The Washington herald., 1916-08-21
YOUR WEDDING DAY
And the Famous Men and Women
Who Have Shared 1t.
August 2i-Jerome Bonaparte and
Catherine of Wurtemburg.
BY MARY MARSHALL.

After Napoleon Bonaparte had pvt
his meddlesome. imperious finger into
the romance of his brother Jerome and
| Betsy Patterson, pretty problem
faced him. The question was to find a
young woman of royal birth and in
fiuential family who was as beautiful,
good natured. and clever as Miss Pat
tersOn. This American marriage had
been annulled and Napoleon had right
ly guessed that if he forced his brother
into another marriage. there would be
less danger of his returning to his
first love.
1t may be guessed that Napoleon's
task was not easy. for princesses. they
say, are no more apt to be beautiful
than the rest OF mortals, and, if they
are beautiful, they have the same ten
dency, perhaps, that other beautiful
women have, OF being not so sweet ma
tured as their homelier sisters.
Catherine of Wurtemburg was the
choice. and she was all that Napoleon
could have desired. However. the Ger
man princess declined. 1t would seem
as If Napoleon had overlooked the fact
that she was already affianced to the
hereditary grand duke OF Baden. Be-
sides, this beautiful and virtUous prin-
cess had heard that these Corsican up
starts did not possess the homely vir-
tues of morality that German maidens,
high or low, priced so highly.
However. after the great victory of
Austerlitz, there was no refusing Ma
poleon Bonaparte. GATHERINGS father
owed his crown to him. And had Ma
poleon requested his daughter to marry
the sultan of Turkey she would have
had to comply.
However, In spite of Napoleons mar
ital eccentrlcities. the Bonapartes seem
to have made good husbands, and Je-
rome proved to be all that any prin-
cess. German or otherwise, could have
desired.
The marriage took place a hundred
and nine years ago today in Wurtem-
burg, with the princess brother acting
as proxy. By slow stages she went
thence to France and on her arrival at
the French court the emperor who al
ways appreciated a pretty woman,
folded her in his arms" and then pre-
sented her to the empress and the
court.
Somewhat later the princess wrote
in her diary: TT was in 1906 that nv
father spoke to me of the propositions
which had been made by France for
the marriage of Prince Jerome Not
knowing him and being occupied with
OllGh plOJtIlSS itIuSVu' NtlueQ
the end of the year and offered myself
as a sacrifice to such dear interests Z.
could not foresee that l should
find in this union the purest and most
constant happiness. MY dowry," adds
the thrifty German princess, was
100000 florins.'
In spite of this fact, GATHERINGS ia
ther made her run into debt for the
customary presents at the time of the
marriage. And" she adds. gave ME a
trousseau which l could not wear and
allowed me to :eave home with hum
dred louis in my pocket. 1t was the
emperor who gave me my first wedding
dress and my husband marked the first
instance OF our union by acuuiting tho
debts I had contracted, by giving me a
new trousseau, and by delcately throw
ing a veil over the falseness of my no.
sition."
The life OF Catherine and Jerome was
full OF political ups and downs, ex;les,
and even imprisonments. But they
were always happy together. A little
while before Catherine breathed her
last, she turned 20 her husband. knscl-
ing at her side. What most loved in
the world was you, Jerome" She kissed
his hand. as she had done so often be-
fore. 'T am ready" she whispered, "I
should like to say adieu to France"
Copyright 1851