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Morganatic marriage

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A morganatic marriage is a type of marriage which can be contracted in certain countries, usually between persons of unequal social rank (unebenbürtig in German), which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage. Other terms used are morganic [link], and left-handed marriage [link].

Often, this is a marriage between a male from a royal or reigning house, often a historical German state, and a woman of lesser status (a non-royal or reigning house, or a woman with a low-status profession such as actress). Neither the bride nor any children of the marriage has any claim on the groom's titles, rights, or entailed property. The children are considered legitimate on other counts and the prohibition of bigamy applies.

It is also possible for a woman to marry a man of lower rank morganatically. This is extremely rare as women of high rank traditionally did not have titles to pass on, and in most cases did not choose their own husbands, but Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (by birth an Archduchess of the Imperial House of Habsburg, and by her first marriage an Empress of France) contracted a morganatic second marriage with a count after the death of her first husband Napoleon I.

Morganatic, from the Latin phrase matrimonium ad morganaticam, refers to the gift given by the groom to the bride on the morning after the wedding. Morning gift, i.e dower (Latin: morganaticum, German: Morgengab) has been a customary property arrangement for marriage present first in early medieval German cultures (such as Langobards) and also of ancient Germanic tribes, and the church drove its adoption into other countries in order to improve the wife's security by this additional benefit. The bride received a settled property from the bridegroom's clan—it was intended to ensure her livelihood in widowhood, and it was to be kept separate as the wife's discrete possession. However, when a marriage contract is made wherein the bride and the children of the marriage will not receive anything else (than the dower) from the bridegroom or from his inheritance or clan, that sort of marriage was dubbed as "marriage with only the dower and no other inheritance", i.e matrimonium ad morganaticum. (Another etymology has been proposed to come from ancient Gothic word morgjan, to limit, to restrict.)

The practice of morganatic marriage was most common in the German-speaking parts of Europe, where equality of birth between the spouses was considered an important principle among the reigning houses and high nobility. The German name was Ehe zur linken Hand (marriage by the left hand) and the husband gave his left hand during the wedding ceremony instead of the right. The French equivalent was a (openly) secret marriage.

Morganatic marriage is not, and has not been, possible in jurisdictions that do not allow for the required freedom of contracting with regard to the marriage contract, as it is an agreement containing that pre-emptive limitation to the inheritance and property rights of the wife and the children.

The United Kingdom

Marriages have never been considered morganatic in any part of the United Kingdom, although the status of the legendary mistresses of the Stuart dynasty approximated this condition, and some of the wives of Henry VIII were considered by Rome to be only mistresses.

The marriage of the former King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson was not morganatic, as the concept does not exist in British law. Edward renounced all of his titles for himself and successors when he abdicated, and was created Duke of Windsor. When they married, his wife became Duchess, and any male children would have inherited the title. The style H.R.H. (Her Royal Highness) is in the sovereign's gift, though it is normally conferred as a matter of course. But it was specifically not granted to Wallis Simpson. As it happened, they had no children.

Upon the engagement of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles in February 2005, it was announced that, after the marriage, Mrs. Parker Bowles would take the title Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall, and that once the Prince accedes to the throne she would not be known as Queen Camilla but as Her Royal Highness The Princess Consort. This form of address is based on that used by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, who was the Prince Consort. This is similar to a morganatic marriage in that the wife does not apparently acquire her husband's rank and titles. However, such a marriage cannot be considered to be morganatic for two reasons: firstly, the decision has not been based upon Mrs. Parker Bowles's social rank, but upon her marital status; secondly, this decision does not have any legal standing — although she has stated that she will not use the title (due to the sensitivity of some of the British public regarding her role in the breakup of Prince Charles's first marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales), under United Kingdom law Mrs. Parker Bowles legally became the Princess of Wales upon her marriage to Prince Charles. Similarly, upon Charles's coronation she will automatically become Queen Consort, not Princess Consort. For precedent, compare the case of Queen Caroline, who became Queen Consort in the face of vociferous protests from her estranged husband, King George IV who then introduced a parliamentary bill to divorce and strip her of her title: this failed in the face of opposition from the London mob. There is no legal reason why a Princess of Wales or a Queen Consort cannot choose to be known by a lesser style and title that she has. A similar recent instance is the decision that the daughter of the Earl of Wessex would be known simply as Lady Louise Windsor rather the HRH Princess Louise of Wessex. It was acknowledged however that Lady Louise would be free to assume the higher (and correct) style and title upon reaching adulthood.

Notwithstanding the above, there may have been at least one morganatic marriage or its resemblance in the British Royalty. Catherine of Valois, dowager queen of Henry V, is said to have entered into such a union with Owen Tudor about or before the year 1429, or they never married. (Their eldest child, Edmund Tudor, was the father of Henry VII.)

A situation that resembles the morganatic marriage may be caused by application of the Royal Marriages Act: a couple lives together, wanting to believe they are married, but dynastically they are not and British law does not recognize them as married.

A case has been that of the second marriage of Augustus, Duke of Sussex, sixth son of George III of Great Britain, who undertook altogether two marriages against the provisions of the Act, thus being invalid on British soil. However, his second marriage with Letitia Underwood was tolerated by Queen Victoria. Presumably, in the eyes of law, the duke was never in marriage with Letitia. Had it been otherwise, she would have been the duchess of Sussex. Queen Victoria created her Duchess of Inverness and the duke and duchess cohabited, being socially regarded as spouses. If the situation is interpreted in a way that their marriage was valid, then the queen's actions would mean that it was morganatic and that the only titles and rights Letitia was entitled to were those specifically granted to her, but not those of the duke.

Examples

Examples of morganatic marriage:

References

 

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