So, Just What is a Morganatic Marriage?

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Elise, Countess of Edla and her husband, Ferdinand II of Portugal


To better understand what some of our American ladies faced when they married their, um, handsome princes, you need to know what a Morganatic Marriage is. It is simply marriage between two people of unequal social rank. It usually came into play when a King, Prince, or Royal Duke wanted to marry a commoner. Even if the lady in question had an aristocratic title such as Countess or Baroness, she was still considered "Unequal."

A morganatic marriage was an uneasy grey area for a lady to enter, for while one was married in the eyes of God, and usually the laws of the country her husband was from, such a marriage meant she could not be acknowledged by the feminine form of her husband's title, i.e. if he was Prince of Bohemia, his wife would not be known as Princess of Bohemia, but by Frau von Hapsburg. Any children would be devoid of titles as well, and worst, neither they are their mother could lay any claim to their husband's/father's titles, status, or entailed property.

However, unless the lady was truly awful, and in some cases even then, usually a sympathetic relative of the groom, who was in position to do so, would bestow on the lady a title of some sort. Such was the case for the Swiss born, American opera singer Elise Hensler. Elise was born in Switzerland in 22 May 1836. When she was 12 her family moved to Boston. She was well educated in languages and the arts, finishing her studies in Paris. At the age of 24 she was performing in Lisbon when the windowed king, Ferdinand II became captivated by her beauty and voice.

Elise was far from being suitable as a wife of a king, she was an opera singer, which in those days was considered not much better than a prostitute, she had a child out of wedlock, and of course she wasn't royal. King Ferdinand was King Consort of Maria II who had died in 1853. Before his marriage to Queen Maria, Ferdinand was a member of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family, the same family that produced Prince Albert (Husband of Queen Victoria) and Leopold of the Belgium's. Such a proud family would have never accepted an Opera singer into the family.

However, just before Elise and her king were married, Ferdinand cousin, Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  (Brother of Prince Albert) made Elise Countess of Edla. The couple lived quietly in Sintra, Portugal, pursuing their shared interests in gardening and the arts. Ferdinand died in 1885, and Elise lived until the age of 92, dying 21 May 1929.  

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