The ramifications of Beatrice's marriage

July 17, 1909

In an exclusive dispatch, the Los Angeles Times reports on how Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, won her prince. The "greatest reticence is observed in Coburg and German court circles" regarding the marriage on Thursday of "the dashing and coquettish Princess Beatrice of Coburg to Don Alfonso," the eldest son of Infanta Eulalia, daughter of the late Queen Isabel of Spain.

The "affair was strictly private." A civil ceremony was held at Schloss Rosenau, the residence of Beatrice's mother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. This was followed by Catholic and Lutheran weddings, the latter taking place at the chapel at Schloss Callenberg, "where the first part of the honeymoon was passed."

Beatrice and Alfonso "have been desperately in love for the last two years," but religious differences - Beatrice is Lutheran and Alfonso a Roman Catholic -- have "proved a serious obstacle.

The Princess, who is five years older than her husband, and "of an extremely fiery, masterful and independent disposition, induced her royal lover to brave the wrath" of his cousin, King Alfonso XIII, and the Pope. She agreed to the conditions "insisted upon her" that the couple's children be raised Catholic, but she would only marry Alfonso if the Catholic ceremony "be followed by a Protestant blessing."

According to this dispatch, the Vatican "refused to sanction" the concession, and King Alfonso, "while secretly sympathizing with the lovers, was afraid to openly permit the proposed arrangement in Spain" because of the "Spanish feeling against foreign alliances, especially with Protestant Princess." King Alfonso's wife, Ena, and Princess Beatrice are first cousins, and granddaughters of Queen Victoria. Ena was raised Anglican but converted to the Roman Catholic faith before her marriage.

The AP is reporting that the Infante Alfonso of Orleans-Borbon "has been deprived of his title and stripped" of his Spanish decorations and honors because of his marriage to Princess Beatrice without the consent of King Alfonso.