Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spouse, or any children born of the marriage. The concept is most prevalent in German-speaking territories and countries most influenced by the customs of the German-speaking realms.
Charles Ferdinand, Prince of Capua (top), with his morganatic wife, the Anglo-Irish commoner Penelope Smyth (left), and their daughter, Vittoria (right).
Tsar Alexander II
Princess Catherine Dolgorukova
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between them and their in-laws. It is nearly a cultural universal, but the definition of marriage varies between cultures and religions, and over time. Typically, it is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually sexual, are acknowledged or sanctioned. In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be compulsory before pursuing sexual activity. A marriage ceremony is called a wedding, while a private marriage is sometimes called an elopement.
Indian Hindu wedding with the bride and groom in traditional dress.
Chinese immigrant with his three wives and fourteen children, Cairns, 1904
A same-sex couple exchanging wedding vows in a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
In an 1828 "Wife Wanted" advertisement, an Englishman claiming a "great taste for building" pledges to apply a prospective wife's dowry-like £1000+ to build property that will be "settled on her for life".