AMAZING WEDDING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 424, 15 November 1930, Page 17 (Supplement)

AMAZING WEDDING

PRINCE AND PRINCESS FORTY-ONE AND SEVENTY-THREE COUSIN OF KING OF SPAIN An extraordinary Royal wedding took place at the Paddington Register Office, London, on September 19, between Prince Louis Ferdinand d ’Orleans-Bour-bon, aged 41, cousin of King Alfonso, and Infante of Spain, and Princess Marie Charlotte Constance de Broglie, aged 73 —widow of Prince Amedeo de Broglie—formerly Mlle, Constance Say, daughter of the French millionaire sugar refiner.

The wedding has a strange history. Last July an application was made in the Paris Courts for an injunction to restrain Princess Marie from marrying the Prince. The Princess’ family sought to prevent the marriage, and the application was made by the Due de Brissac, the Princess’ nephew. The Court decided that as nephew of the Princess the Duke had no right to oppose her marriage.

Although evidence had been submitted that the Princess was apparently incapable of managing her own affairs, she produced three medical certificates attesting her ‘'perfect health and sanity.” The Court expressed the opinion that a more complete examination was desirable, and three doctors were appointed io examine the Princess. It was also decided to maintain the appointment of the official administrator to look after the estate of the Princess for four months. Gamecocks and Donkeys. The Princess’ counsel submitted that certain eccentricities of the Princess, such as her habit when taking a room in an hotel of engaging also the room on the floor above and a room on the floor below, and her passion for dogs, gamecocks and donkeys were “perfectly innocent.”

The counsel for the Due de Brissac declared that the family considered that Prince Louis was not a suitable “parti.” Moreover, counsel added, the Princess was squandering her fortune, mortgaging her estates, and that recently she tried to send most of her jewellery, valued at £240.000, to Prince Louis who was then living in Italy. The marriage was then arranged to take place in August at Ventimiglia, Italy, but it was postponed. It was stated that the Prince had gone to Genoa to obtain from the King’s Pro-curator-General dispensation for the marriage to take place without the publication of the banns. At the last moment, however, Ihe Spanish Consul-General refused to furnish the necessary documents declaring the consent of the King of Spain. The Italian Procurator-General, therefore, declared that the marriage could not take place. The Prince thereupon left for Spain with the object of obtaining King Alfonso’s permission. It is understood that King Alfonso refused his consent.

Prince’s Remarkable Career Last year a wedding, which did not take place, was arranged between the Prince and Mrs Mabelle Gilman Corey, at one time the actress wife of an American steel king, and before that it was reported that he was engaged to Hertha von Walther, a German film actress.

The career of the Prince has been a remarkable one. He is a cousin of the King of Spain and the son of the Infanta Eulalia, an aunt of King Alfonso. He is 41 years of age, and has spent most of his time at his mother’s castle at San Remo. His life in France was a chequered one, and he was expelled five years ago by the Herriot Government. In 1924 the Prince and his secretary were called before the Prefect of Police, Paris, following upon an adventure in

the Paris underworld in which, it was alleged, two men disguised as sailors threatened them with revolvers and demanded their money. It was following this incident that he was requested to leave France.

A decree was signed by the King of Spain depriving him of his honours and the title of Infante, but he refused to recognise this.

Wealth of the Bride Princess Amedeo de Broglie is 73 years of ago, and the daughter of the late M. Say, a sugar millionaire. The family is immensely rich, and her income runs into thousands a’month. She has known the Prince since ho was a little boy. Some time ago her family demanded that she should not be allowed to manage her own financial affairs, and a trustee was appointed by the French Courts to deal with the matter. The Princess is a highly cultured woman, and well known in Paris Society. Two years ago she was the victim of a £6OOO jewellery theft. When it was suggested in the Courts that her proposed marriage to the Prince was evidence of a deranged mind the Princess declared: “It is a monstrous insult. I am not insane because I love, and this is a wicked move on the part of those who are anxious to inherit my wealth when I die.'