Princess Margaret Boncompagni |
Prince Andrea Boncompagni |
Hopedale History June 1, 2012 No. 205 The Princess Bride Hopedale in May
donations. Click here for more information. I’ve made a few additions to some pages on my Hopedale site, including Now and Then at the General Draper Mansion/Hopedale High School, Joseph Bancroft, The Little Red Schoolhouse, Susan Preston Draper, The first trip of the Milford & Uxbridge Street Railway. Richard Griffin Milford Daily News article on Hopedale High baseball coach, Joe Small, written after his 300th win. A G&U Railroad crew has been replacing ties in Hopedale recently. Click here for some stills and video of it on YouTube.
For those of you who are interested in canals, here are a few links sent by Peter Metzke. Here’s one with many photos of The Blackstone Canal and another site with photos of miscellaneous canals. Peter also sent a link to a very informative page about the Blackstone Canal, and another to a picture of the Goat Hill lock.
Recent deaths Twenty-five years ago – 1987 – Hopedale High Class of 1977 will meet at Cobblestones to plan tenth reunion. Call Sandy Young for more information. Activities at the town park this week (June 26) include necklace making, banner art, rainbows, key chains and Frisbee golf. President Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, “Tear down this wall.” Dusky seaside sparrow becomes extinct. Fifty years ago – 1962 – Hopedale School Report Cards to be Processed by Computer School Report on Air Raid Procedures Given in Hopedale Draper Corporation Has Acquired Granite State Mowing Machine Company Historic Draper Corporation Bell Has Rung for 75 Years Anna Slesersby becomes the first victim of Albert DeSalvo, better known as the Boston Strangler. The New Yorker has published the first of three excerpts of Rachel Carson’s upcoming book, Silent Spring. <><><><><><><><><><> Set Up Chapel for Wedding of Miss Draper Great Ballroom of Washington Residence Transformed for Marriage of Massachusetts Girl to Italian Prince Cardinal Gibbons Will Perform Ceremony Mrs. Draper Gives Pre-nuptial Dinner Washington, D.C. – The great tapestried ballroom in the home of Mrs. William F. Draper of Hopedale, Mass, and Washington has been turned into a Catholic chapel for the wedding of Miss Margaret Preston Draper, her daughter, and Prince Andrea Boncompagni of Rome at noon tomorrow. American Beauty roses, white chrysanthemums, and quantities of the rarest ferns carry out the colors of Italy in the ballroom and drawing rooms, but the altar- which has been brought in from St. Patrick’s Church- before which the bride will stand, will show between a drapery or blanket of white roses 15 feet long. A throne has been erected and draped with cardinal red, from which Cardinal Gibbons will perform the marriage ceremony, while a special altar will serve for the Rev. Fr. Russell, who will celebrate a low nuptial mass. Especial arrangements have also been made for the large group of prominent Catholic clergymen who will lend dignity to the event. An organ has also been placed behind a lattice work of flowers in one corner of the ballroom, and will furnish the only music for the occasion. Thousands of American Beauty roses and white chrysanthemums have been used with green ferns to form the Italian colors, and there will also be hundreds of the rarest orchids placed to good advantage in the drawing rooms and dining room. The wedding breakfast will be served tomorrow with the cardinal and other churchmen, the Italian Ambassador and Countess Macchi de Cellere, the Russian Ambassador and Mme. Bakhmeteff, and members of the bridal party at the bride’s table, for which Mrs. Draper’s chef will provide the dainties. The guests will be served from the famous gold service presented to Miss Draper’s maternal grandmother, while her grandfather, Gen. William Preston of Kentucky was minister to Spain, and which was later used in Rome while the late Gen. Draper, the bride’s father, was ambassador to Italy, and from which many of the royalty of Europe and notable folk of this and the old world have dined. Miss Draper wore tonight at the prenuptial dinner given by her mother, the diamond coronet which was presented by Prince Boncompagni as a wedding present. It arrived from Italy by special carrier a few days ago, quite unexpected by the bride. With it she wore a rich gown of velvet from the Lyons looms of 50 years ago, and the pearl necklace of a single short strand, presented to her by her father the year she was presented at court in London. Mrs. Draper’s guests at dinner tonight, besides her daughter and Prince Boncompagni, were the Italian Ambassador and his wife, the Russian ambassador and his wife, the chief justice of the Supreme Court and Mrs. Edward Douglas White, who on Sunday served as proxy god-parents for the parents of the bridegroom at the baptism of Miss Draper at St. Patrick’s Church; Fr. Russell, who officiated on that occasion; Mr. and Mrs. Louis Curtis of Boston; Mr. and Mrs. Dana Osgood of Hopedale, Mass.; Miss Clover, who is to serve as maid of honor; the Misses Blair, who will be maids; Mr. Brambilla, the best man for the prince, and others to the number of 30. The Boston Herald, October 25, 1916.
The prince and princess divorced in 1923. A few years ago, a nephew of Margaret told me that the prince took his girlfriend along on the honeymoon. It seems that the marriage wasn’t his idea. After the divorce, he married Blanceflor de Bildt, a woman from a prominent Swedish family. I presume she had been the other member of the honeymoon trio. Here’s a link to the story of Prince Andrea and Blanceflor, from the website of a foundation that she established. . |