POSTSCRIPT.
SATURDAY NIGHT.
The marriages of Queen Isabella and the Infanta were solemnized in the Hall of the Ambassadors, at half-past ten p. m., on the 10th instant. All the Royal Family were present, as well as the high Dignitaries of the State, the Church, and the Household; the Foreign Ambassadors; and a host of nobles, ladies, guards, &c. A sumptuous temporary altar was erected on the left of the throne. All having taken their stations, the religious ceremony com- menced. It is briefly described by the correspondent of the Morning Post- " The Queen who was as .pale usher sister was flushed, descended the steps of the throne; the Infants Francisco de Assiz placing himself by her side; the Queen- mother being on her Majestfe right. At the same time, the Infanta and the Duke de Montpensier, with the Duke d'Aumale, stationed themselves on the right of Queen Christina, The Patriarch of the Indies read a short ex- hortation upon the duties of matrimony, and proceeded through the usual form of demanding of the principals, whether there was any impediment why they should not enter the bonds of holy wedlock, and whether they accepted each other for husband and wife? He then blessed them with the sign of the cross, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This concluded the ceremony; and immediately after, Queen Christina, who was observed to raise her handkerchief to her eyes more than once daring its continuance, embraced her daughters, and kissed the Duke de Montpensier and the Infante Francisco de Assiz upon the fore- head. At the same time, the brides and bridegrooms received the congratulations of the Royal Family; and the Queen and her sister retired with their husbands."
The Duke de Montpensier had presented Seaor Isturiz with the grand cordon of the Legion of Honour, and with a snuff-box set in brilliants bearing the portrait of King Louis Philippe.
"Our Paris correspondent," says the Times, "announces some facts of' an unpleasant character connected with this affair"— " The mach-desired despatches from Vienna had reached the French Govern- ment, and conveyed Prince Metternich's surprise that the British Government- should have found in the treaty of Utrecht anything that could prohibit the mar- riage of the Duke de Montpensier with the Infanta Donna Labia. The Prince de- clared to the French Ambassador, Count Flahaut, that he regarded the conduct of France in the affair as perfectly justifiable; and repeated the same language to- Sir It. Gordon, the British Ambassador. The Austrian Goversunent,' adds our correspondent, will necessarily bring with it those of Berlin and St. Petersburg to the side of France.' 'This is not all, however,' continues our correspondent: the King of Holland, to whom, when in London, the British Court displayed so much coldness last summer, returned to his states overflowing with indig- nation. His Majesty., it seems, makes a return by giving vent to his delight at the marriage of the Duke de Montpensier with the Spanish Infanta. Ilia Majesty is described as delighted with the check to British pride given by the coup of the King of the French.'"
Previous page
