King Alfonso secretly supported cousin's marriage

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July 23, 1909

The Associated Press today received the details of the "romantic marriage" between Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Orleans to Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg. The marriage has cost the Prince his position as a member of the Spanish royal house, and his military career.

The details now "reveal the fact that King Alfonso, instead of refusing his consent for the marriage," which was reported by Madrid to the press, "actually advised" his cousin to marry Beatrice secretly. He also "personally intervened by telegraph" with ecclesiastical authorities in Bamberg, to obtain a dispensation for the marriage.

The information about the marriage was obtained from Prince Alfonso, "and when it becomes known in Europe, it is likely to create a greater sensation than did the wedding and the Prince's disgrace."

Prince Alfonso and Princess Beatrice, who is a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, first met in 1906 at the wedding of King Alfonso and Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, who is Beatrice's first cousin. The Prince, who was only 20 years old at the time, proposed marriage, but Beatrice refused.

A year later, Queen Ena and Queen Mother Maria Cristina, according to the AP report, tried "to induce Beatrice to relent." She declared, however, that she would never change her religion, but, finally, she stated that she would not object to her children being raised Roman Catholic. Queen Maria Cristina is reported to have said at the time. "Then there is not the slighted difficulty to the union. I have always said that if I had had a second son he should have married a Protestant" Queen Maria Cristina also added that "she herself had Protestant ancestors."

It was at La Granja where King Alfonso "formally asked for the hand of Princess Beatrice for his cousin." He gave his word that there would not be the "slightest difficulty concerning the religious phase of the union. Prince Alfonso then proposed marriage, and, this time, Princess Beatrice accepted.

Spain's Prime Minister Maura was consulted by the king regarding the marriage, but the Premier made it clear that a marriage of an infant of Spain to a Protestant princess "could not take place on account of government differences."

King Alfonso was said to be very angry, and disappointed by this comment.
Because of her friendship with Queen Ena, Beatrice said she would end the engagement. Her fiance, however, told the king that he would marry Beatrice "regardless of the consequences.

King Alfonso "warmly congratulated" his cousin, and told him that his "reply was worthy of a Bourbon," and even if Spain's constitution prevented him from giving an "official consent" to the marriage, he, as a Bourbon, "would do everything in his power for the couple."

Princess Beatrice and Prince Alfonso met with Pope Pius to ask for a dispensation to allow for the mixed marriage. The Spanish government, however, warned the Vatican about the situation, so the "dispensation neither was granted nor actually refused."

Prince Alfonso graduated from military school in Toledo on July 12. He volunteered to "go to the front in Morocco." However, King Alfonso granted his cousin a three-day leave and suggested that he go to Coburg to marry Beatrice. He also said he would send a wire to the Bishop of Bamberg "to grant a dispensation."

Prince Alfonso arrived in Coburg on the 15th, where he and Beatrice were married that morning in a civil ceremony. At 1 p.m., a priest on Coburg received a telegram from the Bishop of Bamberg with the required dispensation. Beatrice and Alfonso were able to confirm their vows in a Roman Catholic service, which was followed by a service in the Lutheran church.

The news of the marriage was to have been kept secret, but details were published in Spain. A royal decree was quickly issued and "the degradation of the Prince soon followed."

Prince Alfonso told a friend: "Maura, the head of a clerical party in Spain, and because he holds a majority in Parliament, forced the king to kick his own cousin out of the country and the army, to strip him of his title and honors for the crime of marrying a Protestant, who is a niece of King Edward, and a first cousin of the Emperors of Germany and Russia."

He also wired the King to allow him to go to the frontier, but it is believed the request will be denied. Prince Alfonso's mother, Infanta Eulalia, who is in Paris, is said to be "prostrate over the ruin of her son's career," even though she knows that the British and Spanish royal families "were in perfect sympathy with the marriage."