Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Stephanie to give up tiaras when she marries poor Hungarian count

March 10, 1900

It appears that the oft-postponed marriage of Crown Princess Stephanie of Austria to Count Lonyay will soon take place in Trieste, according to the New York Times. Count Lonyay "has taken a residence" in Trieste, and Stephanie, widow of the late Crown Prince Rudolph, departed by train from Vienna on Thursday.
Neither the Viennese or Brussels court are "favorably disposed toward the groom than when the marriage was first mooted." King Leopold II of the Belgians "thinks it a scandal only a little less terrible than that of his eldest daughter," Princess Louise. Stephanie's mother, Queen Henriette Marie "hides her head in shame."
When Stephanie marries her Hungarian count, she will throw up her "Court life, tiaras, diamonds and gold-embroidered robes," and her income will be reduced from 800,000 crowns to 200,000 crowns, and she will live "with a poor country gentleman."
The Viennese "scarcely talk of anything else, but this great sacrifice for the sake of love."

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