morganatic

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The Word of the Day for September 19 is:

morganatic   \mor-guh-NAT-ik\   adjective
     : of, relating to, or being a marriage between a member of 
a royal or noble family and a person of inferior rank, in which 
the rank of the inferior partner remains unchanged and the 
children of the marriage do not succeed to the titles, fiefs, or 
entailed property of the partner of higher rank

Example sentence:
     England's Prime Minister rejected King Edward's offer of a 
morganatic marriage to Mrs. Simpson, so the king abdicated.

Did you know?
     The deprivations imposed on the lower-ranking spouse by a 
morganatic marriage may seem like a royal pain in the neck, and 
yet the word "morganatic" comes from a word for a marriage 
benefit. New Latin "morganatica," a  term based on Middle High 
German's "morgen" ("morning"), means "morning gift." It refers 
to a gift that a new husband traditionally gave to his bride on 
the morning after the consummation of their marriage. So why was 
the New Latin phrase "matrimonium ad morganaticam," which means 
literally "marriage with morning gift," the term for a 
morganatic marriage? Because it  was just that -- the wife got 
the morning gift, but that's all she was entitled to of her 
husband's possessions.