Information about Morganatic Marriage

A morganatic marriage is a type of marriage which can be contracted in certain countries, usually between persons of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage. It is also known as a left-handed marriage because in the wedding ceremony the groom held his bride's right hand with his left hand instead of his right.^[1] | Often, this is a marriage between a male from a royal or reigning house, often a historical German state, and a woman of lesser status (a non-royal or non-reigning house, or a woman with a profession that is traditionally considered lower-status). Neither the bride nor any children of the marriage has any claim on the groom's titles, rights, or entailed property. The children are considered legitimate on other counts and the prohibition of bigamy applies.

It is also possible for a woman to marry a man of lower rank morganatically. This is extremely rare as women of high rank traditionally did not have titles to pass on, and in most cases did not choose their own husbands, but Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (by birth an Archduchess of the Imperial House of Habsburg, and by her first marriage an Empress of France) contracted a morganatic second marriage with a count after the death of her first husband Napoleon I. Another case was that of Queen Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, regent of Spain after her husband's (Ferdinand VII) death while their daughter, the future Isabella II was a minor. She married one of her guards in a secret marriage.

Etymology

Morganatic, not used in English until 1727 (OED), is derived from the medieval Latin morganaticus from the Late Latin phrase matrimonium ad morganaticam and refers to the gift given by the groom to the bride on the morning after the wedding, morning gift, i.e. dower. The Latin term applied to a Germanic custom, was adopted from a Germanic term, *morgangeba (compare Early English morgengifu and German Morgengabe). The literal meaning is explained in a 16th century passage quoted by Du Cange, a marriage by which the wife and the children that may be born are gift.^[2]

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon of 1888 gives an etymology of the German term Morganitische Ehe ^[3] as a combination of the ancient Gothic morgjan, to limit, to restrict, occasioned by the restricted gifts from the groom in such a marriage and the morning gift. Morgen is the German word for morning, while the Latin word is matutinus.

History

The morning gift has been a customary property arrangement for marriage present first in early medieval German cultures (such as Langobards) and also of ancient Germanic tribes, and the church drove its adoption into other countries in order to improve the wife's security by this additional benefit. The bride received a settled property from the bridegroom's clan — it was intended to ensure her livelihood in widowhood, and it was to be kept separate as the wife's discrete possession. However, when a marriage contract is made wherein the bride and the children of the marriage will not receive anything else (than the dower) from the bridegroom or from his inheritance or clan, that sort of marriage was dubbed as "marriage with only the dower and no other inheritance", i.e. matrimonium ad morganaticum.

The practice of morganatic marriage was most common in the German-speaking parts of Europe, where equality of birth between the spouses was considered an important principle among the reigning houses and high nobility. The German name was Ehe zur linken Hand (marriage by the left hand) and the husband gave his left hand during the wedding ceremony instead of the right.

Morganatic marriage is not, and has not been, possible in jurisdictions that do not allow for the required freedom of contracting with regard to the marriage contract, as it is an agreement containing that pre-emptive limitation to the inheritance and property rights of the spouse and the children.

There has never been morganatic marriage in France and morganatic marriage never existed in French laws. Equality of birth is not so important in France because antiquity of nobility in the male line is only taken into account: a Frenchman should have cent ans de noblesse (100 years in the male line) to become a Knight of Malta. A German should have quatre quartiers de noblesse (all four grandparents being noble) for the same purpose.

There is only one example of a French practice, somewhat different, a (openly) secret marriage - that is, the marriage took place in private and was never officially announced (although it might be widely known), and thus the woman never publicly shared in her husband's titles and rank. Louis XIV married Madame de Maintenon, his second wife, this way. Madame de Maintenon was too old to bear children in this marriage.

The United Kingdom

Marriages have never been considered morganatic in any part of the United Kingdom. The Royal Marriages Act of 1772 made it illegal for any member of the British royal family to marry without the permission of the sovereign. A marriage contracted without the sovereign’s consent might be lawful in the eyes of the church, but the children born of it could not inherit any claim to the throne: thus the official denial of the marriage of George, Prince of Wales (later George IV) and Mrs Fitzherbert, and the refusal of Victoria to the marriage of the second Duke of Cambridge, whose morganatic wife, Sarah Louisa Fairbrother was refused the title of Duchess, but was received everywhere as "Mrs FitzGeorge".

