HIS "BOOK OF BRIDES"

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 108, 2 November 1929, Page 20

HIS "BOOK OF BRIDES"

RELENTLESS DAME RUMOUR

(Copyright.) • The Prince of Wales, first bachelor of the realm, has had a "Book of Brides" in his possession ever sincerumour linked his name with that of Princess Victoria Louise, only daughter of the German Emperor, in 1912. The existence of the book became known in London following the recent persistent whisperings that Princess Ingrid, daughter of Sweden's Crown Prince, was in England to announce her engagement to the British heir to the throne. From 1912 onward practically every marriageable Princess in Europe has been coupled with the Prince, in theory at least. .- In the famous "Book of Brides 1 known only to a^few intimate bachelor friends and his royal brothers, the Prince has collected all the clippings, all the prophecies, all the suppositions, all the hints, all the photographs of and about rumoured brides that have been published both in England and in the United States. The American section o± the book is four times as bulky as the pages devoted to the rest of" the world. Whenever a new rumour starts up, in however remote a section of the world, the Prince's correspondents and-friends immediately forward him the newspapers that mention.the incident, and into collection they go. The latest assertion that the Prince would.become engaged to Princess Ingrid has been the most embarrassing of recent years Inncess Ingrid was in London with her parents. They were scheduled to be the Prince's guests at dinner and at several other functions. Immediately Dame Eumour seized upon the situation and exploited it to the full. While the Prince is personally very fond of the members of the Swedish royal family he was practically forced, to be distant with them and keep himself aloof. Former rumours generally originated outside England. This time it London that was seething with excitement and gossip. _ . The weary series started in 191!> when the Prince of Wales was under twenty. At that time no match could have been more glittering than one with Victoria Louise, daughter of Wilhelni II The Kaiser and the German Empire were at the zenith of glory and power, lne Uernians exploited the rumour for all they were worth. But Victoria married the Duke of Brunswick in 1913. Several of the Prince's legendary brides are dead. A tragic fate overtook two of them, the Grand Ducliess Olga, the eldest daughter of the late Czar Nicholas, the Grand Duchess^ Tatinia his second daughter. -Both perished in the Ekaterinenburg cellar' under Bo '- shevik pistols, along with the entire Emperial Eussian family. '■■'• ■"■-"-■■"■:■ Others followed. ' Princess Yolanda eldest daughter of King Victor Emmanuel, once loomed as a candidate. When the engagement did not materialise, gossip simply transferred the lady across the Channel and mentioned her as the futfivc bride of Leopold, Duke of Brabant, and Crown Prince of Belgium, Leopold's wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden, had her time hi the limelight as mythical future Queen of England. No European Princess, between the agea of fifteen and thirty-five can possibly come to London without Dame Eumour springing to 'arms, unrebuffed by all formerrebukes and failures.- '■■-■ ■'■ ■■■-•.: The infanta Beatrice :of Spain' has been mentioned, Princess Helen: of Greece had her turn. Princess Ileana of Roumania followed. Princess Margaret of Denmark seemed inevitable.' Then came another Spanish Infanta, another Roumanian Princess,: several daughters of defunct princely families in Germany were'in London after-the war: Eumour gave them a tnrn eaobV-•"- ' '■'- ■ '■■;■■ r----To-day gossip has nothing niore to feed on, Dame Eumour, always relentless, and hopeful, must' at least~f,e'ei herself • outwitted and the notion that-the Prince of Wales will subscribe to a martial arrangement .'either through statecraft or intrigue, is going by the board. Nobody ever believed that he : would enter into a political marriage. His firm declaration recently "that.'he is free to marry^. whomever, he wants, has laid the ghost for a long time to come, it is believed. '