A NOTABLE CASE OF RECENT YEARS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11172, 22 July 1898, Page 5 (Supplement)

A NOTABLE CASE OF RECENT YEARS.

A notable case in. the last .10 years is that of Prince Oscar of Sweden, who fell in love with Miss B bba:' Mun ck,' the ■ pretty daughter i of one of the Swedish Ministers, and insisted /

on marrying'-her. The marriage, of course, was morganatic; tie wife did not become a member of the vKoyal Family, and the children could never inherit the throne. . On the other hand, the King and .Queen,thoroughly recognise this lady as their daughter-in-law, and treat, her, with the utmosb.affection. The King,'moreover, has conferred on the pair the nonrroyal title of Prince and Princess Bornadotte. j , '■■:•/ '. ■■ ■

. -Another instance is that of Princess Frederica of Hanover, who fell in love with and married .her.fathers Court physician,, in defiance of her family, whomade every effort fIAt '* to l : stop .the. marriage, and secondly, when it'was accomplished, to induce the, Princess torgp.udiate.it.

'; " t Anbther, quite recent case is that of the Grand DokV ; Micbaerof Russia, who married mprganatically a. German lady of noble but not royal.birth.. jTne late Czar commanded the Grand Dnke to give her up and marry within i his own rank or be banished from 'Bassia'.''.' ■'. ''*''■'■ ■ •.•-..

■, IWGrand Puke, 'preferred exile with his wife,.? who 'haSji* been created Countess .Tqrbyby the,, Kihg'.of Bavaria in'order jto ieKev^e';^r^-qf'the , humiliation of being i'-ob.ii'gad"i9/nse ; tiir; maiden name still. M'^'jb^:.,.«asons. ilt 'why' ; Prince and .Princess i Edward.o£ Sax^-Weimar-, Princess Victor of iM^aheiiiciie, La/'gesbnrg sbd her t&:> : Co ant \ reside..in England, the Priace and I Princess : Louis ofi ißatftenberg follow the i British fleet are tHeee: • '■'■•'

THEY "BANK HIGHER 'IN • THIS- CODNTBS.

In- the first case, Prince Edward is married to' a sister of the Duke of, Richmond and Gordon; in the second place, Prince Victor'a widow was a daughter of a Marquess of Hertford; in, tbe; third,' Prince Louis, being the son of a,morganatic marriage, is,not on the royal level. All. these marriages are .morganatic,,with the result that in Germany Princess. Edward would be known as Conntess Dornberg. (a title conferred on her .after bet marriage); Princess'Victbr would be merely Lady ■ Laura Seymour, awd • her son • would have" no 'title at 'all; while Princess Louis would be styled Princess f 'Victoria of Hesse, jnst as if she.were unmarried. 'Some idea of what.can be done, in circumstances like, this may be taken from the case of ; the late Grand Duke of .Hesse, who after the death of' his first wife. (our. Princess Alice) married morganatically a lady of nonroyal birth. Afew days after the ceremony he dismissed her. ■ . ■■ -. ■ .

Neither, the common nor the Court, law of England recognised"these distinctions, and marriages with subjects were by no means nnc6mmon: rip to - about a. 'century ago. . Queen Mary ll.and Queen" Anne were' both the daughters >of the marriage between James II and Anne Hyde,'daughter of Lord Chancellor Clarendon.

|WHY°THE KOTAL MAERIAGE ACT WAS PASSED,

George 111, however, had German ideas, and resented some alliances of this kind. He got a law passed called'the Royal Marriage Act, which declared that members of the ttoyal Family in the line of succession could not marry without the consent of the Crown before they attained the age of 25. '

This law did not create a caste, it only imposed a condition. The difference between it and the morganatic rule is that under the latter a marriage between a ioyaky and a subject can never become binding against the royalty. . The latter may be voluntarily bound as long as he or she may choose, but no longer; whereas a marriage between a royalty and a subject celebrated in England under the Royal Marriage Act with the consent of the Crown is as binding as a marriage celebrated lawfully between subjects, and cannot be broken except by the High Court for legal cause. Moreover, the children of this union have full rights of succession and inheritance to both their parents.

NOT AFFECTING OUB OWN LrNE.OP SUCCESSION,

The marriages of Princess Louise, Princess Henry of Battenburg,. and the Duchess of Fife constitute exact examples of what in Germany would be styled a morganatic union. In England, however, as they wers celebrated with the consent of the Queen, they are on the same footing as other marriages. A strong proof of this is to be found in the fact that the Duchess of Fife comes next to the Dake of York's family in the line of succession, and her daughters come after her. In Germany her marriage would have cut tbe Duchess and her children out of the line altogether.

The strongest case, however, is that of the Duke and Duchess of York. According to the German law the Dake of Tecfe, being the son of a morganatic marriage, could only marry the late Princess Mary Adelaide morganatically. Their children were morganatically born, and when Princess May married the Dake of York it was merely a morganatic alliance. It may be added, however,' that not eren the German Emperor has ever ventured to treat the Dachess as a morganatic wifs.

I —Jfrolessor Agossiz now in Jbiji investig* ting tlie coral reefs there, has found that Darwin's explanation of them is not borne out by facts. Barrier reefs and atolls are found I to be the remnants of-reefs formerly elevated • I far above the sea level. He thinks that circular or oval atolls may be formed by coral growing on the ruins of submerged volcanoes. — The reason the elephant's neck is 6hort is that the head of the animal is so heavy that were it placed at the end of a neck proportionate to the dimensions of that member in other animals, an almost incalculable amount of muscular force would bo necessary to elevate and sustain it. — The Corps of Commissionaires, whose ranks are recruited from the good conduct men of the army and navy, was first founded in 1859. Colonel Sir Edward "Walter, the commanding' officer, was the founder. It was originally intended to furnish employment for wounded or maimed soldiers and sailors, but it grew so rapidly into favour that this class of men were not sufficient to fill the ranks, and now able-bodied discharged sailora and soldiers axe admitted, provided thsy havo a record for good conduct. ■