We have touched the break down of the engagement of Gustav zu-Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Elvire de Rochefort in another thread.
Today in my loft, I found the very May 23rd 2001 issue of Danish royalty magazine Billed Bladet, in which there was a three page report on the postponement of the wedding and the problems with the pre-nup.
I will post this in a new thread, but it goes without saying that the moderators are welcome to think otherwise!
The article was written by Mr. Keld Nilsson, who was one of BB's respected correspondents. He used to live in Paris for many years, which may have been a contributing factor to this piece.
I cannot say whether Keld Nilsson reveals the "whole truth and nothing but" or whether he is speculating to some extend. The fact is that there are a few contradictions in this piece, and the trick is to try to analyze the text in context.
Anyway: The article reveals that the Wittgensteins and the Rocheforts are at loggerheads because of the pre-nup! The funny (peculiar) thing is that Gustav and Elvire are reported by be on a premature honeymoon while their respective parents are fighting over the conditions of the pre-nup! Mr. Nilsson presents the situation and refers to the statements of Hervé de Rochefort, the father of Elvire. He says that he doesn't want to fuel the fire, but having said so, he goes on to explain the issue in general terms:
" In fact, the date of the wedding was postponed on request by the Wittgenstein family as a consequence that my daugther Elvire refused to sign the pre-nup(tial) which was handed to her in February by a legal advisor of the family of her fiancé".
There was a communique by M. de Rochefort in French saying:
" Ce contrat etait, de fait, totalement deséquilibré en dëfaveur de ma fille et dérogatoire du droit commun; il n'aurait pu que nuire á l'equilibre du couple et ne pouvant être signé en la forme."
(sorry, Francophones if I got the accents aigu et graves mixed up!
)
In English, approx: This contract was totally unbalanced and not in favour of my daugther and (it was) contrary to common (family?) law. It would have harmed the equality of the couple and could not be signed in the present form.
Elvire's father states, that Elvire did not want to split the Berleburg estate in case of a divorce, she just wanted reasonable financial arrangements.
It is rather strange to read this piece eight years after the event!
To me it looks as if the Wittgensteins were (still) trying to keep up the appearances by giving the impression, that Gustav and Elvire were continuing as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile the father of the bride chose to comment to a Danish magazine!
About five weeks later the engagement was called off.
