After an engagement of three years, during which every possible
obstacle was thrown in her way, Princess Stephanie of Belgium, widow of the Austrian Crown Prince Rudolph, who committed suicide, was married on March 82nd to Count Lonyay, a Protestant magnate of Hungary, who, to remove the most serious of the obstacles, embraced Catholicism. The Emperor, though strongly opposed to the match, gave his consent at last, and the Princess, though she renounces all claim to her rights as Archduchess, retains part of her appanage. She would remain Royal of course by her birth, but her father, in his indignation at such an alliance, has de. prived her of her rank. The affair is of no political importance, but according to the Vienna correspondent of the Telegraph another marriage is projected which will be. The Emperor has, it is stated, formally permitted the Archduke who is the ultimate heir to his eighteen States to marry the Countess Chotek. If this marriage is accompanied by a renunciation of rights, it will affect the succession, while if it is not, it will afford a precedent sure to be extensively followed. If the bead of the house of Hapsburg, which claims through Francis of Lorraine to represent Charlemagne, can marry a subject without derogation, anybody can, and "the Royalties" may yet cease to form an exclusive caste,—a change which would have large consequences.
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