The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1913-10-02
MORGANATIC MARRIAGES.
Tragic Results Sometimes Follow
Love Affairs of Royalty.

Royalty shall mate only with royal .
1v This is an unwritten law OF ma
lions. But love laughs at laws as
weil as at locksmirhs, and royal rank /
counts for nothing when the heart !
speaks. The consequences at times. !
however. ore tragic IN the extreme, !
poignant grief sometimes ending a
hopeless passion. One is reminded Of /
this fact by the astounding revela- !
tions made by Countess Marie Larisch
in her "reminiscences, My Past con-
corning the ill-fated Crown Prince
Rudolph, only son Of the Emperor,
Francis Joseph of Austria and the
Countess Vetsera. with whom he had
fallen in love.
In 1881 the crown prince married
| Princess Stephanie-now Countess
| Lonyay. for she ultimately contracted
| a morganatic marriage. 1t was, how
ever, a marriage Of convenience, and
in 1887 the crown prince met and fell
| in love with the beautiful Countess
Vetsera According to the Countess
Larisch. they met secretely on several
occasions. and ultimately the Coun-
tess. Vetsera went to the princes
hunting chateau near Vienna. Ex-
actly what happened there is still a
mystery, but there seems little doubt,
from the countess book, that, recog-
nizing the hopelessness of their pas
sion, the prince and countess decided
to die and it would seem that the
crown prince first shot the countess
and then blew out his own brains.
The revelations made by the Coun-
tess Larisch concerning this royal
love tragedy calls attention to the
| fact that the history of the house Of
the proud and ancient Hapsburgs
contains more stories of mesalliances
than any other royal house. Some
have been attended with happy re-
suits. while others have had mysteri-
Gus and tragic conclusions. In 1889
the Archduke Johann. nephew Of the
! Emperor Joseph. married a dancer,
Milly Stubel, at the registry office at
! Islngton. He renounced his rank,
took the name Of John Orth, and was
last heard Of serving as a sailor on
board the Margherita, a ship that
disappeared on the voyage between
Buenos Ayres and Callao. No trace
of him has ever been found, and the
fate of the arckduke and his wife
still remains a mystery.
The tragic end of Prince Rudolph
naturally recalls how King Alexander
of Servia lost his throne and life
through his infatuation for Nine.
Draga NIaschin, who was formerly
lady-in-waiting to the queens mother
and whom he married. The climax
was reached when the belief got
abroad that King Alexander intended
tc propose Queen Draga's brother as
heir apparent, and so strong was the
feeling against the proceeding, which
was in defiance of all royal laws and
precedent, that a band of army Of
fcers broke into the royal palace and
assassinated the couple.
There was also a tragic sequel to
the attempt, about fifty years ago, of
the Grand Duchess Olga, the beauti-
full favorite daughter of Car Nicholas
I, to elope with handsome young
lieutenant. At the last moment the
latter's heart failed him. Dreading
the emperors anger, he made clean
breast of the whole affair to his maj
esty, with the result that the impul-
sive young princess was married
posthaste to the disreputable Prince
Charles of Wurtemberg, and lived a
most unhappy married life, while the
faithless lover was rewarded by such |
rapid promotion that he was a field
marshal before he reached his fftieth |
birthday.
Not long ago a London workhouse
sheltered an old lady who had for
years been the morganatic wife of
Charles XIV of Sweden, to whom she
was married when she was seventeen.
It was not until some years after her
marriage that she learned who her
husband really was, and was then
told that he was compelled, for po-
litical reasons, to break off the at
tachment The heart-broken woman,
wishing to sever all connection with
the past, went to London, where,
after some time, she married an En-
glishman. She intrusted all her mon
ey, including large sum which the |
king had left her on his death, to this |
second husband, who ran off with it
and left her to face poverty. After
ct r1oolino voin1y fo maintain borco1f |