What is Morganatic marriage?
A '''morganatic marriage''' is a [[marriage]] between a [[royal family|royal]] person and a person of lower rank. The royal person's title titles and privileges do not go to the spouse or to any children, who do not become heirs. However, the marriage is considered legitimate, and the children are not [[bastard|bastards]]. A morganatic marriages is now rare and is sometimes called a '''left-handed marriage''' because in the wedding ceremony, the groom usually held his bride's right hand with his left hand.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Stritof|first=Sheri & Bob|url=http://marriage.about.com/od/royalty/g/lefthanded.htm|title=Left-Handed Marriage|publisher=about.com|accessdate=2007-03-13|archive-date=2007-12-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071218233043/http://marriage.about.com/od/royalty/g/lefthanded.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Most famously, [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand]] had to get a morganatic marriage so that he could marry [[Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg]], because she was a noble of a lower rank. ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Marriage]] [[Category:Royalty and nobility]] {{-}} {{stub}}