Love Before a Throne

Hawera Star, Volume L, 25 October 1930, Page 16

Love Before a Throne

P* REFERRING love to the prospect of gain- ' ing a throne, Archduke Albrecht of Hun-g-ary has flouted the proud traditions of the House of Hapsburg by secretly marrying l a woman of lessor rank. This romantic wedding took place secretly a few weeks ago at the Brighton Register Office. The bride was formerly the wife of a Hungarian diplomat, whom she divorced.

While the bridegroom lias received the congratulations of many of his royal kinsfolk, he has aroused the ire of his mother, whose plans to place him on the vacant throne of Hungary have now been shattered. Whether the Archduke, whose family is. the, richest of the Hapsburgs, will be disowned remains to be seen. It is stated that in following the dictates of his heart he will probably have to renounce his princely title and assume a lower rank, which can lie shared by his wife.

So well was the secret kept that 11 days elapsed before Europe was astonished to learn that .the Archduke Albrecht had married Mine. Irene Dora Rudnay. Mme. Rudnay, formerly Lelbach, was described on the register as "formerly the wife of Lewis Stephen Rudnay.” once Hungarian Minister at Belgrade, from whom she obtained a divorce. She is 33. the same age as the Archduke

0)1 the marriage certificate the names of the Archduke are given as Albrecht Franz Joseph Carl Friedrich Georg Hubert Maria HabsburgLothringen. He described himself as a bachelor and son of Friedrich Habsburg-Lothringen. also Archduke of Austria and Prince of Hungary. In the space for the bridegroom’s rank or profession are the words “Archduke of Austria. Prince of Hungary.”

he couple first met in Albrechts’ sick room, when he was very ill at The Hague a few years ago. Subsequently she nursed him back to health. A suit to annul the former marriage of the Archduke’s wife was proceeding in Rome, as the divorce is not recognised by the Church. The Archduke and his wife are now at Budapest.

Holiday-makers on their way to the beach were passing the register office on August 16 when the Archduke, a tall man in morning dress, and his bride, a beautiful figure in white, walked down the steps and entered a motor car. The holiday-makers shouted, “Good luck!” and as the car drove away the occupants waved their acknowledgment. Although there was so much secrecy about the wedding—nothing was known of it at the hotel where the archduke stayed the 15 days necessary to establish legal residence—those holiday-makers might easily have descovered it.

Archduke’s Romance

Richest of the Hapsburgs

‘ ‘ The Archduke came to see me as soon as he arrived in Brighton,” related Mr Horace Burfield, the superintendent registrar. “He produced many papers, which I am not at liberty to discuss, and I sent them to the RegistrarGeneral. who said that there was no objection to the marriage taking place.

“The bride was a very beautiful woman with a slight foreign accent, and they looked an ideal couple in every way. M. B. dc Ivovess, the Archduke’s lawyer, who had travelled specially from the Continent was one of the witnesses. Mr G. S. Godfree, a local solocitor, was the other. After the ceremony the Archduke thanked me in .Agent ; English, and I wished them both good : luck. ' Then they drove away in their car.”

Albrecht, the richest of the Hapsburgs, is the only son of the Archduke Friedrich, the Austrian Commander-in-Chief during the war. The family owns 50,000 acres in Hungary, and Albrecht’s mother possesses a jewel which is second only in size and value to the best in the famous Indian crown jewel collection. Albrecht was an aspirant to the throne of Hungary in opposition to his cousin, Otto, the son of the illfated Emperor Charles of Austria. After the war Albrecht ’s mother, the Archduchess Isabella, formed a Court in Budapest, and made plans for the “restoration” of her son to the throne of Hungary. It is said that the Emperor Charles was induced to make his two disastrous attempts to gain the Hungarian throne on account of the movement to supplant him and crown the Archduke Albrecht instead.

The Archduchess Isabella, vigorously opposed Albrecht’s plans to marry Mme. Rudnay, on the ground that, it would prejudice his chances of becoming Hungary’s king, but it was reported that Albrecht had sworn allegiance to his cousin Otto, preferring a love marriage to kingship. Thei'e was a bitter quarrel between mother and son when the latter came to his fateful decision. The Archduchess has announced her intention of disowning him, and the problem of his future inheritance is at the moment obscure.

Recently the Archduke Albrecht went on a voyage to South America, where he acquired an estate of 200,000 acres. He had a narrow escape from an attempt to kill him in Budapest two years ago, when he and a number of his friends had arranged a motor car* race among themselves. Just before they were to start it was discovered that every motor car had been tampered with, and that if the race had been begun most of the drivers must have been killed as soon as they reached high speed.