The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-14

Copyright. 1919 by Curtis Brown)
Il oNDON. December 13.-tSpecial) }
Will Princess Mary, only daughter
- of the King and Queen of England
be compelled to marry some wealthy COM
moner or non-royal member of the Brit
fish aristocracy? Will she be forced by
poverty into union with a man with
ont drop of royal blood in his veins, but
with an overlooking bank account as
was her aunt, the Princess Royal, mother
of Princess Arthur of Connaught, who
married the late Duke of Fife; or her
grand aunt, Princess Louise, sister OF
King Edward, who married the Duke of
Argyll?
Tt is all a question of money. King
George has put the two possibilities before
Lis relatives: either Princess Mary must
/, be assured of a substantial private in
come by the generosity of her uncles and
aunts and other well endowed relatives
in which case she will make a royal
match, or she will have to effect an alli-
ance with a rich non-royal house to sup
plement the grant of the British parlia-
ment and what money now stands in her
own name.
The daughter of the English sovereign is
not at the present moment well-to-do
princess. Her royal highness, for exam
pie, is by no means as well endowed as
any of the Cars daughters, or the little
daughter of the Queen of Spain. The ac-
tual income of the Princess Mary at pres
ent is annuity of $4,000 per annum,
granted to her by parliament on the ae-
cession of her father to the throne, and
the interest on 100000 left to her by the
late King Edward. Until the princess is
is the annuity and the interest on the
legacy left her by her grandfather will be
received by the King for her benefit As
a matter of fact, the total amount of her
annuity haGbeen invested for the prin-
cess every year since the Kings accession,
so that when her royal highness is Is
there will be a capital sum of nearly $150,-
900 toscome to her in addition to the $780,
600 legacy, the interest on which is being
used to defray the cost of her education,
dress bills and other expenses.
These sums would appear quite sufti-
CENT for an ordinary young girl. and are,
indeed, more than ample for Princess
Mary in her present state. But her mar
riage. especially to a minor royalty, would
shoulder her with many financial respon-
sbilities Indeed, considerable private
fortune would be rewarded a necessary
condition of any arrangement with a
scion of even the smallest of royal fam
lilies.
But while relatives have rallied to the
support of Princess Mary, and she is now
practically assured of a generous private
income, further help will have to be
forthcoming soon if she is to be saved
from a marriage for money
Those who have responded to King
Georges appeal claim they have done all
they can for this royal Cinderella. For
instance, if her royal highness survives
the Princess Henry of Battenberg, she is
certain to inherit from her grand-aunt a
considerable sum. The Princess Henry
who inherited the greater part of she pri-
vate fortune of Queen Victoria, tenta-
lively promised King George some years
ago that she would leave his only daugh-
ter a substantial legacy. What the actual
sum may be no one knows but 1t is
unlikely that it will be less than 1000,
and it may be great deal more. The
Princess Mary is a constant visitor to the
Princess Henry of Battenberg, and is a
great favorite with her grand aunt
King George and Queen Mary recently
have been given to understand that their
daughter may inherit also some of the
enormous fortune of the Empress Eu-