The marriage of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson was not to be morganatic, although Edward had proposed this expediency to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, who rejected the idea after consultations with the governments of the Dominions.^[4] Ultimately, Edward renounced all of his titles for himself and successors when he abdicated, and was created Duke of Windsor. When they married, his wife became Duchess, and any male children would have inherited the title. The style H.R.H. (Her Royal Highness) is in the sovereign's gift, though it is normally conferred as a matter of course. But it was specifically not granted to Wallis Simpson. As it happened, they had no children.

Upon the engagement of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles in February 2005, it was announced that, after the marriage, Mrs Parker Bowles would take the title Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall, and that once the Prince accedes to the throne she would not be known as Queen Camilla but as Her Royal Highness The Princess Consort. This form of address is based on that used by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, who was the Prince Consort.

This is similar to a morganatic marriage in that the wife does not apparently acquire her husband's rank and titles. However, such a marriage cannot be considered to be morganatic for two reasons: firstly, the decision has not been based upon Mrs Parker Bowles's social rank, but upon her marital status; secondly, this decision does not have any legal standing — although she has stated that she will not use the title (due to the sensitivity of some of the British public regarding her role in the breakup of Prince Charles's first marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales), under United Kingdom law, Mrs Parker Bowles legally became the Princess of Wales upon her marriage to Prince Charles. Similarly, upon Charles's accession she will automatically become Queen Consort, not Princess Consort.

For precedent, compare the case of Queen Caroline, who became Queen Consort in the face of vociferous protests from her estranged husband, King George IV, who then introduced a parliamentary bill to divorce and strip her of her title: this failed in the face of opposition from the London mob.

There is no legal reason why a Princess of Wales or a Queen Consort cannot choose to be known by a lesser style and title than she has. A similar recent instance is the decision that the daughter of the Earl of Wessex would be known simply as Lady Louise Windsor rather than the HRH Princess Louise of Wessex. It was acknowledged however that Lady Louise would be free to assume the higher (and correct) style and title upon reaching adulthood.

Notwithstanding the above, there may have been at least one morganatic marriage or its resemblance in the British royalty. Catherine of Valois, dowager queen of Henry V, is said to have entered into such a union with Owen Tudor about or before the year 1429, or they never married. (Their eldest child, Edmund Tudor, was the father of Henry VII.)

A situation that resembles the morganatic marriage may be caused by application of the Royal Marriages Act: a couple lives together, wanting to believe they are married, but dynastically they are not and British law does not recognize them as married.

A case has been that of the second marriage of Augustus, Duke of Sussex, sixth son of George III of Great Britain, who undertook altogether two marriages against the provisions of the Act, thus being invalid on British soil. However, his second marriage with Letitia Underwood was tolerated by Queen Victoria. Presumably, in the eyes of law, the Duke was never in marriage with Letitia. Had it been otherwise, she would have been the Duchess of Sussex. Queen Victoria created her Duchess of Inverness and the duke and duchess cohabited, being socially regarded as spouses. If the situation is interpreted in a way that their marriage was valid, then the Queen's actions would mean that it was morganatic and that the only titles and rights Letitia was entitled to were those specifically granted to her, but not those of the duke.

Examples

Examples of morganatic marriage:

