The Washington herald., 1916-08-18
YOUR WEDDING DAY
And the Famous Men and Women
Who Have Shared Ii.
August l6-Henry " and Margaret
Of Paris.
BY MARY MARSHALL.

No one who is addicted to the reading
Of historical novels can claim ignorance
Z Of the characters who figure as the we'd
. ding patrons OF August IS For ii was Oh
this day three hundred and forty-four
years ago that Henry IV-Henry OF
Navarro. that most popular king Of ro-
mantle fction-was married TO Margaret
of Paris. whose character-unprincipa
daring and impulsive-makes her as well
suited for the purposes OF a fiction
writer as that of Henry Of Navarro him
Iself
! Margaret Of Paris was beautiful in the
extreme In fact, writer's have actually
exhausted the supply Of adjectives in
praising her charms. And there seems
! little doubt Of the fact that she was as
unprincipaled as she was beautiful
Though she was girl in years at the
/ time of her marriage, she was a mature
woman in experience Of the world And
that she was as proflgate as any MEM
Der Of the profilgate court to which she
belonged, there is no doubt. Her brother
was Charles 1X, king of France at the
/ time, and her mother was Anne Of
Austria. Henry ", the hope and hero
! OF the French PrOtestsnts at the time,
desired this marriage purely for politi-
cal reasons. OF course, he knew Mar
garet's previous history, and he was too
mature a judge of human nature to be
| blinded to these facts because OF her
great beauty Perhaps it is an indica-
ton of the low moral ebb Of the time that
even Henry ". who was considered
more virtuous than his contemporaries
did not consider MarSarets corruptness
as an obstacle to their marriage
He hadn't the slightest intention in the
world of making of her companion or
friend. She was simply to be hie legal
wife
! But Jeanne d'Albert, Hsnry's re-
markable mother. had a different idea Of
marriage. After the wedding seemed to
be an assured fact Jeanne dAlbert held
out against it. and the fact that her
| future mother-in-law showed this dis
inclination to her piqued the beautiful
| Margaret not a little. However the
mother finally came to Paris for the
wedding and was lodged at the royal
palace there. Within a few days after
her arrival. she died of a fever. The
rumor. probably entirely groundiess.
spread about Paris that she had been
| poisoned.
This tragedy caused a postponement of
the marriage for only a short time. and
II was a distinguished group of mobiles
| from all over france who assembled to
honor the marriage OF the sister of the
French king and the king of Navarro.
| A platform was built outside the
| ancient cathedral OF Notre Dame and,
while all Paris looked on from the
streets and the houses adjoining. Henry
led his bride up this platform to be mar
ried When the officiating bishop asked
! the beautiful princess whether she would
receive Henry as her husband, it is said
| that she poutcd and refused to answer.
She could not forget the pique she had
felt because of Jeanne d'Albret's disap-
prevail The bishop smiled slightly and
ha-
witching princess tossed her head CO.
| Quettishly and answered not.
| At this iunCture, when all who beheld
| were watching with bated breath, the
| king Margaret's brother, walked up TO
the place where the prospective bride
and groom stood, and placed one hand
on Margaret's head and one on her
chest. Then, in spite OF Margaret $
saucy mood, he forced her to nod her
spite OF himself and bowed knowingly
to the king to indicate that this man.
euver was perfectly acceptable.
| With this. Henry and Margaret were
| legally man and wife. The next part OF
the ceremony was the grand mass, but
| since the newly married bridegroom was
not a Catholic he did not enter the ca
thedral for this triumphal ceremony.
After this was over, he met his bride
again and conducted her to a ma gnificent
banquet. Then followed balls and H.
luminations, merry making and general
rejoicing Probably most OF those look
ing on envied the bridegroom who had
| taken as his wife one of the most beau
tiful women of France and envied Mar
| garet. who had wed one Of the bravest
men In the kingdom. For they did not
know. as we do, that the event was
merely an empty ceremony, endured by
two perfectly indifferent young people
for reasons of state alone.
! Copyright. fal5l