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In TIME for Sept. 28, you had an interesting little article on the marriage of Princess Mafalda of Italy to Prince Philip of Hesse. You did not mention that Philip of Hesse was obliged to sign a document giving up all claim to succeed to the head of that branch of the Hesse family, so that he is really now nothing but a private German citizen. Of course the reason he had to sign this was because he was marrying a Roman Catholic and naturally the Hesse family would never acknowledge a Roman Catholic family (wife and future children) belonging to them as leaders. It is certainly a love match and of course a very poor marriage for the King of Italy's rich daughter; the Savoy family is very wealthy. But, owing to King Victor Emmanuel's hatred of social life and his insistence on a domestic life much more secluded than that of his subjects, his daughters, the Italian princesses, have grown up rather wild in their ways, with a hatred of the trammels of society; the fact is, they have not been trained to take their places in society as leaders at all, and the King is very much embarrassed about this. He was obliged to consent to his eldest daughter, Yolanda, marrying a poor Italian nobleman because Yolanda obstinately refused to give him up, and now Mafalda has married a poor German Protestant prince, one of a large family in which are three sets of twins! These marriages are very unpopular in Italy, as the Italians feel mortified by them. The King of Italy is now trying to train his two younger daughters to take their proper places in society; his only son, Humbert has always been in his proper position before the Italian public, but his sisters were allowed to run wild at the King's country palaces.
It may interest you to learn that it is said on very good authority that Crown Prince Olaf of Norway is soon to marry Princess Astrid of Sweden, his first cousin. This will be a good marriage in a political sense as, ever since Norway separated from Sweden in 1905, the Swedes have had a grudge against the Norwegians, and this marriage, which will put a Swedish princess on the throne of Norway, will soothe the Swedes' ruffled pride and heal the breach between the two countries. Prince Olaf is the only child of the King and Queen of Norway and has just spent a year at Baliol College, Oxford, England; he is 22. Princess Astrid (a Scandinavian name pronounced "Arstree") is just 20 and is a very pretty girl; she is the youngest daughter of Prince Charles of Sweden, a brother of the King. Her father Prince Charles is one of the handsomest men in Europe. Princess Astrid is very Scandinavian in her looks and is taller than Prince Olaf; this is a good thing as, though the Norwegians are very fond of their young Crown Prince, they think he looks more like an Englishman than a Norwegian; he takes after the family of his mother (Princess Maud of England) more than that of his father. Both these young people are descended from the French General of Napoleon the Great's time, General Bernadotte, who was adopted as heir by the childless King of Sweden [becoming King Charles XIV, 1818-1844]. Prince Olaf of Norway is said to have inherited the shrewd and clever brain of his grandfather, King Edward VII of England, while his first cousin, the Prince of Wales, has inherited Edward VII's social tact and charm.
ANONYMOUS