The Duke of Hesse's Marriage and Divorce.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 86, 24 January 1885, Page 5

The Duke of Hesse's Marriage and Divorce.

A correspondent writes :— " Tho affair of the Grand Duke of Hesse's marriage and divorce is truly mysterious to the outside world, and although the knowing people who can undertake to tell you all about ©yerything whisper various ingenious tale?, it is clear that they are really quite in the dark. That the Grand Duke of Hesse should marry again after more than five years' widowerhood is not very remarkable ; nor is it surprising that he should have chosen a bride from what is conventionally called a lower rank of society than his own. Having married a princess tho first time, and thus secured Royal blood on both sides for the recognised heirs to his name, the duke may well have thought himself entitled to chose again in a less limited circle. But it is mysterious, in the first place, why he choose to be clandestinely united to his morganatic bride on the very day that his daughter was married j why he allowed himself to be placidly led away from the very altar and dragged over here in the train of our Queen ; and finally, what were the arguments brought to bear on him to screw him up to a sturdy resolution to undo his marriage. These are the questions which the gossips are asking on all sides, and in default of information the opinion is very strong that the unhappy lady to whom the duke wa3 formally and duly married is being most cruelly treated. "At the very moment there comes to light a story showing how calUms and selfish the people who are exposed to the demoralising influences of the adulation which surrounds Royalty tends to become. Hasnot Sir Theodore Martin taughtus, in the slow progress of several bulky volumoe, that there never was a more estimable, gracious, and moral prince than Leopold, King of the Belgian 3 (with one sublimo exception) ; and that the counseller who formed his mind, and to whom much of that transcendent princely excellence was due, was Christian, Baron Stockmar ? Well, here is the story of Caroline Bauor, just given to the world, from which it appears that such conduct as the Queen is now pressing upon her grand ducal son-in-law is only a feeble sort of copy of the action which was taken by Her Majesty's much-revered uncle and the estimable Stockmar. Caroline Bauer M r as an actress and cousin to Baron Stock - mar ; the latter served as the go-between with her for the Prince. With a peculiar refinement, which I forbear to characterise, Leopold explained that bis attraction to the young actress arose entirely out of her close personal resemblance to his sainted and ever- mourned Charlotte To cut a long and unpleasant story short, poor Caroline Bauer experienced the same kind of treatment thafc Madame de Kalomine is now receiving. Having been induced to abandon her profession, she was kept in a gloomy house- near Regent's Park, before the Prince, who was then intriguing for the throne of Greece, could be induced to carry out any marriage ceremony whatever ; and .vhen at length the marriage contract was signed, the most cold, heartless, and pedantic selfishness and parsimony distin guished tho conduct of the good Prince to hU morganatic wife. Poor Caroline Bauer had to return to the stago for a livelihood. It remains to be scon what Prince Leopold's niece will think suitable for Madame de Kalomine's future."