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Twang, twang went the 50 harps again, and out of the Cathedral paced Bridegroom & Bride to be greeted in astounding fashion by the Royalist crowd. On their knees men and women begged to kiss, kissed "the hands of the future King & Queen of France." Others kissed the hem of Princess Isabelle's 20-ft. bridal veil. Palermo fairly whooped with excitement when the Count of Paris signed the bridal register, using the same gold pen with which Louis Philippe signed in 1809.
Followed a champagne wedding break fast at Orleans Palace, the same in which Louis Philippe skulked while one Napoleon called himself Emperor of the French. In five huge pavilions 1.040 guests sat down. Camelots du Roi, youths of bluest-blooded French families (who sometimes hawk L'Action Française on the streets of Paris) were in their element at last, sported Royalist buttons as though the wedding breakfast were a convention. Toasts flew merrily among a roster of guests which might have been torn from the program of an operetta: the Duke of Magenta; Prince & Princess Christopher of Greece; Prince Adam Czartoryski of Poland (at whose chateau the couple first met); the Infante Carlos (representing the King of Spain); the Danish sportsmen-princes Aage, Viggo and Erik; Count della Faille de Leverghem (representing Albert, King of the Belgians); ex-Queen Amelie of Portugal; Prince Philippe of Hesse (representing his father-in-law King Vittorio Emanuele of Italy) and Ambassador Sir Ronald William Graham, representing George V.
To his bride, who is also his third cousin, the Count of Paris gave two pearl necklaces, two diamond diadems and much other Bourbon jewelry. Other wedding gifts, it was estimated, approached a total value of $500,000. Grand total expenses of all concerned certainly exceeded $1,000,000. According to announcements, Bride & Bridegroom, after a short honeymoon, will visit formally all the Courts of Europe at which they can anticipate a friendly reception, commencing almost certainly with Spain.
The Italian Court, although most friendly, took a standoffish attitude last week for fear of offending the French Republic. But Crown Prince Umberto of Italy sent a jeweled wedding gift. In France, from which the Count of Paris is permanently exiled, comment was at a minimum.