THE KAISER’S BOYCOTT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2764, 19 March 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE KAISER’S BOYCOTT.

REFUSES TO ASSOCIATE WITH A MORGANATIC WIFE. ‘ ’ Particulars of the personal feud between the Imperial Court of Germany 7 and the Ducal Court of Saxc-Meiningen were made known on the occasion of the. recent marriage of the reining Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar to a. princess of Saxe-Meiningen. Tile 'Emperor did not attend the wedding, and his absence was due to the fact that the Baroness Heldberg, the second and morganatic wife of the reining Duke, George. 11. of Saxe-Mein-ingen, was an actress, Fraulein Helen Franz. The. Emperor boycotts the Ducal- Court, and objects to associate with the former stage star on an equal footing. A curious feature of the case is that his own sister, Princess Charlotte, who married Prince Bernard, the heir to- the Dukedom of Saxe-Meiningen, meets the Baroness as her father-in-law’;; wife.

Duke George, who is now eighty-four .years- of age, was unable to secure full recognition of his morganatic wife s position at the recent wedding. Baroness Heldberg walked along at the end of the royal procession to the chapel, following many -ounger princes and princesses, instead of walking beside her husband, who headed the procession. The Emperor’s boy 7 cott of the ducal court is presented there to such a degree that when the newspapers announced that the Emperor would not attend the wedding an. official communication was issued to the Press from the. ducal palace that the Emperor had not been invited.

Duke George’s friends recall that the Emperor’s grandfather took a different view of the- marriage. After the wedding 1873 officers in Aleiningen refused to .salute the. Duke’s wife. The Duke complained, and AVilliam 1. ordered the officers to salute, and sent the Crown Prince Frederick to smooth toe matter over.