DUKE OF KENT.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 77, 30 September 1902, Page 2

DUKE OF KENT.

Your interesting notes about the irregular or morganatic alliances of Princes of the Blood in recent times remind me (writes Modern Society) of a curious and little-known chapter ia the history of the King's grandfather, the Duke of Kent, on which an interesting light haa been thrown by a recent discovery in Canada. It relates to an amiable and accomplished lady known a3 Madame de Sfc. Laurent, Baroness de Fcrtisson, who presided over the Duke's household for more than a quarter of a century, accompanied hixn to Canada from Malta in 1791, and only left him to retire into a convent when State reasons— viz., tbe fear of the failure of the Eaglish E-jyal line — practically compelled him t.» marry the mother of the future Queen Victoria. A little piece of evidence has come to light, in the shape of a baptismal enfcry in a church near Quebec, which ;-;?s far t : i dem nstrate that Mar!axn« do Sc. Laurent waß without dtubt the Duke's wedded wife, although under the 2£ >yal Ms triage Act she could a-'t bo legally recognised as such in Engltiad. The baptismal enfcry in que&tion is that of one of the children of Coloael de Salaberry, and the register recordn that the Duke of Kent and Madame de St. Laurent were godfather and godmother to the infant. The christening ceremony was performed by Monseigneur de Railly, coadjutor to the Bishop of Quebec ; and it may be takeu as certain that the officiating prelate had satisfied .himself that the lady was lawfully married, for it would be quite impossible, according to the discipline of the Roman Catholic Church, to accept as sponsors in baptism a woman living in open concubinage. The ecclesiastical authorities would, of course, have judged the matter without reference to the English Royal Marriage Act, which mada George ll.'s male descendents incapable of marriage without tbe consent of the King in Council — an enactment which many eminent jurists have not hesitated to declare invalid, as repugnant to the Divine Law. The Duke and Madame de St. Laurent lived, while he commanded a battalion of Fusiliers at Quebec, at Haldimand House, the palatial residence which still overlooks the Falls of Montmorency. On their return to Eagland they resided at Kensington Palace, Many of the letters both of the Duke and of ' Madame/ as he always stylod her to their Canadian friends, have been preserved, ana evince the deep affection that united them. As already mentioned, the i»dy retired into a convent in 1818, a few months before the Dake's marriage to the Princess of L'iningen. His Eoyal Highness died when his little daughter Victoria was only a few months old, but Madame de Sfc. Laurent survived him £or some time, and enjoyed till kei: death a pension from the French Government, in acknowledgement of her kiadnosß to French tefugees in England. A Canadian historian seat, some years ago, a narative of the Duke of Kent's sojourn in Canada to Sir Arthur Helps, for Queen Victoria's acceptance, but the git't was never acknowledged.