Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Mercedes to marry this week

February 9, 1901

The marriage between the Princess of Asturias and Prince Carlos, second son of the Count of Caserta, will be married next Thursday, despite the "hostile reception" that the Count of Caserta received when he arrived in Madrid several days ago. 
 
The marriage is "purely a love match," reports the Chicago Daily Tribune, and the wedding would have taken place several years ago, "but for the popular feeling against the Casertas."   The Count of Caserta served as one of Don Carlos' generals in the Carlist uprising.    Queen Maria Cristina privately supported the marriage, but "fearing the hostility," tried to dissuade her eldest child from marrying Don Carlos.   Infanta Mercedes "declared she would marry Prince Carlos or remain single all of her life."   Her determination eventually forced the Queen and the Cortes to sanction the marriage and "brave the actual possibility of serious uprisings in the country."

Mercedes, whose official title is Princess of Asturias, as she is first in line to the throne until her brother marries and has a family, is the eldest child of the late King Alfonso XII and Queen Maria Cristina.

She was the Queen of Spain from the time of her father's death until her brother's birth.

The New York Times reports that Prince Carlos and his parents were the guests of honor at a dinner tonight at the palace in Madrid.  The "table was adorned with flowers and garlands of ivy."

A ball, held in the grand salon, followed the dinner.

Earlier today, the Countess of Caserta and her daughters, Pia, Immaculada, and Josefina, visited the Art Gallery.  They were "saluted respectfully."   The three young princesses have given their future sister-in-law a "valuable watch encrusted with pearls and diamonds."

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