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1 correction by allanraymond - Show corrections

OLD ROMANCE ENDS Duke's Morganatic Marriage An old romance is recalled by the death of the Grand Duchess Nathalia of Oldenburgh at her home in Brog- yan, Count Nyitra, now in Czecho-Slo- vak territory. The "Pesti Naplo" states that the es- tate of Brogyan was bought by the Austrian Friesenhof family in the 18th century, and that the family played a leading part in the social life of the country and soon became magyarised. The Friesenhofs were fabulously rich, and in the 'seventies of the last century Brogyan became the meeting place of all the Hungarian aristocrats in the north. The daughter, Nathalia. was of rare beauty, and was courted by all the young aristocrats till it transpired that.. she had lost her heart to the Duke'of Oldenburg, who she had met one summer in Wiesbaden. The family of the young duke made every effort to dissuade him from his determination to marry the beautiful Nathalia, but the duke left Oldenburg secretly, renounced his claim to the grand duchy, and, made a morganatic marriage with Nathalia Friesenhof in Brogyan. The young couple remained on the Hungarian estate, and their devotion to each other grew into a legend. Every morning the duke picked a bouquet of flowers in the garden and awoke his wife to present it.   The duke had had some success as a playwright in Germany, and every day. he wrote a passionate love letter to his wife and posted it in the village, so that she received it from the hands of the local postman. When the duke died in 1895 the   duchess gavee up society life, closed the gates of the estate, and caused a tower to be built in the woods ad- joining the park, spending the re- maining 42 years of her life in the top- most room. The duchess' one recreation was rid- ing, and until her 80th year she took horseback exercise alone. For the   last two years she had been occupied in arranging documents, and in reading the several hundred love letters which her husband had sent her. She was a lover of animals, and at the tine of her death owned 20 dogs, while in her animal cemetery in the park 35 pets lie buried under memorial stones which bear their names. As no will has been found. it is probable that the estate of Broggan will go to a side branch of the family.

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