THE ROYAL WEDDING.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1392, 15 September 1885, Page 1

THE ROYAL WEDDING.

The Queen’s youngest daughter is married. It does not matter where we got our information, but it is so, and the husband she got is thus described by the London correspondent of the Melbourne Argus :—“ The Royal wedding was favored by brilliant weather, and went off admirably. To-day Prince Henry of Battenbuig, the child of a morganatic marriage, and who, up to a week ago, had no hing in the world but his name and the pay of a lieutenant, with an additional £SO a year for pocket money—altogether about £l3O a year—is the husband of an English Princess, with an annual income of £SOOO a year and a dower of £30,000 I To add to this, the young gentleman has been created a KG., and elevated to the position of a “Royal Highness.” The Prussian guardsman bias done a good week’s work, and he can very well afford to dismiss with contempt all the sneers which have been launched againstihim at Berlin and elsewhere. If report is true, however,.the Queen feels acutely some of the comments made. The Crown Priqce and Pr’ncess declined to attend the function. The Prince of Wales is believed to have shared the objection taken in Berlin to the bridegroom, but could not persist in it, and the same may be said of the Duke of Edinburgh and others. It is remarkable how firmly the satiis idea has taken root among the populace, who are heartily sick of the system which introduces the poorer German princes into this country for their own immense benefit. In such circumstances the rather feeble euloginms of the Poet Laureate are neglected, or treated with something less than decency.” It may be as well perhaps to explain whst a “ morganatic” marriage means. The royalty and nobility of Germany must marry persona equal to themselves in rank, but this does not debar them from having love affairs of their own. They are allowed to take two wives, and the marriage with the second one is morganatic. The children of the morganatic marriage are looked upon as legitimate, but cannot succeed to the titles or property of the father. Thus the rich in Germany may practice polygamy to a certain extent. Prince Henry of Battenburg is, we are told, the child of a morganatic marriage. Is it any wonder, therefore, that the marriage was discountenanced by the sister of the bride, the Crown Princess of Germany, and that her brothers, the Piince of Wales and Duke of Connaught, slipped away from the wedding party aa soon aa possible 1 ? It is not to be wondered at that they did not like this penniless, ill-born princeling for a brother-in-law. Lord Tennyson wrote an ode on the occasion. Poor old fellow, we cannot but sympathise with him in trying to make poetry out of an event in which so few could take any pride. We are not surprised that his ode is dull and stupid. It was very good of him to do it so well. It is as follows : Two Suns of Love make day of human life, Which else with all its pains and griefs and deaths Were utter darkness —one, the Sun of dawn That brightens thro’ the Mother’s tender eye?, And warms the child’s awakening world—and one The later-rising Sun of spousal Love Which from her household orbit draws the child To move in other spheres. The Mother weeps At that white funeral of the single life Her maidsn daughter’s marriage; and her tears Are half of pleasure, half of pain—the child Is happy—er’n in leaving her ! but Thou, True daughter, whose all-faithful filial eyes Have seen the loneliness of earthly thrones Wilt neither quit the widow’d Grown, nor let This later light of Love have risen in vain, But moving thro’ the Mother’s home between The two that love thee lead a summer life, Swayed by each Love, and swaying to each Love Like some conjectured planet in mid heaven Between two Suns, and drawing down from both The light and genial warmth of double day. July, 1885 . Tmraxso*.