The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-02-20
Grand Master of Court of Vienna
Starts Service of Feminine
Censors of Fashion.
ny ia MARaulsE DE FoNTENoY.

I ny ia MARQUIsE DE FONTENoY.
| n RINCE MONTENUOVO. grand mas
| ter of the court of Vienna, where
moro than at any other royal or
| imperial court of Europe old time ira
ditions have been retained. and tho
| laws of etiquette are strictly enforced,
| is nothing IL not up-to-date. For he
has inaugurated q service of feminine
censors of fashion.
Emperor Francis Joseph and Arch
duchess Maria Annunciata who Of
ficiates as the first lady of the land, ms
well as the other ladies of the i'm
perial family, have taken exception to
those extravagances of fashion which
have incurred tho anathema OF tho
Roman Catholic Church, especially in
tho matter of slit AID transparent
skirts and exaggerated decolletago
FINDING that the chambcrlains were
either unwilling to decide, or incapable
OF determining, whether womans
dress violated the prophecies insisted
upon by the Emperor, Prince Monte
huoVo. at the court festivities this
winter, has delegated several OF the
uames du palais to station Themselves
at the entrance to the state apart
ments at the Hofburg, under the pre-
text OF welcoming the guests, but in
realty for the purpose OF acting as
cedsors OF feminine costumes. When
ever the latter did not satisfy the re-
quireInents. the danes du palais beck
oned to chamberlain. who by their
| directions offered his arm to the fair
offender and invited her to withdraw,
regardless or her rank and Importance
Prince Montenuovo, who spent some
time In the United States as young
man, is a grandson OF Empress Marie
Louise OF France. and OF her second
and Austrian husband, Count Adam
Neipperg, who in Sardou's drama
madame Sans-Gene." plays tho role
or the villain. In this way no has
through his grandmother. tho Empress
VINO was an Austrian archduchess n
strong strain OF Hapsburg blood In
| MS veins. His father was half
brother of Napoleon Ill AigIon."
Queen Elizabeth OF Belgium has
! likewise set her face rcsolutely acainst
mo present extremes OF feminine fash
/ Ion. but has thus far been content In
! nave tho chanberlains and the rovaI
/ -de-camp act as cengors at court
entertainments. ard~has not yet ADOPT
! ed Prince Montenuovo's scheme of en-
! pioyins< dameD du palais for tho pur-
| pose.
The spectacle OF two American wo-
men appealing to the courts of law In
england 10 prevent one another from
using tho title OF Princess of Thurn-
and -TaNis. to which. neither of them
! appears TO nave any right. Is some
what amusing. One of them is an
ac.ress Oh me name OF Josephine Moi
iatt, who insists that she was married
10 Prince Victor of Thurn and -TaXis
| In Newark, y. j., which the prince Wig
torously denies. With regard 10 the
other one, I.eonora Nicolls, daughter
oil John A. Nicolls OF Uniontown. Pa.
and divorced wife OF Gerald Purcell
fitzgerald, of The Island, County
J "a nj
| certihcate, to show having been mar
Rcd TO Prince Victor, BY the Rev Dr.
spence. on November l, 1911, at Union
| town, Pa
inasruch. however. as Prince Victor
failed TO obtain tho consent of the
/ mead of his house to the union which
was contracted In defiance OF those
laws, recognized by the German and
austrian courts, which prohibit the
members of his house from contract
| ing matrimonial alliance to any one
| not belonging TO either reigning
dynasty or to mediatized family the
union is regarded Of a morganutic
nature 1t is ecorded in the Almanach
J DC Gotha as marriage non egal de
Nuisance marriage of unequal BIRTH.
! which means that the former Mrs
! Fitzserald cannot bear the title of
Princess of Thurn and -Taxis, either In
| Germany or in Austria
/ Prince Victor of Thurn -Taxis ia
the black sheep of his family. He was
turned out of the Austrian army, in
! winch he held d commission In the
| Ninth Hussars. and out OF allie his
| Nienncse clubs and was involved i'm
/ sensational proceedings with marriage
brokers' In Paris before becoming the
| husband of the former Mrs Fitzrer
aid lie had been led to believe that
she was very rich woman. But her
| wealth apparently consisted of vol
untary allowance of $1,000 a year from
hcr mother, which during her divorce
proceedings against Gerald FITZGERALD
she swore was the sum total of her
private resources She had for time
! sum OF $4,000 n year, granted to-
her by the English courts for, the
maintenance of her three children by
| fitzgerald. But this, understand.
mas been stopped since her marriage
with Prince Victor OF Thurn land
IaXis, and the, children arc no longer
under her care thanks, mainly, to the
reputation of Prince Victor
When Prince Victor was in this
country, he at first cut a considerable
| dash, until the arrival OF Prince Leo
poid or Saxe-Coburg in New York
| Prince Leopold had boen one of Vic
tors fellow officers of the Ninth Aus
iran tlussars. and not only refused
TO hold any intercourse with him, but
warned everybody that he met against
him.
Under the circumstances. it ia
| matter for some congratulation that
when he sailed from New York, after
ms marriage to tho divorced Mrs. Ger
aid Fitzgerald, ne declared to the re.
porters at the dock, that mover under
any circumstances would he return to
America: an assurance in which his
wire joined. adding that she was glad
TO get away, and forever. / hope I
VIII never see this country again"
they sailed as "Mr. and Mrs Alfred
Jones'" and it was the fact that the
lady asked for the cabin booked for
John Jones' that caused the confu-
sion which led TO the discovery of her