Thursday, October 2, 2008

Prettiest princess in Britain engaged

October 2, 1908

Princess Patricia of Connaught, who is said to be the "prettiest princess in the British royal family," is about to become engaged to King Manoel II of Portugal, sources tell the Los Angeles Times. The engagement will be announced at a dinner party later this month.
It was the discovery that the princess was studying the Roman Catholic faith in preparation for a new baptism that lead to the news of the engagement. Princess Patricia has "decided a chance to become queen is to be preferred even to one's church," according to the reporter. Patricia's first cousin, Princess Ena of Battenberg, converted to the Roman Catholic before her marriage to King Alfonso XIII.
Manoel's mother, Queen Amelie, is said to be pleased by this marriage. She was understandably upset when Manoel insisted that he wanted to marry his "youthful sweetheart, the daughter of of Portuguese nobleman." Such a marriage would not have been accepted, and the young woman was required to leave Portugal.
A marriage with a British princess was "unusually desirable." Patricia's uncle, King Edward VII, is said to approve of the match.
The Princess, who is the youngest of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught's three children, has turned down several offers of marriage, including proposals from the Count of Turin, the Marquess of Anglesey, Grand Duke Michael of Russia and Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia.
King Alfonso XIII had also considered Patricia as his wife before he met Princess Ena.

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