Evening star., 1923-12-05
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FONTENOY
Annulments of marriages are grant

ARRuimentS OF marriages are grant
ed, from time to time, by the
Roman Catholic Church. on canonical
grounds, when, for instance, 1t can
be shown, on the most incontro-
vertible evidence, that the union has
not been one OF free consent, that
is to say, where one or other Of the
contracting parties has been forced
Into 1t against his or her will. Thus,
the marriage of the parents OF the
now reigning sovereign Prince of
Monaco was annulled eleven years
after 1t had taken place because his
mother, Lady Mary Douglas-HamiI-
ton. sister of the late Duke of Hamil-
ton. was able to prove that she had
been. at the age of eighteen. literally
Albert OF Monaco by her royal
mother, who was a princess of the
reigning house Of Baden. and by her
cousin and guardian, Emperor Ma
polson III. The decree of annulment
provided that the only offspring of
the union, namely the present ruler
OF Monaco. should be considered
legitimate, despite the canonical in
validity of his parents marriage. 1t
took Lady Mary Douglas Hamilton
the best part of nine years of inter-
minable legal proceedings at the
cure that decree of matrimonial free
dom which enabled her to marry
Prince Tassilo Festetics. one of the
greatest mobiles of Hungary.
This serves to show how chary the
Church Of Rome is about issuing de-
eress of annulment of marriages be-
tween members of it's church, and II
may be pointed out that, although
Count Boni de Castellane and his
family have spent very large sums of
money to secure an ecclesiastical an
nulment of his marriage to the for
mer Anna Gould of New York. on the
ground of evidence that she had de-
clared, on the eve OF her wedding,
that she was marrying him with the
intention Of divorcing him If he did
unable to secure his matrimonial
freedom. although his former wife in
the meanwhile has contracted civil
marriage with his cousin, the Duke of
Talleyrand and of Perigord.
y X 4 +
It is almost without precedent.
however. for the papacy to receive a
petition for ecclesiastical annulment
Of marriage on canonieal grounds
from q Protestant, and IL Is this that
has attracted 80 much attention to the
appeal which has been lodged at the
Vatican by the Lutheran and German
Prince of Pless. who desires the can
onicai invalidation Of the marriage
which he contracted In London In
embassy there. with Miss Mary Corn
wallis-W West, sister Of the now di-
vorced Duchess Of Westminster. His
bride, In those days. was beauty of
altogether International celebrity. and
what with her own loveliness, wit
and brilliancy, and her husbands i'm
mense wealth. as one of the greatest
mine owners of Germany, the couple
became the most conspicuous and
popular figures at the courts of St.
James and of Berlin,
The prince will be remembered in
America as having come to the United
States and to have visited Washing
ton when sent over here by the kais-
er. several, years before the war. to
represent him, personally. at the open
Ing of tho new building Of the an
state aud oity Of New York. The
Prince and Princess Of Pless have
three sons. the eldest Of whom, who
fought In the great war under the
German aag, having had as godfa.
there at his ehristeaing g,;,, beth Edward d
prince and princess have been. to all
fntents and purposes. separated since
tho beginning OF the war. when the
princess, with the tmpulsive ways and
reeklessness OF speech which she had
inherited from her mother. the late
Mrs. Cornwallis-W and her Eng
iish patriotism, aroused intense irflta-
tion and hostility in the land OF her
adoption, and she was, practically, a
prisoner throughout the conflict, cut
off from all communication with her
British and Irish relatives. Since then
she has been living partly In London
where she has a house. and partly at
the Castle OF, Fuezstenstein,. in Gilesia
with the most generous provision for
stranger both to her husband and to
her three sanA
fhis condition ef affairs might have
gone on indefinitely had 1t not been