Monday, January 24, 2011

The Prince of Pless to marry young Spanish lady




January 24, 1925

The Prince of Pless has announced his engagement to Senorita Clotilde de Silva, according to a report by the Chicago Tribune Foreign News Service.

The marriage, which will take place in London, is seen as a surprise announcement to many.  The Prince is 63, and his fiancee is 26 years old.

Prince Henry was formerly married to Maria Theresa Cornwallis-West, daughter of Col. Cornwallis-West and the sister of the former Duchess of Westminster.   The marriage between the Prince of Pless and Miss Cornwallis-West, known as Daisy, was one of the primary societal events in 1891.  The marriage took place at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, on December 11, 1891, and was attended by the then Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the British royal family.



The bride was only 17 at the time of the wedding.

The Prince and Princess settled into their home in Upper Silesia The Princess gave birth to three sons, Heinrich, Alexander, and Bolko.  She maintained strong ties to the British court up until the start of the world war. 
 
The Princess' change in nationality caused "her great difficulty." During the war, the prince served in the German army, while the princess "nursed the wounded in Berlin."    

The couple soon became estranged, and in 1923, the Prince sought an annulment of the marriage.  He claimed at the time that Colonel Cornwallis-West forced him to marry his daughter "at the point of a revolver". It was also reported at the time that a "Countess who made her home in Vienna" was the cause for the Prince's decision to seek an annulment.

 He remains an intimate friend of the former Kaiser, and one of the richest men in Germany.  But after the war, the Prince, fearing he would lose his estates, became a Polish citizen.   

The Princess now lives in London and is writing her memoirs.

For more information about the Pless family, please head here


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