• Emperor Alexander II of Russia married morganatically in 1880 his long-time mistress, Princess Ekaterina Mihailovna Dolgorukova. The emperor did not designate this marriage as dynastically equal. They already had a few children. Their children received the title Prince Yurievsky and Princess Yurievskaya. One of their daughters married the Count of Merenberg and had a possibility to become consort Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, but her husband's morganatic birth ultimately prevented that.
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Countess Sophie Chotek von Chotkowa. The bride was made Princess (later Duchess) of Hohenberg by Franz Josef. Their children took their mother's name and rank, and were excluded from the imperial succession.
• Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, the son of the Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine, and Countess Julia von Hauke. The bride was created Princess of Battenberg, and the resulting family provided a sovereign prince, ruler of Bulgaria and queen consorts for Spain and Sweden as well as (through female descent) the current prince consort for the United Kingdom.
• Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, youngest son of Tsar Alexander III of Russia, and twice-divorced noblewoman Natalya Sergeyevna Wulfert (née Sheremetevskaya). Nicholas II, Michael's older brother, made the bride Countess Brassova. The son of Michael and Natalya, George, took his mother's name and rank, and was excluded from the imperial succession (Crawford, 1997).
• Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia (Павел Александрович) was the eighth child of Tsar Alexander II of Russia by his first wife Maria Alexandrovna of Hesse. Nicholas II of Russia refused permission for the widowed Grand Duke to marry a commoner, Olga Valerianovna Karnovich.
• Grand Duke Michael Mihailovich of Russia (October 4, 1861 - April 26, 1929) was the third child of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and his wife Olga Fedorovna (born Princess Cecilie of Baden). He attracted the displeasure of the Tsar by marrying beneath his station.
• Duke and Prince Alexander of Württemberg and Claudine Rhedey. She was made Countess of Hohenstein; their children were later granted the title of Prince of Teck. The eldest son, Franz, was yet later created Duke of Teck. His daughter Mary of Teck married George V of the United Kingdom.
• King Louis I of Bavaria (1786–1868) and Lola Montes (Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, 1818?–1861) who was made Countess of Lansfeld. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0833840.html
• Ludwig Wilhelm, Duke in Bavaria and (actress) Henriette Mendel. She was created Freifrau von Wallersee, and their daughter, Marie Louise, Countess Larisch von Moennich, was a confidante of Empress Elisabeth ("Sissi") of Austria.
• Louis XIV of France married Madame de Maintenon in secret, which is the French version of unequal marriages though not morganatic.
• Tsesarevich Constantine Pavlovich, Governor of Poland, renounced from succession (though retained the titles, place in etiquette precedence, and the position as Viceroy of Poland) for having married a Polish countess, and she was not allowed to her husband's titles.
• Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria, ruler of the Tirol married firstly Philippine Welser, a bourgeois girl though very wealthy. Their children were given a separate title and the issue of Ferdinand's second (and equal) marriage were preferred.
• Late in his life, the widowed king consort Fernando II of Portugal married the opera singer Elisa Hendler, who was created countess of Edla.
• Felipe, Prince of Asturias, (Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y de Grecia, heir of the Spanish throne), married Letizia Ortiz, who not only wasn't of royal blood, but a divorced woman. Even though, the marriage has not been considered morganatic.
• Charles Frederick, the future 1st Grand Duke of Baden and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the reigning prince of his state, after the death of his first consort Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, married in 1787 a younger lady-in-waiting, Louise Caroline Geyer von Geyersberg, using the morganatic formula. At the wedding arrangements, she was created Freifrau von Hochberg. In 1796, the Holy Roman Emperor created her Heilige Römische Reichsgräfin von und zu Hochberg (HRE Countess of Hochberg, Illustrious Highness). After the death of the old grand duke, his grandson Grand Duke Charles I could see that the ancient House of Baden would go extinct in the male line, if something requisite was not done. Count Leopold of Hochberg (1790-1852), the eldest son of the abovesaid marriage, was married to his great-niece Sophie, granddaughter of the 1st grand duke's first marriage and a daughter of an earlier King of Sweden. To achieve the objective of avoiding extinction, the grand duke Charles I as the heir of the late 1st grand duke on one part and the yet living Countess of Hochberg on the other, contracted an amendment to her marriage stipulations, where the grand duke from his House's part relinquished the morganatical limitation. Accordingly, in the same year, the diet of Baden decreed that Leopold and his two younger brothers are in the line of succession to the Grand Duchy of Baden, as their mother's marriage was no longer limited to rights of only the Morgengabe estate of Hochberg. Louise of Hochberg was accorded the personal title "Princess of Baden", thus she did not become retroactively a dowager Grand Duchess of Baden. The changes met with opposition from King Maximilian I of Bavaria, the husband of one of the sisters of grand duke Charles I, having married her as his second wife, because the king of Bavaria had been waiting for a chance to grab the territories of Baden, to fill the gap between Rhenish Palatinate and Bavaria's major part, the two regions being geographically fully separated from each other by a northern stretch of Baden. Upon the death of Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden, the 1st grand duke's younger and last surviving son of the first marriage, in 1830, Leopold succeeded as 4th reigning Grand Duke of Baden. His descendants, originally from that morganatic marriage, held the grand duchy until 1918 revolution, and still are its claimants.
• A list of Morganatic branches of the Russian Imperial Family

See also

• pilegesh
• polygamy
• polyamory
• monogamy
• harem
• cohabitation

References

Other Sources

• Crawford, Donald. Michael and Natasha, Scribner (1997). ISBN 0-684-83430-8