Duke of Abruzzi reported engaged

September 20, 1900

News comes from Europe about the "probable engagement" of the Infanta Maria de las Mercedes, eldest sister of the young King Alfonso XIII of Spain, to the Duke of the Abruzzi.  It is expected that the engagement will be announced in Madrid, reports the Chicago Daily Tribune.   It was thought that the Infanta would marry the Count of Caserta, "to whom she was generally credited with having given her hand."  But it seems the adventures of the Italian Duke in the Arctic regions "are said to have appealed to her Spanish love of romance." He renewed his suit with the Infanta after his return, and, he has been accepted "by the Infanta with the concurrence of her mother."