Anthony Cade and Virginia Revel’s marriage

Anthony Cade and Virginia Revel’s marriage is disclosed as a fact already accomplished, not a future promise: Anthony tells Herman Isaacstein that he married Virginia that morning. The disclosure leads directly into his confession that he is Prince Nicholas Obolovitch of Herzoslovakia. Virginia accepts the revelation with delight and agrees to accompany him to Herzoslovakia, where they plan to pretend to be king and queen; the marriage thus closes the personal plot while opening a comic and dangerous royal future.

The Marriage Confirmed

Herman Isaacstein addresses Anthony as “your Highness” and asks when the marriage took place. Anthony answers with an exact, disarming detail: it happened that morning. The timing gives the exchange its force. The marriage is not arranged in response to the royal revelation; it has already joined Anthony and Virginia before he explains who he is. His calm smile and matter-of-fact reply place the intimate fact alongside the political title without treating either as a reason to retreat.

This announcement also makes the marriage legible to the people around them. Anthony has just thanked Lord Caterham for his praise of Virginia, saying that she is “all you say and more”; Isaacstein, meanwhile, studies him curiously. The scene moves from an affectionate endorsement of the bride to the question of when the wedding occurred, then to the identity that makes the groom a prince. The private bond is established first; the public implications arrive after it.

The Royal Confession

Anthony’s account of himself overturns the romantic uncertainty Virginia jokingly raises. He says he was not changed as a child and rejects the idea of a romantic substitution, but then gives a more extraordinary truth: he really is Prince Nicholas Obolovitch of Herzoslovakia. The confession recasts Anthony Cade’s identity without cancelling the marriage that has already taken place. Instead of discovering that the person she married is a stranger, Virginia learns that her husband’s hidden identity adds a kingdom to their shared circumstances.

The order of disclosure matters. The story first establishes that Anthony married Virginia that morning, and only later lets him name his royal identity. Marriage precedes the revelation that might have seemed to require a political match. That sequence makes their union appear chosen on personal terms before it can be read as a dynastic arrangement, while also setting up the practical question of what the newly disclosed identity will mean for their life together.

Virginia’s Response and Their Plan

Virginia reacts not with alarm but with laughter and delight. She treats the revelation as an astonishing complication, asks what the two of them are to do about it, and then embraces Anthony’s proposed answer. He suggests that they go to Herzoslovakia and pretend to be king and queen. His use of “pretend” gives the proposal a playful edge: the newly revealed prince and his bride imagine taking on royal roles together, rather than immediately presenting their union as a settled restoration.

The plan carries a stated risk. Anthony recalls Jimmy McGrath’s estimate that the average life of a king or queen “out there” is under four years, and asks whether Virginia minds. She emphatically does not; she says she will love it. The exchange turns danger into a test of shared appetite for adventure. Anthony names the short expected reign, but Virginia’s answer makes clear that she accepts not merely the title but the uncertain future attached to it.

A Joint Ending and a New Beginning

The marriage functions as the personal resolution of the concluding scene and as the starting point for a new undertaking. Anthony and Virginia are already husband and wife when the royal confession arrives; after it, they speak of going to Herzoslovakia together. Their relationship therefore absorbs the reversal rather than being suspended by it. A secret that could have separated private affection from public identity instead gives the couple a common destination and an improbable shared role.

Jimmy’s quiet response seals the scene’s change in tone. He murmurs that Virginia is great, then discreetly fades into the night; a few minutes later, a car is heard. His withdrawal leaves the newly married pair at the center of the future they have just imagined, while his departure also marks the end of his presence in their conversation. The final movement is away from disclosure and toward action: marriage, confession, consent, and departure are compressed into one sequence, closing the existing story with a promise of adventure in Herzoslovakia.