RUMOURED BRIDES FOR THE PRINCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19133, 28 July 1930, Page 10

RUMOURED BRIDES FOR THE PRINCE.

RECORDS FILL A BOOK. (Written for the “Star.”) The Prince of Wales, first bachelor of the realm, has had a “Book of Brides” in his possession ever since rumour linked his name with that of Princess Victoria Louise, only daughter of the German Emperor, in 1912. The existence of the book became known in London following the recent persistent whisperings that Princess Ingrid, daughter of Sweden’s Crown Prince, was in England to announce her engagement to the British heir to the throne. From 1912 onward practically every marriageable Princess in Europe has been coupled with the Prince, in theory at least. In the famous “Book of Brides,” known only to a few intimate bachelor friends and his Royal brothers, the Prince has collected all the clippings, all the prophecies, all the suppositions, all the hints, all the photographs of and about rumour brides that have been published both in England and in the United States. The American section of the book is four times as bulky as the pages devoted to the rest of the world. Whenever a new rumour | starts up, in however remote a section of the world, the Prince’s correspondents and friends immediately forward him the newspapers that mention the incident, and into the collection they go. The latest assertion that the Prince would become eqgaged to Princess Ingrid has been the most embarrassing of recent years. London Gossip. Princess Ingrid was in London with her parents. They were scheduled to be the Prince’s guests at dinner and at several other functions. Immediately Dame Rumour seized upon the situation and exploited it to the full. While the Prince is personally very fond of the members of the Swedish Royal Family, he was practically fore ed to be distant with them, and keep himself aloof. Former rumours generally originated outside England. This time it was London that was seething with excitement and gossip. The weary series started in 1912, when the Prince of Wales was under twenty. At that time no match could have been more glittering than one with Victoria Louise, daughter of Wilhelm 11. The Kaiser and the German Empire were at the zenith of glory and power. The Germans exploited the rumour for all they were worth. But Victoria married the Duke of Brunswick in 1913. Several of the Prince’s legendary brides are dead. A tragic fate overtook two of them, the Grand Duchess Olga, the eldest daughter of the late Czar Nicholas, the Grand Duchess Tatinia, his second daughter. Both perished in the Ekaterinenburg cellar under Bolshevik pistols, along with the entire Imperial Russian family. Dame Rumour Outwitted. Others followed. Princess Yolanda, eldest daughter of King Victor Emmanuel, once loomed as a candidate. When the engagement did not materialise, gossip simply transferred the lady across the Channel, and mentioned her as the future bride of Leopold, Duke of Brabant, and Crown Prince of Belgium. Leopold’s wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden, had her time in the limelight as mythical future Queen of England. No European Princess between the ages of fifteen and thirtyfive can possibly come to London without Dame Rumour springing to arms, unrebuffed by all former rebukes and failures. The Infanta Beatrice of Spain has been mentioned, Princess Helen of Greece had her turn. Princess Ileana of Rumania followed. Princess Margaret of Denmark seemed inevitable. The came another Spanish Infanta, another Rumanian Princess, several daughters of defunct princely families in Germany were in London after the war. Rumour gave them a turn each. To-day gossip has nothing more to feed on. Dame Rumour, always relentless and hopeful, must at least feel herself outwitted, and the notion that the Prince of Wales will subscribe to a marital arrangement either through statecraft or intrigue is going by the board. Nobody ever believed that he would enter into a political marriage. Ilis firm declaration recently that he is free to marry whomever he chooses has laid the ghost for a long time to come. It is believed.—(Anglo-Ameri-can N.S. Copyright.)