PRINCE MARRIES COMMONER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19512, 10 June 1933, Page 5

PRINCE MARRIES COMMONER

BREACH OF DYNASTIC LAW. MARRIAGE WITHOUT CONSENT. At the time of the announcement of the engagement, the Berlin correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” wrote: Under the dynastic law of the Hohenzollerns, a member of the Royal family may marry only with the consent of its head, and only into another Sovereign house. Fraulein von Salviati is a commoner, daughter of the widow of Alexander von Salviati, who was Marshal of the Court to a sister of the ex-Kaiser, Princess Victoria of Schaumburg-Lippe. Prince Wilhelm has not obtained either consent or countenance to his betrothal from his parents. The restrictions he has defied are of importance, because of Prince Wilhelm’s popularity. A plebiscite among Prussian Monarchists at any time since the war would undoubtedly have given him more votes than either the exKaiser or the ex-Crown Prince. His decision, it is feared, means that this most popular of candidates for restoration is proposing to rule himself out of the succession. The following advertisement appeared in one of the chief Monarchist newspapers recently:—“l hereby announce the betrothal of my daughter Dorothea to the battalion leader of the Steel Helmet League of Front Soldiers, his Royal Highness Prince Wilhelm of -Prussia. —Ella von Salviati, nee Crasenann, Bonn, April 1933.” The signatory is the mother of Fraulein von Salviati. The far-reaching consequences of the announcement may be imagined.