AGED ELEVEN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 94, 7 May 1937, Page 26 (Supplement)

AGED ELEVEN

Princess Charming Who May One Day Rule Empire A POPULAR FIGURE Little Princess "Lillibet," as sbw has been - affectionately . called in' th» royal nursery— "the best knoym little girl * in' tbe world" — has been.^ tramed from infancy in case she shonld one .day.ascend the British throne, -to which she is heir apparent. Born April 21, 1926, in the London house of the Duke and Duchess of York, she was at the. age of three months taken by'her mother to the old Scottish castle, " Glamis, which" for 700 "years had been "home" tto her fortbears on the distal! side of the family* - • Here, . to -the- delight of fher xgrand- " inotheSr," "Countess Strathmore, she immediately dropped into the place her mother had previously occupied itt the affections of all around her. . When not in tbe -ancieht- nursery she was wheeled in her perambulator over "the blue tiles bordering . the.'.sun-kissed f ountain among fiowers' of the beautiful old Dutch garden. ■ Later - she divided her- time -betwee* Glamis and the King's residence at Sandringham, - England, : - among the •woods ' •' bordering- npon the inland waters of the east coast. Left behind in these 'surronndings at less than a year old' when her parenta proceeded on their Australian tour, -there was a delightf ul - reunion : on their "return to>a„ place in Buckingham Palace, London, where the Duchess ap'peared upon the balcony with her baby .in her arms. , - The.. little princess .has .shown early signs of having inherited- the tact traditional in British royalty.' ' As" a tiny child she was asked which- of her doga she liked best. Deliberately- she pond," ored and then said, "I love -them al) the same." Her attitude is - equally considerata toward the famous life-size doll's housa presented to her on her.sixth bifthdajj by the people of Wales and now set uj| in a quiet comer of Windsor -Park. She keeps this spiek and span her* "self, plants fiowers round it and al* ways remembers ,that it has been a gift to herself, referring to it possessively as "my own house." Another treasured possession is S doll given for her to her mother by New Zealand people. Later on after "Princess Elizabeth 's little sister Mar* garet came thq elder sister took to he immediately and has since insisted upon mothering the newcomer even moro assiduously than she takes care of her dolls and her dogs.' A pleasant sight in 'Buckingham Palace gardens was often to he seen with Margaret in a perambulator and Elizabeth hovering close at hand and making conversation. so that. "baby** might not be-left out. Now, at eleven years, Elizabeth has become a merry little girl that every-' body loves. The member of the family she chiefly takes after is her paternal grandmother, Queen Mary, who is right proud of this fact. So much, indeed, does Elizabeth take after this grandmother that she often copies her when driving about London by herself, bowing pleasantly to passers-by, first on one side and then on the other. She has been brought up with utmost simplicity in eyerything, ifieluding her clothes. She is often to be seen in a ioose, sleeveless, pink frock with oldfashione'd bonnet matching it in most delicate of shadOs. • - Already* she has become an expert tricycje - ridcr. She is also at hom«l upon Ihe back of her pony. ..Now that slie is geltin'g olde'r she takes much interest, too, in reading, besides loving . to falk to all around her. . Rer education is at home uudei piivate tutors.