Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Royal Shopgirl weds royal clerk "with pomp"

September 14, 1928 

 The Chicago Daily Tribune reported today on the marriage between a prince and princess, who live and work in Chicago. It is a "real life romance, composed of the things of which movies are made," that culminated in a wedding at the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church. It was a marriage "that might have taken place in a palace of the old Russian czars." 

The priests "chanted the service in Russian, while a mixed choir, sheltered by a screen, responded." The bride and groom held "slim, ribboned candles" throughout the ceremony. At one point in the service, red velvet and gold coronets "were held over their heads successively by seven pairs of ushers." When of all this "royal pomp and circumstance was finished," the bride and groom left the church to be "greeted outside by a group of shopgirls from a loop department store who pelted them with rice." 

The bride is a shopgirl and her husband works as a clerk in a Chicago clothing store. But it was not the bride and groom's jobs that caught the attention of the press.

 The bride is Princess Alexandra Galitzine, and her husband is Prince Rostislav Alexandrovitch of Russia, a nephew of the late Nicholas II. Prince Rostislav is the son of Nicholas's sister, Grand Duchess Xenia, and her husband, Grand Duke Alexander. Alexandra, known as Aleka, and Prince Rostislav met in London "some years ago." 

Earlier this year, the princess came to live in Chicago with her mother. She started working in a local department store shortly after her arrival. Prince Rostislav arrived three months later, and soon became a salesman in a clothing store. The fourteen ushers included the bride's brother, Prince Nicholas Galitzine, Col. Michel Lasaref, Prince Michael Cantacuzene and Adlai Stevenson. After a weekend honeymoon, the bride and groom will return to to their respective jobs. They will reside with the princess' mother at her home, 38 East Walton Place in Chicago. 

The groom's parents were not present for the wedding.

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