THE ROYAL HOUSE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIX, 28 January 1936, Page 7

THE ROYAL HOUSE

• - BRITISH INSTITUTION ♦ ll .• . . . • ■ ' • • •• : 1 LINKS WITH THE PEERAGE NEW MARRIAGE PRECEDENT? Many of the King’s, subjects probr ably not fully realise how tfie.Rpyal House since the war has become, almost entirely free from its forijiey apd: apnyetimes embarrassing foreign ijelqkh,'. ships, and how, by alliances with tliq nobility, it is growing into a, thoroughly self-contained British institution. The. significant changes, that .have taken, place in recent years are. explained ip, the following passages from aib article • that was published about the time of,. King George’s silver jubilee. The. writ,-' er’s argument is strengthened by the subsequent marriage of the Duke of Gloucester to, the daughter of a Scottish peer, the Duke of Buccleucli. • The name of the Royal Family at one time was the House of Hanover, or the House of Brunswick, states the article, King George preferred to belong to the House of Windsor, and- the change of , designation -has been timely. It. is not, only that Hanover and recall. the disputed accession, of King George I. in. 1714 and, the two Jacobite rebellions of 1716 and 1745, but that Windsor Castle was founded by William the Conqueror. ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT •In an institution like the British Throile, which is supported only by public sentiment, any change) however subtle, is significant and has to be appraised in the perspective of the past. There has been a far-reaching, if delicate, adjustment of the relations between. the House of Windsor and the British aristocracy. For centuries it. has been held; that ’ the Throne should he kept above any ! possibility of such dissensions, and the rule has been that Royalty marries Roy-' alty. It is true that James 'II, as Duke of York, married Anne Hyde, daughter of Lord Clarendon, who thus became’the mother of two Queens, Mary and Anne. But that marriage was private and, • m 1772, the position was safeguarded by the Royal Marriage Act, which declares that any union affecting the Royal; Family is null and void unless the consent of the Sovereign has been obtained. That Act isi still in force. - PEERESS MAY. BE QUEEN Queen Victoria allowed the Princess Louise, regarded as ou ; t of the succession, to be married to the, Duke of Argyll. King Edward similarly permitted his eldest daughter, the Princess Royal, to become the Duchess of Fife. When, therefore, King George approved of his ■ daughter, the Princess. Mary, becoming, prospectively, Countess of . Harewood, ; fie was following precedent. She also was out of the probable succession. It was a very different matter when King George said to his sons, including the Prince, of Wales, that they, as heirs to the Throne, were now free, in effect, to niarry whpm they wished; and dramatic was the moment. when at Buckingham Palace a daughter of the Earl of Strathmore, born Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, curtseyed to Their Majesties as bride of the Duke of York and was greeted as “Your,Royal Highness” and a possible Queen of England. To-day the eldest daughter of the Duchess —Princess Elizabeth—is an heiress presumptive of the Crown. It is true, that later the Duke o) Kent married the Princess Marina of Greece, who by birth enjoyed Royal status. But it was obvious that the Duke had been, at liberty to marry otherwise, had he so wished.