The sun., 1914-08-16
MORGANATIC WIVES
ARE OFTEN UNHAPPY
Courtiers Sometimes Conspire
to Make Life of slow
Born" Miserable.
BRITAIN CONTROLS UNIONS
Duke of Cambridge's Marriage
Void Because King with
held Consent.
BRITAIN CONTROLS UNIONS
Special correspondeace 10 Tn, srS.

LONDON, Aug. 6.-Prlnce Oscars mar
riaSe to the lady in waiting has once
again set many talking about morrsn,tic
marrlages-sn expression which is often
used loosely in England and in America
because tho institution is unknown 10
H!ngllsh law.
Persons have sometimes supposed that
the late Duke OF Cambridge was morga-
natically married to Miss Fairbrother. but
In strict fact he was not married to lrer
at all. His and her status were deter
mined by the royal marriage act OF 177s.
whereby II Is provided that no member
or the royal family. within the meaning
of the act" shall be capable OF contract
Ing marriage without the previous con-
sent Of his Majesty. his heirs or success
sors. signifed under the Great Seal and
declared In Council"
That consent was not given in their
case. and their union was therefore. I'm the
words OF the act. "null and void to all
intents or purposes whatever" So far as
the law OF the land went 1t was open
to the Duke at any moment 10 dismiss
his wife and with the royal consent
marry another woman. Morganatlc mar
riagr is something quite different from
that
" the Sovereign Consents.
Broadly speaking. 1t may he put in
this way: In England the sovereign can
forbid or prevent n royal marriage. but
If he permits 1t the wife becomes a Wife
whatever her original social status. in the
fullest sense OF the word. II, that is to
say, King Cophetua marries the beggar
maid. the beggar maid becomes his queen.
and II he is not prepared to make her
his queen lie cannot marry her. Similarly
II King Cophetua's heir apparent or heir
presumptive marres her. she forfeits and
can be deprived OF no privilege on the
ground that she is not OF equal birth"
In Germany. on the other hand. and
indeed In most Continental countries.
those fateful words "of equal birth con-
trol the situation The lady not 'of
equal birth" whom a royal prince or an
imperial archduke marries does indeed
become his wife in the sense that only
death or divorce can dissolve the union.
but most of the other privileges OF a wife
are denied 10 her. She leaves one family
without acquiring any status In another.
. She does not become n princess or an
archduchess. but has to he contcnted with
such title and precedence as the sovereign
may choose In his good nature to bestOw
upon her.
Her children, though technically legit-
mate. not only do not, but cannot. inherit
titles, dignitics or lands-they take their
mothers. not their fathers name. Those
In outline are the disabilities which await
Prince Oscars bride.
a case In which there was not only
scandal. but n shocking scene. was tnat
OF Ferdinand Of Saxe-Coburg. cousin OF
rho Prince Consort King Consort OF
Maria da Gloria OF Portugal and grand
father of the late Dom Carlos. He mar
ried morganatically. zen secondes noces."
Mile Elise Frederica Hen,ler. the daugh.
ter Of professional pianist. and her
self an opera artist OF no particular
remark, who had excited his admiration
in the part OF the page oscar In Nerdi's
"Un Ballo In Maschera" at one of the
Lisbon theatres. She made him an ad-
mirable--a most domesticated-wife,
Victim Of Conspiracy.
She used to make her own tea cakes
and the skill with which she made them
aroused the enthusiasm OF Mrs. Grant.
the wife of the President OF the United
States. Her husbands cousin, Duke
Ernest. created her Countess OF Edla in
the Saxe-Gotha peerage But that was
ing her to ceremonial functions at the
court of his son Dom Luis. and there
she had to face an organized conspiracy
to make her realize her position as a
base born person.
Queen Mary Pia set the example by
speaking of her as that person" and
turning her back whenever she saw her |:
and the Portuguese courters took their
cue from the Queen. SO II happened that
one day when the doors Of the ante
chamber. crowded with functionaries and
diplomatists. were thrown open there was
no one to offer King Ferdinand's wife
an arm. The Spanish Ambassador came
to the rescue and led her into the hall
but that was only the beginning OF her
embarrassments.
According to instructions issued the
night before. all the seats we're occupied,
and all the Portuguese cJurters sat
tight in their places and grinned, Once
again the Spanish Ambassador saved tho
situation by reckoning to his own wife,
who at once rose and yielded her own
chair. But even that was not all. In
order to make the insult quite unms-
taxable the courtiers then sprang TO
their feet and offered her Spanish EX-
cellency the places which they had 81
pointedly refralned from offering to the
Countess 81 Eda.
Such are sometimes the trouble Of NOR
ganatlc wives and SO extreme are the
measures which those who do not like
them are prone 10 adopt in order TO
compel them to feel that they are in
truders who have forced their way into
circles in which they are not wanted.