The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-12-15
nN Ia MAnQuISE DIE roNrENoY

by la NiRQUlSE DE FOSTESoY.
NY an unfortunate coincidence,
~ which has excited Il considerable
amount OF amused comment at
the various courts of Europe. and
more especially in the good city of
Brussels, Prince Victor Napoleon be-
came a grandfather on the very das
OF his wedding at the castle of Mon
calieri, to Princess Clementine Of Bel
glum Prince Victor, during his res
idenCe of twenty-four years IN ext.
al Brussels. has had several feminine
his being hooted with cries OF Down
With Tortor," at tho popular Gallery
Theatre Totor is q sort of contemptu-
Gus corruption or Victor. The most
that with Nine. Rauclaire, who pre-
scented him with no less than FOUR
children. two girls and two boys. me
eldest OF these girls married last WIN
ter and has Just become mother, at
Brussels, thus rendering Prince VIC
tor a grandfather on his wedding day.
Contrary TO what has been alleged.
the prince has never contracted
amy morganatic alliance. that ls
civil or religious form of marriage
whatsoever with the mother OF his
children. Had ne done so he cou!a
not have welded Princess Slementlne'
without seeking beforehand dissolu-
ton OF his previous matrimonial bonds.
Strictly speaking, there are no such
things as morganatic marriages N
France, Belgium, or. for the matter OF
that, in England II in France or IN
Belgium a royal parsonage satisfies ms
conscience by wedding enthusiastically
woman whom he cannot marry CIV
lily on account OF her inferlorlty o.
rank he remains bound In the eyes
of the church, though not in those
OF the law, and thus, had Prince Victor
married Nine. Bauclaire ecclesiastical
~. lie could not have contraclea
another ecclesiastical union with
Princess Clementine of Belgium, though
he could have made the princess his
wife in the eyes of the law, by means cans,
of a civil ceremony on the grouna
that his marriage TO Mime. Bauclaire
had no legal value. The French royal
Duo de Berry welded Princess Caro-
line of Naples, in great state ana Win
much religious pomp, during the lLe-
time of his English wife, Amy BroWn .
iastical union to the latter, in Eng
land, had been contracted without the
consent of his uncle, King Louis ASill.,
and of his futher, Charles X, and with
out fulfilling the other formalities
necessary to invest 1t with any legal
validity in France. For the Due de
Berry, as q foreign royal visitor, en-
joyed ex-territorial prerogatives in
Great Britain, and was subject there.
not to the laws OF England, but TO
those Of his own country
king George. ~. Is now proved 20
have contracted, d. religious union , wt,s.
to its being contrary to the royal mar
riage laws 1t was invalid, and 1t was
this that enabled him to contract latel
on a matrimonial alliance WITH Pr IN
Duke of Cambridge was ecclesiastica!lg
married to the Irish actress, MISS
Farebrother; but the union had no
statutory value in england, OWNS "
ouently he could, had he SO Wlshea:
have married during the lifetime OF
old Mrs. Fitzgeorge, woman OIL MS
own royal rank. J., 80
many and Austria, between morganat.
ic marriages and purely ecclesiastlcai
marriages that arc statutorily Invalid
because they have failed to comply
morganatic marriage is religious as
we'll us civil and thoroughly legal
contract whereby, owing to the dlircr-
ence in rank between the contraG,tills
parties, tho one of inferior RANK IS
declared from partcipation in the
royal honors, titles and prerogatlVeS
OF the other, and likewise excluded, rs
are also the children born 70 tne
union from any share in the FAMILY
entailed property OF tho royal dynasty
Mus, Archdukc Francis Ferdinand
tho next Emperor of Austria, II NOR
elanaticaly married, that ~ 10 say,
welded in the eyes of the church ana
!. in -the eyes of tho law to Duchess
Sophia Of lIohenberg, and could not
contract any other maWlaso WIN
some woman of his own rnnk Will
out securing both from the church
and from the Austrian law, or rather
from the Imperial family law, dis
solution OF his union to the duchess.
In one word a prince Of the blood
who has contracted q full-tcdged NOR
sanatic alliance with u woman OF ~,
ferior rank cannot wed again untli
he obtains dissolution of Tint union,
But on the other hand there here, are
number Of princes of the blood VINO
having in order to satisfy their own
religious scruples and those of their
bride, gone through g religions mar,
requisite legal fornalitios, have taken
advantage of the invalidity Of the
union in question to'wed again y wo-
man of their own rank, without tax
ing the trouble TO obtain n dissolu-
tion Of their previous marrlpge,.