MOTHER'S VAIN APPEAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21166, 26 April 1932, Page 7

MOTHER'S VAIN APPEAL.

PRINCE LENNART'S WEDDING*

REGISTRY OFFICE CEREMONY.

GRAND DUCHESS STAYS AWAY.

Although she had travelled 3000 miles to bo with her son, the mother of Prince Lennart 'if Sweden did not attend his wedding at a London registry office on March 11. She was asleep in her hotel.

Tho Prince's mother is tho Grand Duchess Mario of Russia. Her brother, tho Grand Duke Dmitri, was also -in London; but he, 100, did not go to the wedding. Neither of them attended the* reception., nor the informal luncheon given before tho Prince and his bride left for their homo besido Lako Constance.

But Londoners gathered in their hundreds to see tho Princo and tho bride for whom ho was renouncing Royal . fank.. Miss Nissvandt is tho daughter of a merchant. Tho couple left tho registry office as " Mr. and Mrs. Bernadotte."

While the luncheon was taking place at tho Dorchester, Prince Lennart's mother was sitting in her hotel wondering if her son would bring his bride to see . her before they went away. She waited in vain. But beforo they left for the station, Prince Lennart and his wife received two telegrams wishing them luck. One was from the Grand Duchess Marie; the other was from King Gustav of Sweden, Princo Lennart's grandfather. The briclo was so pleased that she called in the 12 policemen who had acted as her bodyguard at the wedding and pinned a yellow rose on each tunic. Desire to Avoid Fuss. While she was waiting for her son and his brido tho Grand Duchess Marie explained her reasons for not going to the wedding. She said: "When I came here specially from New York to sec Lennart married, my great desiro was to get hi:n to accede to my request to have a religious ceremony. I have no objections to a registry office service, but I wanted it followed by a religious one in a church. We Romanoffs do not recognise civil ceremonies. "My son was unwilling to listen to me, let alone to agree to my request. He said a Church service would take too long to arrange. He wanted something quick and simple, without any fuss or ceremonial. We have been discussing the question for a week, but lie refused to agree to my wishes, so yesterday I had no alternative but to decide not to attend his wedding, much as it went against the wishes of my heart as his mother. My brother, the Grand Duke Dmitri, look a similar decision. " I met Mis 3 Nissvandt, Lennart's bride, in Germany last year. I think she is a charming girl. They are very happy with each other, and I hope they will always be so. I like her very much. " I Must Wait For Him."

" The objections of King Gustav and tho Swedish Royal Family toward the wedding aro no concern of mine, and I do not want to be mixed up in them. I came here purely as my son's mother. I would have liked to have seen him married, but I wish he had done so in a proper and dignified way. " I want very much to see him and his bride before they leave, to give them, my best wishes on tho new life which they are entering. Every mother, in the circumstances, would like to do that ; bi't> tho first step toward this must come from, him. He has flouted my wishes in t.i® matte] - of this wedding, and I must wait for him to como to me." The Grand Duchess then explained her absence from the wedding luncheon. I was not invited," she said. At this moment the Grand Duke Dmitri camo into the room. Hp said: "It has naturally been a very upsetting thing for the Grand Duchess. She came here just for the wedding. The plans had been made. Prince Lennart desired them to be unaltered. That is all there is to it. The Grand Duchess is sailing again, for the United States on Friday week. • The Grand Duchess was under the impression that Prince Lennart and liig bride were not leaving for the Continent until the next day. She was surprised when told that they were catching the two o'clock train that afternoon for Folkestone. She looked at the clock. Tho time was 25 minutes to two. "Will he come ?" she asked. For a minute or two she sat in the foyer obviously eagerly exi pecting a visit from her son; but tha minutes passed without a sign of him.Then she took the arm of her brother, thei Grand Duke Dmitri, and went away to lunch. An Adventurous Life. A friend, who is in close touch with! the Grand Duchess Marie and the Grand Duke Dmitri,* explained: "The Grand Duchess, the most spirited and demo* cratic of all the Romanoffs, has had an adventurous life. Married as a young girl to Prince she was unhappy in tHe stiff formality of v.ha Swedish Court and she and her husband separated. When the Russian revolution came the Swedish Court returned her jewels, but a largo portion of tho rich dowry, which she had brought with her marriage, remained in Stockholm. It provides to-dav a part of the income whieli her son enjoys. "Since the revolution tho Grand Duchess has had to earn her own living* She receives no allowance from her for-t mer husband or from her son. She i>aS worked in a dressmaking establishment int New York. Two years ago she published her war memoirs, siud the book, an im« mediate success, has brought her :nde< pendence. A second volume, dealing witbl her life after tho revolution, is now itjj the press. "When the Grand Duchess heard of her son's difficulties over his marriagS she took his side. His independent spirib seemed to bo inherited from herself, and she determined to attend the wedding of tho son whom she has seen only onoa since he was a small boy. She made tho journey from America to England and at Southampton sho was met by Priucd Lennart." Tho Grand Duchess had a shock she learned that there was to be no relU pious celebration of the marriage. Shi made a strong appeal to her son. "I be* long to the old regime in Russia," sha said to him. "But when trouble came T made my own way in life. The Bol« sheviks, who have" destroyed us, boasi that they have also destroyed God. For; my sake be married in a church. I liava como three thqjisand miles to see youp happiness. None of your father's family has como. Do this for me.". Prince Lennart hesitated, asked for time, went away for an hour and then came back to say that he could not alter his decision. Bitterly disappointed, tiia Grand Duchess decided that she could not attend a which tha Romanoffs havo never recognised as mart riage.