The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas. : 1835 - 1880)(about) |
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Wednesday 4 May 1864
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ALLIANCES OF THE SAXE- COBURG GOTHA FAMILY
Notwithstanding the high al- liances of the Sase-Coburg family morganatic faux pas have not been wanting even in this illustrious house. The brother of the King of Portugal Prince Leopold Francis of Saxe-Co- burg-Gotha, born in 1834, and for some time a general in the Austrian service, gave his hnnd in April, 1801 to a Miss Constance Geiger, the daughter of a poor teacher of music at
Vienna. The marriage made a great noise at the time, being deemed an in- sult, not only to the high relatives of the prince, but to German royalty in general. It appears that Prince Leo- pold, in the first instance, intended to make the matter as respectable as pos- sible, by getting a title for his young bride— the easiest thing, under ordinary circumstances, in Austria, titular honors and dignities being plentiful in the market, and cheap as blackberries,— but that in this case, he met unexpected difficulties, arising in high quarters, it being expected, probablv that he would
give up his morganatic ideas on finding himself driven to unite his lot with an absolute and undisguised plebeian But Prince Leopald, either fairly in love or with a soul above buttons, thouoht otherwise. He not only mar-
ried Miss Contance Geiger, but made the ceremony as grand as possible, riding to church, at the side of his fair bride, in a carnage, emblazoned with the world-famed arms of Saxe-Coburg and with lackeys and out-riders innu- nerablc Behind, in a long file, fol- lowed all the Geisers, great and little, and half the personnel of the theatres of Viemia: old and new acquiatances of the happy family, whose previous business had been chiefly with the stage and stage melody. The word "Geiger" in German signifies a
fiddler, and there being in the bridal' procession several persons with equally conspicuous names, sucb as "Horn", "Piper", and "Singer", the Punch of Vienna had a qood time of it for weeks to come. The error of their ways was immediately discovered by the Im- perial authorities, who then granted unasked the title aud dignities which they had before refused. Prince Leo- polds morganatic spouse is now a Baroness von Ruttenstein, duly en- rolled in the long list of Austrian no- blesse, comprising a notable portion of the population of the empire.