The Washington herald., 1911-10-01

be said, according to history, of those
contracted by sovereigns. There is moth
ing surprising in this, because the for
mer were not in the limelight to the
same degree, nor was there any question
of succession involved. The consent of
| the ruling head of the family once OBJ
tanned, the prince had 10 please only
himself Another thing, a morganatic
marriage invariably is love match.
Hence, We see Grand Duke Michael Of
Russia and Countess Torby, or Grand
Duke Pawel CPauD. who actually stole
the wife of Russian general and mar
| ried her, living in ideal wedlock, and
| the same was said Of the late Duke
Of Cambridge and his left-handed wife.
If, therefore, historical facts mean
| anything. there is a troubled time ahead
Of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. heir to
the throne of Austria, and his wife. the
Countess Sophie Hohenberg whom he
seems determined to make his empress,
once Franz Josef is dead. What makes
his case more complicated is the fact
that the countess, a Hungarian by birth.
and of the best of Magyar blood, would
not be repudiated in Hungary whose
mobiles already have demonstrated in
their impulsive way, that the countess
will be accepted as their queen. But
Austria-Hungary is a dual monarchy,
and what suits the proud Magyars will
oe' strenuously opposed by the ultra
feudal barons of Austria, where rulers
may marry only women Of equal rank.
that is, daughters Of ruling or media
tized royal houses. In short, they must
be 'ebenbuertig"
At present there is only one ruling
sovereign in Europe who is married NOR
ganatically-Duke George of Saxe-Mei
ingen, ruler OF the only principaIitv
which the Kaiser never enters And vet
We are told that Wilhelm is on the side
OF the Austrian archduke in his desire
to elevate his morganGtic wife to the
dignity OF empress. Duke George who
Is now eighty-five years of age had 20
put up great fight to make his fellow
rulers treat his wife as their equal. Only
the Kaiser refuses. But the Germans in
general have learned to admire the pluck
OF the old duke, who has deied the
world in defense Of an actress, Ellen
Kranz, whom he married in 1878
Perhaps the Kaisers objections are not
all based upon pride. The first wife of
Duke George was a Hohenzollern
princess. Sixty years have passed since
that wedding. When she died he married
the Pracess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg,
not exactly royal, but Of house con-
sidered fit to ascend a throne. When
next left a widower. his choice fell upon
the actress. This is where trouble Inul.
tiplied for the duke. His father. Duke
Bernhard, who had been obliged to abdi-
cate because he opposed Prussia in the
war of 1855, threatened to appeal to the
people and to assume the reins Cnce
more. The ministry and other nigh Off
cials of the dukedom were equally upset.
1t is recorded that their arist7cratic
wives openly insulted the new duchess
The army refused to salute her. and
especially the commandants Of the Plr-
rison at Meiningen, a certain Col Won
Ziethen "a scion OF the famous ,AvcIr;-
general OF Frederick the Greats time)
who refused to render honors.
But they apparently did not know their
duke. He sent an emissary to Berlin to
complain to Emperor Wilhelm, the
grandfather of the present Kaiser. and
the result was that an order arrived
post haste that in future all officers must
salute the Baroness Won Heldburg," the
!
German peerage. What Chagrined the
naughty colonel mere, 1t was he who
had to read out the order loud to the
garrison on parade.
But to-day the baroness" Is loved by
all. She and the duke have thrown
! themselves enthusiastically into every
thing pertaining to art, and succeeded in
making Meiningen Theater the foremost
in Germany. The Meininger troupe is
far-famed not only in Germany, but also
in England, where they often appear as
honored guests.
There was another German ruler who
married morganaticaIly. Prince Henry
XIV of Reuss, but he reigns no longer.
His first wife was Duchess Agnes of
Wurttemberg. who died in 1856. Four
years later the prince married Frederike
GraetZ, an actress, whose pretty face
had attracted him on the stage of his
little capital, Gera. But he had invited
too much trouble. He abdicated and
transferred the throne to his son, another
Prince Henry, and settled in Dresden
Here he encountered more trouble. The
high-nosed Saxon aristocrats refused to
receive his morgantiC wife until the King
of 'SaXony took compassion on her and
made her a Baroness Won Saalburg She
died in Dresden three years ago and her
old husband became an imbecile He
died recently on a railway carriage on his
way to a German resort.
There is little that can be considered
especially encouraging to the Austrian
heir in these two examples. Reuss was
compelled to abdicate when he married
and the Duke of Meiningen had to fight
desperate war against court prejudice
Nor are the precedents of dead sover-
eigns who have married morganatically
more encouraging.
Take, for instance. the marriage of
King Frederick VII of Denmark to the
ballet dancer, Louise Rasmussen, partly
tragedy and partly a farce. And yet
1t was the half-mad and always drunken
King who profited, for she hid his folIies
and made him behave, often by drastic
means. She became a Countess Danner.
began to play role in politics, and sue
ceeded in obtaining the friendship of Ma
poleon III. But with other sovereigns
the ballet dancer-queen had more trouble,
particularly with Karl XIV of Sweden,
who was more than usually naughty.
because he was himself a descendant of