ROYAL WEDDING.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19819, 6 January 1930, Page 9

ROYAL WEDDING.

BRIDE LEAVES FOR ROME.

SPLENDIDLY EQUIPPED TRAIN. (L'NITED PEESS association—bx electric TELEGRAPH—COPYRIGHT.) (Received January sth, 5.5 p.m.) BRUSSELS, January 3. There were cheering thousands i Q the streets as Princess Marie J° se drove to the station to join the Italian Royal train for Rome. The train w ; ! s unrivalled in splendour, the magnincent dining-room having been decorated bv foremost Italian artists. The Princess was accompanied by their Belgian Majesties, and a large suito. Elaborate police precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of the train, which will be precedede by pil ot engines. The ex-Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, uncle of the bride, will attend the wedding. It will be the first meeting of the brother-iu-la w " and the King since relations were broken off during the war.

The Bride. Princess Marie Jose was Lorn at. Ostend on August 4th, 1900, and she is the only daughter of the King and Queen of the Belgians. Her early years were spent with her parents at the Royal castle of Lacken, where the King and Queen themselves undertook the education of their children. They held it essential that this training should be made as simple as possible, its aim being the development of character, and that it should be governed by their individual tastes and inclinations.

During the war the young Princess attended a boarding; school in England. Later, she spent some time in Florence, at school at the Villa de Poggio Imperiale, where her presence was made the occasion of popular demonstrations of sympathy towards Belgium. It was in 1917 that Queen Elizabeth took the Princess to Venice, where the Italian Royal family and the young Prince Umberto were staying; and there the Royal children met for the first time, little foreseeing the betrothal twelve years later. Towards the end of the war the Princess was at the Royal residence of La Panne, whence she returned to Brussels with her parents on the day after the signing of the Armistice. She wa« then 12 years old, and had still to complete her education. Since 1925, the Italian and Belgian Royal Families have been drawn more closely together. In the summer of that year Prince Umberto visited Belgium, and the Belgian Royal Family spent some time at Yiareggio. It was at this juncture that rumours of an engagement were first heard, to be renewed in 1927, after the Princess had paid another visit to Italy. Two qualities in the Princess especially appeal to the Italians, to judge by accounts in Italian papers. One is her love of and knowledge of music, and the other is her interest in the poor and unfortunate. At Brussels her frequent presence at the opera and concert was noted with approval by a people among whom the opera and concert play a large part in social life. As for her broad charity an Italian journalist at Brussels declared that she "approaches human misery like a true queen, offering a hand that is skilled in giving comfort."

There is no doubt about the popularity of Marie Jose among her countrymen and women. For her there is always reserved a special ovation, and the Brussels burgher, who rather prides himself on showing what he feels, did not conceal his feelings about the Princess during the recent fetes to celebrate her engagement. The two Royal families are already linked through the Bavarian House, sinee the Queen of the Belgians was Duchess of Bavaria, and a Bavarian princess married Prince Thomas, Duke of Genoa, who is an uncle of the King of Italy. His daughter, Princess Bona, married Prince Conrad of Bavaria.

What, however, makes the marriage especially popular is the fact that Princess Marie Jose was educated at Florence and speaks Italian fluently. She always showed, even before there was any talk of her marriage with the Crown Prince of Italy, u sincere love of, and attachment, to Italy, which she calls her second mother countrv.

The Bridegroom. Prince Umberto Nicola Tomasso Giovanni Maria, Prince of Piedmont and Heir Apparent to the Italian throne, was born on September 15th, 1904. He is the third child and the only son of the King and Queen of Italy. It will be remembered that an attempt was made to murder him at Brussels on October 24th last year, the day on which his engagement to Princess Marie Jose was officially announced. His gallant bearing on that occasion evoked the admiration of the spectators.

DEPARTURE OP DUKE OF YORK. (Received January sth, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, January 4. The Duke of York has gone to Rome to attend the Royal wedding. He will be absent for a week. ANTI-FASCIST PLOT. ANOTHER ARREST MADE. (Received January sth, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, January 4. The police have made a fourth arrest in connexion with the antiFascist plot, taking into custody at Marseilles an Italian journalist named Fernando Schiavette. , The police searched his house, finding di Rosas home address. [Di Rosa was the name of the Italian student who attempted to shoot Prince Umberto of Italy when the latter visited Brussels in October to celebrate his betrothal to Princess Marie Jose.]