Gossip from Court

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 22, 27 January 1937, Page 14 (Supplement)

Gossip from Court

Royal Friendships (Prom Our Own Correspondent) London, Dee. 24. There is much talk in Mayfair, naturally, of the new Court circle. The new Queen has always had many friends and been the centre of a particularly large family group. Since her marriage she and her husband have surrounded themselves with charming young married folk of their own age, possessing similar tastes and inclinations. A delightful Irish couple of whom they see a great deal are Lord and Lady Plunket, while Viscount and Viscountess Allendale, their next-door neighbours in Piccadilly, are also counted among their friends. Lady Doris Vyner, a sister of the Duke of Richmond, is regarded as the Duchess’s special personal friend, and Lady Katherine Seymour, a daughter of the Duke of Abercorn, and before her marriage a lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary, with her sister-in-law, the young Marchioness of Hamilton, are others with whom she is on terms of friendship. Lady Rachel Stewart, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, may also be included in the list. “Number Ten.” No numbered residence in the world is so famous in history as 10, Downing Street. It stands, in fact, from Kamskatka to Peru, as synonymous with Great Britain. The ramshackle old house celebrated its second centenary last September twelve months, but its not unattractive back garden will not have its 200th birthday till next month. It was Walpole, most cynical of British statesmen, who petitioned the King, two centuries ago, to grant the Prime Minister the amenities of a garden to his official residence by allowing a strip of St. James’ Park to be walled in round the place. That garden has heard many secrets and witnessed some thrills. One of the latter was in the seventies of last century, when two worthy knights, great experts on explosive, demonstrated there how to tell a tree with guncotton, and blew in all the windows in the back of the house. Yet another, and more recent, was during the police strike, when bobbies in mufti sat on the back wall and sang songs to a merry accordion obligato. Unwanted Majesty. Those who followed closely the Duke of Windsor’s career since the War are persuaded that he profoundly disliked the prospect of ever coming to the throne. This fact may not be important now, but it helps to soften the tragedy of his abdication from his own standpoint. In innumerable ways as Prince of Wales he displayed a dislike of State ritual and public ceremony. Royal Ascot was almost his bete noir. His tastes were opposed to publicity, and favoured simplicity and even seclusion. There were times, when he was taking strenuous part in steeplechases and also when he took to the air, when many people wondered whether there might not be some sombre impulse behind an apparent recklessness. His one public association that did not irk him was when he was attending some military or exservice function. He felt at home with the Guards and attended some merry N.C.O. mess celebrations at Wellington barracks. Rumour has it that he was thwarted in an early attachment to a beautiful English girl of high title. A Beautiful Veteran. Frances Countess of Warwick was 75 last Friday, incredible a« it may seem. She was a reigning toast when grandfathers of today were in their cradles. She is the grandmother of two earls, Lords Warwick and Feversham, the former of whom has recently undertaken the conquest of Hollywood, and the latter a promising junior Minister. Lady Warwick was an intimate friend of King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra, and now takes a lively interest in the doings of all the Royal family. As grand-daughter of the last Viscount Maynard she inherited the Easton Lodge property in Essex; and some years ago she placed the Lodge at the disposal of the Labour Party, of which she is an active member. When Mr. Anthony Eden won bis first election at Warwick and Leamington Lady Warwick was his Socialist opponent, a piquant situation, for Mrs. Eden is a stepdaughter of Lady Warwick’s own daughter, Lady Marjorie Beckett, while the mother of the present Earl of Warwick is Mr. Eden’s sister.