The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-02-18
Picking a Prin-
cess for Queen-To-Be
Grave Question Confronting Prince
of Wales I'm Matter of
Choosing Wife
GERMANS AND
CATHOLICS BARRED

America is spared one after-war
problem which confronts England
and is now causing no little concern
there. We haven't got to pick a
princess with anxious care neces-
STATED by the fact that she will be
our future queen. The wives of our
future presidents Of this generation
may now be high or low in the social
scale, it does not matter; we know
that when they 60 into the White
House they will not disgrace us, and
that the main thing is to elect the
right kind of man as president.
But in England the choice of a
Princess Of Wales, q Queen-to-be. is
very important matter, and the
Prince of Wales, who must soon take
a wife, faces unusual difficulties.
Formerly the thing was much easier
becuse there were Twenty-Five for
erign states in Germany each with a
royal family with daughters eligible
to become the wives of kings. But
the war has changed all that, Ger
man royalty will long remain under
cloud even where it manages not
to become extinct, and moreover, the
British public would not now suffer
the selection of a German princess.
OF course there are many princes
ses in Europe other than German,
but most of them are Catholic and
the English constitution bars these.
What, then, is the wife-hunting
Prince of Wales to do? Two sug-
gestions have been made. More than
a year ago H. G. Wells and other
prominent Englishmen protested
against the further importation of
hyphenated royalty with the inevi-
table embarrassment often of a seri-
GUS nature when the countries allied
by royal marriage go to war. A re-
turn to the British custom of former
centuries was loudly called for,
the old custom of an English king
choosing wife from the noble fami- |
lies of his own realm. Henry VIII
and others took commoners as wives |
giving them noble titles in the first |
place and usually divoreing them or |
cutting off their heads in the last |
place. OF course nobody wishes to |
revive the rather too picturesque |
customs of Henry VIII, there being |
really demand for the choice of |
royal wives from the English nobil-
Ity custom which formerly worked
we'll, especially in war time, and
here is much to be said in it's favor.
The other suggestion is that the
Prince OF Wales marry an American
girl one London paper remarking
hat "if he Should choose an Ameri-
an bride the enthusiasm on both
ides of the Atlantic would be un-
pounded, and dramatic possibilities
would be opened up. The example
would be infectious and there is no
cling where the consequences would
nd" The last statement uninten-
ionally voices the chief objection
o this plan. The example might
indeed be so infectious" that nearly
very one of the heiress to great
ortunes would carry her wealth to
,ngland. There has been too much
t this already. Public sentiment is
pposed to the piling up of "swol-
On fortunes" at all but If they are
lied up the golden heap should re-
lain or be spent in our midst. More
yer, the production of American
ives of kings and mobiles on large
Gale would tend to injury to our .
epublican institutions. The pro- ;
osal is not altogether unprece- /.
ented. however, the wife Of one of
lie later kings of Portugal having
cen an American girl