A HOHENZOLLERN ROMANCE

Evening Star, Issue 15539, 8 July 1914, Page 10

A HOHENZOLLERN ROMANCE

THE KAISER ONLY A MAN, AFTER ALL. Prince Oscar of Prussia, fifth son of the Kaiseri is, after all, to many Countess Ina Maria von Basewitz. The news took German society and the people completely by surprise, as no hint of the romantic attachment had been allowed, to transpire. The Piinoe and the countess did not encounter much opposition from Prince Oscar’s Imperial parents. As the countess is not of equal birth the marriage will be a morganatic one, but it is in no sense a mesalliance. The countess belongs to one of the families of. the oldest Mecklenburg nobility, the members of which have served their Sovereign with honor and distinction in many cases. She is a charming and beautiful lady of between 26 and 27 years of age. She is highly cultured, and is a great favorite in Court circles, especially with the Kaiserin,: who, indeed, has known her intimately for many years. It was therefore in Court, and practically in home, circles that Pinnoe Oscar learned to know the counters, and both the Kaiser and the Kaiserin have for a. long time known of their son’s wishes. It is a real love match, and both Prince and countess, who ,;ro very popular, will have the good wishes of all glasses of the German people When the marriage takes place the countess is wire to receive some mark of Imperial favor from her prospective father-in-law. Prince Oscar is almost exactly six months younger than his fiancee, and is a captain of the First Garde Regiment. For' some years the counters lias been the Kaiserin’s maid of honor, aml therefore is known intimately in the inner circle of the Imperial Family. When at first Prince Oscar’s wish met with some opposition Her Majesty pleaded the, cause of her son and the maid of honor, and had little difficulty in winning the Kaiser’s consent. This will be the third morganatic alliance with the House Hohenzollern in recent years. In 1858 Prince Albrecht, brother of Emperor William 1., caused a stir by marrying the Countess of Hohenau. A move recent case was that of Prince -Toilchim Albrecht, a cousin of the Kaiser. Ho became attached to a young actress,Marie Sulzer, but the Kaiser, as head of the house, forbade the proposed marriage. Later the actives went through a form of marriage, in the presence of the Prince, with Rarou von Liebenborg. an impecunious Austrian nobleman. No secret, was made of the fact that the marriage was one only in name, that a. quick divorce would follow, and that the ceremony was to provide the lady with a title which would make her a fitting mate for a Hohenzollern Prince. The Kaiser againintervened, and the Prince was sent off to

a regiment in South-west Africa. The lady, however, followed, and the upshot "as that tbo Prince wa.s compelled to leave the army, and was banished from, the Court. He afterwards married the baroness in Switzerland.