The Washington herald., 1914-06-28
KAISER LOWERS
BARS FOR SON
Germany Highly Pleased at
His Consent to Morgan
atic Marriage.
OLD IDEAS DEPARTING.
EmperoFis Action Means Ultimate
Doom To Royal Theory of
Equal birth"
OLD IDEAS DEPARTING

Berlin. June H.-Emperor wilhelm has
highly pleased the democratic element
which Is anxious he should make II DOS
sible for them to remain loyal to him,
by his gracious consent TO the morganatic
marriage Of Prince Oscar, his NTH son.
and the sprightly Countess Ina Won Bas-
sewitz-LeEitzow. the Empress maid OF
honor.
Indeed the recent histoty of European
royalty would lead to the belief that the
mysterious theory of equal birth" ia
rapidly breaking down Since beautiful
Princess Sophia, OF Sake weimar, killed
herself because she was restrained from
wedding simple nobleman. the disinte-
grating tendency has been still stronger.
Queen Mary "A Factor.
Probably the greatest single factor in
breaking down the walls of HohenzoIlern
tradition of exclusiveness is the curious
position of Queen Mary OF England.
She is the granddaughter of a German
morganatic marriage. Her grandfather,
son Of Duke Alexander OF Wurttemberg.
renounced his royal rank TO contract
morganatic union with the Polish Count
ess Claudine Won Rhedy. He then was
created Prince and Duke Of Teck.
So the Tecks do not belong to the
higher nobility Of Germany This class
includes only those who held the tiIle
under the Holy Roman Empire. II Prin-
cess Mary of Teck had remained IN
Germany she could only have been the
morganatic wife of even the youngest
son Of a reigning German family.
Indeed, her marriage with a member
Of family which had once reigned, but
long ago lost its possessions, would have
been morganatic. y
By this quaint theory of equal birth.
a marquis or even a duke may not nave
the equal birth of a plain count, sU7-
posing the counts family is in the musty
old list Of the Holy Roman Empire and
the duke and marquis are not.
The inconsistency Of the equal birth"
theory was once admitted with much
sang froid by Kaiser Friedrich. father of
the present Emperor, according to an
anecdote widely quoted. A country gen.
tleman OF the lowest rank was discussing |
families with Friedrich and finally ex-
claimed: Il can't say I understand all |
these rules. but 1 claim my family is
quite as good as the Hohenzollerns!'
Very true" quoth the Kaiser. but the
Hohenzollerns have got on faster"
Some Famous Marriages.
Perhaps the better standing of unequal
marriages is TO be attributed to the al
most uniform felicity of such matches.
Two nonroyal marriages in the English
reigning family, that of Queen Victorta's
daughter Louise to the late Duke Of Ar
gyn and of King Georges sister Louise
TO the Duke of Fife, turned out most arg
picious to the parties directly involved
and at the same time did much to build
up the present good feeling between the
English rulers and their people.
In Germany, Frederick William IL
King of Prussia from 1744 to 1877, bought
OF his royal wife to agree TO a separation
I
lein Won Voss, a maid of honor to his
daughter, Princess Frederick The Kings
father-in-law. the old Duke of Brun5-
wick, actually arranged the A0ratiop
Of his royal daughter and the morganaticI
marriage with her rival There was !it-
tie romance about this transaction, but
the King proved happier with his nor
ganatic wife than he had been with his
mate Of equal BIRTH
So eager was Prince Constance Of
to marry morganaticaIly 1
the daughter of Baron Schenk that re {
abdicated the Governorship of the prln- {
cipality Of Hohenzollern in 1850 in Favor
of the King of Prussia. The King Era- (
ciously created the bride-to-be Co.:ntess
Of Rothenberg, and they lived harIilv
ever afterward."
That same year Prince Adalbe-i, of !
Prussia, for whom the present Kaiser's
third son is named. made a morg%natic I
match with the famous German dancer, I
Theresa Elsser, who had been created
Baroness of Barnin. I
Married an Actress.
Then there is the famous struggle Of I
Duke George II Of Saxe-Meiningen to I
secure recognition for his wife, OTho was (
Ellen Franz, a popular actress. She was
the daughter of an English woman and a g
Neurmburg schoolmaster. On their we'd I
ling day in 1S73,- or Immediately there r
after. every one Of the court dignitaries 1
md all the ministers of state resigned. q
All sorts Of downright insults were
1eaped upon the head of the talented Z
woman until her tormentors received the c
title souls of lackeys"
rhe colonel OF a Prussian regiment sta Z
ioned in Meiningen forbade his officers b
% greet the wife Of the duke Cnow S
oaroness9 when she passed them. The a
ignored her. L
BY a curious coincidence, on the day
when his son publicly announced his a
coming morganatic marriage the Kaiser v
or the first time sent a message of
la