Evening star., 1953-08-04
The Princess and the Captain:
Britons Differ on Her Marrying Divorced Man

bits first meeting in London last
week as an unwarrantable intru.
sion into the royal family's pri-
vate affairs.
AS the number Of people who
voted in the poll is a small per-
centage Of the Mirrors" reader
ship of 100000 it can hardly
be taken as a reliable indication
of the feelings of the people in
this country toward such a mar
riage.
1t IS not easy to assess what
public reaction, not only in
Britain but in the Common
wealth, would be should Princess
Margaret openly announce her
desire to marry Townsend and
seek the permission of her sister,
the Queen, to do so.
1t is not forgotten in London
that some of the strongest op-
position to the possibility Of Mrs.
Wallis Simpson becoming Queen
c a me from the Dominions.
Although a marriage between
Princess Margaret and Town
send would not raise issues of
such Importance there is no
doubt that the heads Of the vari-
GUS Commonwealth countries
would be consulted should the
occasion arise.
Several church bodies in the
United Kingdom have already
made known their views. The
Roman Catholic attitude as pub
lished in the Catholic Herald
points out that the Roman
Catholic Church holds that a
valid marriage cannot be dis
solved and that no account can
be taken Of whether a divorced
person was the guilty party or
not. The Catholic Herald con-
tinueS, "the Christian example
to the country and to the world
Of the royal family has been
especially ratified in q singular
degree by the coronation of her
majesty the queen II for
reasons Of their own and of
whose inner integrity we can
not Judge they decide to proceed
to a marriage then 1t would be
contradiction in terms for
them to maintain an official rank
and status that imposes on them
a responsibility compatible to
such a decision" There are
roughly 100000 Roman Catho-
lies in Britain and presumably
the majority of them agree with
these views.
The Church of England is by
no means unanimous in it's
views on the remarriage in
church of the innocent parties
in divorce cases. Decisions in
individual cases are left to the
priest but, headed by the Arch
bishop of Canterbury, there is
now strong move to compel a
uniform attitude forbidding all
such marriages in church. There
is good reason to believe that
the Archbishop of Canterbury
would be strongly opposed to a
marriage between the princess
and man who had been
divorced.
1t is unlikely, however, that
the ordinary man and woman
in the street in this country or,
for that matter, elsewhere in
the British Commonwealth.
would be against such a mar
riage if the princess declared
her love for the group captain.
All Britons have deep affection
for their young and lovely
princess and wish for nothing
but her happiness.
Young people in particular are
loudly voicing their opinion that
she should be allowed to marry
the man she loves.
1t may be said here that had
Townsend been the guilty party
any association between him and
Margaret would have been un-
thinkable and he would have
been quietly dropped from his
position as equerry.
The fact that he has been
divorced is not the only critic
ism against such a marriage. In
a letter to the editor of one Of
the big London dailies a wom-
an wrote, II have nothing
against divorce or against Group
Captain Townsend, but I should
not like to see my 22-year -old
daughter marry a divorced man
who is Is years her senior with
two children" This letter sums
up the opinion of a large sec
tiOn of the cOmfnunity.