The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-10-23
ROYAL COUPLE
ARRANGES FOR
ALTAR RITES
Heir TO Throne of Italy
Arrives in Brussels to
Meet Fiancee.
REJOICING IN BELGIUM
ThrongS Cheer Prince Wht.1
He Reaches Station on
Love Mission.
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Prince Umberto, heir to the Italian
throne, arrived here today to request
the formal consent Of the king and
queen of Belgium to his marriage
with their daughter, the charming
Princess Marie Jose.
He was met at the station by King
Albert, Crown Prince Leopold,
Prince Charles, and the Italian
ambassador to Brussels, Marquis
Carlo Durazzo. A large crowd at
the station manifested its joy in the
coming union of the Belgium and
Italian royal families with salYos
Of cheers.
The party motored to the royal
castle at Laeken. Prince Umberto,
however, is expected to stay at the
embassy.
The official announcement of the
betrothal of Prince Umberto and
Princess Marie Jose will in all like
lihood be made simultaneously from
Brussels and Rome tonight.
Popular In Home Land
Princess Marie Jose, the smiling
and once mischievous child wor-
shipped by every Belgian, has re-
tanned her popularity with the pub
lie as a tall, slender and curly
haired woman of Is years. The
scheduled announcement of her en-
gagement to Prince Umberto has
intensified national interest felt in
the princess since her childhood
days.
The visit here of the prince is ex-
pected to be the elimination of a
romance which has kept Europe So
ciety talking for months and which
dates back a decade to the two
years spent by the princess in the
delightful Apennine region, where
the River Arno flows through Flor
ence.
Princess Marie Jose found much
Of interest in Florence, before re-
turning at the age of 10 when the
World war was over. It was OBJ
served that she spoke italian flu
ently-but with a slight Florentine
accent.
Handsome and Athletic
AS speculation upon marriage
linking the royal houses of Bel
GUM and Italy became certainty
in recent weeks, there were many
interesting incidents brough to light
in the life of the princess.
Her name is Princess Marie Jose
Charlotte Sophie Amelie Henriette
Gabrielle, but since she was old
enough to talk she has been Marie
Jose, not only to her family, but
to her friends, whom she instructed
to leave off the title of princess.
Her fashionable shingled dark
hair curves softly over her cheeks
and about vivacious, sparkling eyes.
She is handsome and athletic, and
most modern of princesses. She
plays the piano and is studying cello
and she rides, skates, skis and plays
golf and tennis.
The princess was born at Ostend
In 1905 and her elder brother,
Prince Charles, Comte de Flandre,
was her favorite playmate. She
was 3 years old when her father
was enthroned as King Albert I,
and she sat with her grandmother
on balcony, eating a piece of
bread and butter and watching the
ceremony. She clapped her hands
and cheered between bites.
Learned to HurI Stones
The stories of her early years are
amusing if not entirely authenti-
Gated. She was inclined to be a
bit Of a tomboy and could hurI a
stone at pasersby as skillfully as her
brother Charles. One day her broth
er was teaching her how to improve
her control and told her to aim at
window of the palace. A moment
later the sound of falling glass in
dicated the ability of the princess
to follow instructions.
Her conduct prompted her father
who was stern with his sons-to
attempt to lecture his daughter. The
princess listened calmly for a few
minutes before stamping her foot
and asking:
ITO come to the point, who Is
master, you or ~"
And the king, so the story goes,
had no reply ready.
Her simple life at Ostend, place
Of her birth, and Laeken and
Brussels was interrupted by the
war. She was sent to the Ursuline
convent at Brentfcrd, Essex, Eng
land, and learned to speak excellent
English. Later she got her first
taste Of Italy, which some day may
acclaim her as queen.
She returned to Laeken and
Brussels when the war was over
and, under supervision Of her
mother, made progress In her piano
studies. Today her greatest delight,
aside from swimming, is the piano.