Royal wedding unites two houses

Marlene A Eilers Koenig collection

July 1, 1939

More than sixty royals were present today for the marriage of Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta, and Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark. The wedding took place in Florence, which has "seen no ceremony so gorgeous since its great days in the Renaissance," according to the New York Times. Buildings were adorned with flags and the "bride and bridegroom rode to the Cathedral of Santa Maria di Fiore through flower-covered streets and were cheered by the citizens."

The royal guests included four kings, two reigning and two in exile, Victor Emanuel of Italy, George of the Hellenes, who is the bride's oldest brother, Ferdinand of Bulgaria, and Alfonso of Spain.

The Queens of Italy and Bulgaria were also present, along with fifty princes and princesses - Italian, Spanish, Hanover, Greek, Bourbon-Parma, Russia, Yugoslav and Roumanian. The Duke and Duchess of Kent also attended. The Duchess of Kent and Princess Irene are first cousins.

After the wedding, the Duke and Duchess of Spoleto drove off in a car, which was a present from the Italian king. Tomorrow the newlyweds will meet with the Pope at the Vatican.

Princess Irene wore a white dress with a fifteen-foot train, and she carried a white bouquet. As she approached the altar, she made a "deep curtsy."

Princess Irene, 35, has lived in Italy since 1922. She is the daughter of the late King Constantine and Queen Sophie of the Hellenes. Both Irene and her sister, Helen, the former wife of King Carol of Roumania, have made their homes in Florence.

The Duke of Spoleto is the second son of the late Duke of Aosta and Princess Helene of Orleans. He is an admiral in the Italian Navy and served in the World and Ethiopian wars. His older brother, the present Duke of Aosta, is the current viceroy of Ethiopia.

AP reports that the "marriage was declared officially to be a love match," but in diplomatic circles, the marriage is seen as strengthening "Italian and Greek ties at a time of uneasiness in Greece over Italy's annexation of Albania, putting Italian soldiers on Greece's borders."

One conspicuously absent guest was Premier Mussolini. Some would see this absence as political as "Greece, after all, has been guaranteed by Great Britain, and this is a tense period of European affairs."