OCR Text |
Show POPE ASSENTS TO j ALFONSO'S WELDING I Willing to Permit the Marriage of I King of Spain to Niece of I King Edward. (Copyright, 1?05. by the New York I World.) ' Rome. It is generally believed in 3 Vatican circles that the Pop- has fus- illy consented to the proposed mar- napo of Kinjr Alfonso of Spain with ; Tincess Victoria Eugrenia of TJatton- ters', the caughtf-r of Princess Ilat- rice. youngest sister of King Edward of England. While it was the hope of f the Vatican .uithoritie.s that the Span- . ih king would marry a Catholic, it is , now felt here that because of desirable I royal connections the maniase of the Spanish king with the English princess I cannot be opposed any further with any probability of success. At the fame, time it was thought that the Vatican authorities, before granting permission in the case, had a right to insist that the rules of the Church v-pai-ding marriages should be observed ob-served to th- letter, r The details of the matter were I 1 intrusted by the English royal family to the Duke of Norfolk, who recently visited Rome and the Vatican, as, he 5s known to English royalty as the personage most m touh with the au-ihoritiefs au-ihoritiefs in Rome and a most faithful adherent to the Catholic religion. Xnturally it was a peremptory matter for the Vatican authorities to insist -that the English princess should embrace em-brace the Catholic religion before her n.arriage took place, and to this re-request re-request no opposition was made, as-; he advent of a Protestant queen in! Spain would, because of the long i standing traditions, have been exceedingly exceed-ingly objectionable to the Spanish people. j The difficulty, however, was regarding regard-ing the possibility of the English princess prin-cess becoming a Catholic before leaving leav-ing England, and to this her royal relatives rel-atives strenuously objected, ft was ibon arranged that the princess should sT'nd some months in Spain with her mother this winter, and while there ( vecfivc the instruction necessary to join the Catholic rt'ligion and be baptized bap-tized in the Church without eclat and fn an out-of-the-way Spanish village. This has been agreed upon, and the English princess will soon go to Spain with her mother and remain there un- Stil her engagement is officially an-ricuwed. an-ricuwed. ... . Young- King Alfonso has ever shown his willingness that the- wedding wed-ding should take place in a private f'-rm. in order not to touch upon th susceptibilities of his affianced bride by having it performed with the solemn sol-emn pmp and ritual of the Catholic 'hurch in the Spanish capital, and I had s.-nt a suggestion to the Vatican ' authorities that the wedding might be 1 .allowed to take pla.ee on . board his private yacht, which he intended to present to his new queen. The Vati-; Vati-; can authorities, however, objected . to : such a plan and insisted that the mar riage should take place in the Cathedral Cathe-dral Church at Madrid and be performed per-formed by the Papal Nuncio, assisted by most of the Spanish Cardinals and I bishops. These ;ire the details ar- I ranged so far at the Vatican, and as J eon as the Duke of Norfolk returns I ' ?o England it will !.. known here how .j far they meet the views, of King Ed ward and the royal English family. Tt is said at the Vatican that the official announcement f th" engagement wiU ., be made at th next meeting of the (r.ew Spanish cabinet, and that inn un-Ti' un-Ti' then will the- English prinefss start Princess Victoria Eug -nia of Ratten-rg' Ratten-rg' was the favorite grandchild of I Hie late Queen Victoria, with whom she was almost constantly duiing the latter years of h r life. j, T godmother, godmoth-er, was the former Fren-h Empress Eugenie, who, it is said, has already provided in her will for her godchild". It is estimated that the princess' for-; for-; tune will amount to about ten million dollars, besides what she will inherit i :'rom her mother and from other mem- ! btis of the English royal . family. j |