MARRIAGE POSTPONED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 138, 8 December 1938, Page 18

MARRIAGE POSTPONED

AUSTRIAN FILM STAR

NATIONALITY SOLE BAR

Because it would mean the bride losing her British nationality, the marriage between 18-year-old Miss Maude Courtney and Mr. Anton Walbrook, Viennese film star, will not take place, reports the London "Evening Star."

Mrs. Randall-Charlton, mother of Miss Courtney, told a reporter that Mr. Walbrook's nationality was the sole bar to the marriage. "In the present state of European turmoil I dare not think of my daughter becoming an alien, being married to a man without a country, and a subject of Hitler.

"Mr. Walbrook is a refugee—he had a Jewish grandmother—and Maudie is a Catholic; Her family is a very old one and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. "How could she sacrifice this great heritage to become an outcast? "Personally, I would not sell my British passport for £650,000—the price that one man is said to have paid for British nationality." ACTING FOR "ALL PARTIES." The following statement was issued by Messrs. Henry Solomon and Company, of Portlandplace, London, solicitors, "for all parties." "Following a conference between Mr. Walbrook and the family of Miss Courtney, it is now officially stated that the forthcoming marriage will not take place." "It appears that Mrs. Randall-Charl-ton, the mother of Miss Courtney, while aware of her daughter's close friendship with Mr. Walbrook, was ignorant of the proposed marriage. Immediately she learned of the plan [ she pointed out to her daughter that |by marrying Mr. Walbrook she would automatically be forced to surrender her British passport and thus lose her British nationality. Legal advice was sought. Miss Courtney is not yet 21 years of age. STILL AUSTRIAN SUBJECT. ! "As a result of this advice, Mr. Walbrook and Miss Courtney have reluctantly agreed that, in view of the difficulties that would arise for both I parties, the application for marriage should be withdrawn.

"Mr. Walbrook, who has made England his home for the last two years, is still an Austrian subject, and although he hopes to remain in this country, both he and Miss Courtney have agreed that legal obstacles have, unfortunately, created the postponement of their plans." Mr. Walbrook was presented to Queen Mary recently at the film premiere of "Sixty Glorious Years," in which he plays the role of Prince Consort to Anna Neagle's Queen Victoria. His real name is Adolf Wohlbruck, and he has appeared in German, French, and American films. Soon after his arrival in England he bought a house at Holme Chase, near Hampstead Heath. Miss Courtney lives at Albany Street, Regent's Park, and has been appearing in a West End cabaret show. Her mother, Mrs. Barbara Charlton, was known on the stage as Birdie Courtney.

Under German law a foreigner marrying a German 'automatically becomes a German.

Recently a Bill was presented in England seeking to make it the law that British women marrying foreigners should retain their British nationality. The measure is not yet law.