QUIET WEDDING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 19 November 1937, Page 5

QUIET WEDDING

' PRINCE LOUIS OF HESSE AND MISS GEDDES (United Press Association —By Electrlo Telegraph-Copyric-ttl LONDON, 17th November. Fifty guests, mostly Relatives and close friends, watched the bride, Miss Margaret Campbell Geddes, daughter of Sir Auckland Geddes, enter the church for her marriage to Prince Louis of Hesse, brother of the Grand Duke, who was killed with his wife, children, and others in the Ostend air disaster. She wore black relieved only by a spray of white camellias. The best man was Lord Louis Mountbatten, who replaced Baron von Reidcsel zu Eisenbach, who was killed in the crash. The guests included the Duke and Duchess of Kent, Princess Paul of Greece and the Countess of Toerring, sisters of the Duchess of Kent, the Marchioness of Milford HaVen, and the German Ambassador, Herr von Ribbentrop. Prince Louis and his bride left for Ostend after the wedding. Sir Auckland Geddes’s daughter now becomes the ruling Princess of the House of Hesse. FAMILY ALMOST WIPED OUT Commenting on the crash, Sir Auckland Geddes said: “Prince Louis’s family has been practically wiped out, and he is left to face the situation. That is why the marriage was held to-day entirely in private at'St. Peter’s, Eaton Square, instead of on Saturday. I ask the Press and the public to respect the deep grief of Prince Louis and my daughter. The House of Hesse and its estates is located in the middle of the Rhineland and dates back to the sixteenth century. The King sent a message of sympathy to the new Grand Duke of Hesse. The bodies of those who lost their lives is the disaster have all been recovered and removed to a room in a factory nearby. An aerodrome official said that the Grand Duke’s two sons and Baron von Deidesel zu Eicenbach were thrown clear on to a heap of straw on which the machine fell, but the straw instantly blazed up. The weather was so bad that the work of extricating the bodies was suspended at midnight. A member of the German Embassy will arrange for the transport of the bodies to Darmvtadt for the funeral. SCENE OF DISASTER VISITED POPULATION OF HESSE IN MOURNING (Receiving 19th November, 9.37 a.m.) LONDON, 18th November. Shortly after their arrival at Ostend, the Prince and Princess of Hesse visited the scene of the air crash, where bodies of the victims are lying. Flowers have been sent from Belgium and many parts of Germany. The Prince superintended the removal of the bodies to Darmstadt. They will lie in state in the family mausoleum until the funeral. Search of the area led to the recovery of jewellery flung from the luggage of the Grand Duke’s party. The population of Hesse is in the deepest mourning. Flags are halfmast. It is understod the Prince will not assume the title of Grand Duke. It was agreed between the Reich Government and the Grand Ducal House some time ago that the Grand Duke should assume the title of Prince, it being felt that the title of Grand Duke might imply sovereignty.