Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Will Ena's marriage be called off

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 February 24, 1906


Although "popular enthusiasm continues in Spain" over the forthcoming marriage between King Alfonso XIII and Princess Ena of Battenberg,  the marriage in England is not attracting the same popular sentiment, reports the New York Times.

Several days ago, a cable dispatch "stated that a petition was being signed" by Anglicans and Nonconformists in England requesting that King Edward VII "withhold his consent to the marriage."

Never mind the fact that Princess Ena does not need her uncle's consent to marry.  She is the daughter of Princess Beatrice, the youngest of Queen Victoria's nine children, and Prince Henry of Battenberg, a naturalized British subject.  It is "not impossible" that the crown could one day devolve upon Beatrice or her descendants.  Thus, it will be absolutely necessary for Ena to "formally renounce all pretensions" to the British throne now that she has repudiated her "Anglican baptism" and has become a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

[Princess Victoria Eugenie was baptized according to the rites of the Church of Scotland.  Moreover, the moment she was received into the Roman Catholic Church, she ceased to have succession rights, according to the Royal Marriages Act.]

But what would happen if Edward refused to give his consent? Nothing, but the writer of this editorial believes that the "head of the Battenbergs, who reigns at Darmstadt" would bypass Uncle Edward and ask the Kaiser "who would doubtless be only to have the honor thrust upon him."

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