powerful sponsor for a youthful scion of royalty
| can be found than the case OF the present King
! Of Spain. The latter it may be remembered,
| was born six months after the death OF his
! father, and Queen Christina, who was keenly
! alive to the I'll will which prevailed against her
| at the time throughout the land Of her adoption.
! in consequence of her being foreigner. and
to the dangers which menaced the throne, APP
pealed to Leo XIII to assume the role Of god
father toward the infant King. The Pontiff
| not only acquiesced. but took his obligations
as the royal chid's godfather very seriously to
! heart and brought all his immense influence as
supreme head of the Roman Catholic Church, to
bear upon the episcopacy. and especially upon
the clergy end the religious orders Of Spain.
These had up to that time been more or less
devoted to the cause of Don Carlos, who had
pledged himself to restore to them the power and
the possessions which they had enjoyed until
the death OF King Ferdinand VII. Leo XIII.
however. gave them distinctly to understand
that If they took any part whatsoever, directly
or indirectly in the Carlist agitation against
the widowed Queen Christina and her little boy
they would incur his gravest dspleasure. de-
clined to accord any countenanCe to Don Carlos.
or even TO permit him to cross the threshold OF
the Vatican, and lost opportunity OF
phaszing the fact that Don Alfonso XIII was
to him an object Of particular and paternal
solicitude. IT, indeed. the young King has been
enabled to traverse in safety all the perils Of his
sixteen years OF minority. and remains to-day
mere firmly established on his throne than ever,
despite the crushing disasters of the with
the United States and the loss OF Spain's entire
colonial empire. it is due to the support and
protection which he received from the time of
his christening until a year ago from his de-
voted godfather. the late Leo XIII.
There is no doubt that the Gear had this in
mind when he invited Emperor William and
King Edward to assume the role Of sponsors at
the christening of the Czarevtch last summer
at which they were respectively represented by
Prince Henry OF Prussia and Prince Louis of
Battenberg, brothers-in-law of Nicholas II.
The choice of King Edward especially re-
nlarkable considering the fact that England IS
the ally OF Japan and that the popular feeling
throughout Russia against Great Britain sitce
the commencement of the present war IN the
Far East. has been very pronounced. But the
Car had the future rather than the present in
view, and In placing his little boy. TO speak.
under the protection of Edward VII and of the
Kaiser, as their godchid. hoped thereby TO CO.
ment those ties of friendship between their
countries and his which constitute the
surest guerdon Of peace
1t is not generally known IN this connection
that Germanys Crown Prince Is a godson of
Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. 1t
Kaiser Wihelm's own idea to invite the veneer
able Austrian monarch to assume this rea-
tionship toward his frstborn and the late
Prince Bismarck. when consulted about the
matter gave his enthusiastic approval to the
proposal. seeing therein a further bond OF
union between the two dynasties of Hohenzol-
lern and of Hapsburg and between the two en-
pires. Francis Joseph has always been par
ticularly fond OF the young Crown Prince of
Germany. and there is no doubt that We're any
thing untoward to happen to Emperor William
his eldest would find a most devoted friend
and second father in the present ruler of
Austria.
Not always are royal personages selected as
he auOinted 4 ne nd for