Evening star., 1923-12-05
Lutheran Prince Asks Pope
For Divorce to Win Young Bride

for the fact that Prince Pless. who
is now sixty-two years of age, has
fallen violently In love with the
'twenty-two-year-oi Countess Marie.
youngest daughter of the late Prince
Hugo Dietrichstein of Nicslsburg and
OF his Russian wife. who was Princess
Olga Dolgorouka. Now the rather
numerous and influential relatives of
uncle. Count Albert Mensdorff, who
spent so many years in London as
tro-Hungarian ambassador, are
willing to make the concession of
approving. with some reluctance. her
Lutheran. But they do object very
strongly to her becoming the wife
or one whom not even a civil divorce,
II given by the German or English
tribunals. would free In their eyes
from his present matrimonial ties.
Ihat Is to say. Prince Pless cannot
marry the young girl, with whom he
has become infatuated, until the
Roman Catholic Church, that Is to
say. the papacy, is willing to issue a
decree declaring his first marriage
nun and void, as having been yitiated
by obstacles which find their place In
the canon law of the Roman Catholic
Church.
1t is difficult to see how the Vatican
can grant his petition. For he was
certainly not forced into his marriage
with Miss Mary CORVALLIS West,
having been head over heels in love
with her. Indeed, II was generally
understood that he had been Obliged
to invoke the intercession of King
coward, then Prince of Wales, to
induce the fair lady to accept his
offer of marriage. Moreover. II ts y
well acknowledged fact that. until
the outbreak of the war, the coupie
lived In perfect understanding and
uhity with one another. the prince
taxing pride in the admiration exeit-
ed everywhere by his wife. whose
sunny character and cheerfulness, at
any rate until the great war. dis
armed even feminine jealousy.
x ! 4 y
1t may be added that the rounp
lady whom Prince Pless is so anxious
to marry Is related to the reigning
house Of England. Indeed, her dead
father and his brother. Count Albert
Mensdorff. were second cousins and
particular favorites of the Queen Vic
toria, their grandfather, the we'll
known Austrian field marshal, Count
Albert Mensdorff- -Pouilly, having
married princess of the house of
Saxs-Coburg Gotha, that is to say. a
sister of Queen Victoria's mother, the
Duchess Of Kent, and of King Leo
pold ! Of Belgium. The patronymio
of the family is Pouilly. seigneurs
and barons of Peuilly in Lorraine in
1885. Some $50 years ago one of the
Barons De Pouilly married the daugh-
ter and sole heiress OF, the Austrian
Count Mensdorf and their son, on
succeeding to her property. was
transformed by the then German en-
peror into an Austrian Count Mems
die of the last century, Count Alex
ander Mensdorff- Pouilly married
Alexandrino, Countess of Dietrich
stein, and, by reason Of the vast
was elevated by Emperor Francis
Joseph into a Prince of Dietrichstein
gu Nicolsburg. 1t was this first
Prince Dietrichstein of the house of
Mensdorff- -Pouilly who was the son of
Mensdorff-Pouilly, who married the
Princess Of Saxe-Coburg above men
toned.
Prince Alexander Dietrichstein be-
sides being the first cousin of the
late Prince Consort OF ENGLAND was
and crony and this In itself was cal
culated to endear his sons. Hugo
Prince Dietrichstein and Count Albert
Nensdorff, to Queen Victoria, who
was their second cousin: Indeed,
whenever King Edward visited Aus
tria, both prior and subsequent to
his succession to the British throne,
Emperor Francis Joseph was always
won't to appoint Prince Hugo Die
trichstein to take charge Of him and
to look after his welfare.
The present head of the family, who
bears the name of Alexander, Ia just
twenty-four years of age. ts fourth
Of the Princes of Dietrichstein of
the present line. and the only brother
of the young countess whom the
'rince Of Pless is SO anxious to wed.
The young prince is enormously
wealthy. indeed ono of the richest of
the great mobiles of central Europe,
md still unmarried. In event of his
death without issue his uncle, Count
Albert MsnsdorfI- Pcuilly. the former
ambassador to England. IL the next