Sir Harry Lauder’s Niece

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 24, 29 January 1937, Page 11

Sir Harry Lauder’s Niece

TO VISIT NEW ZEALAND Miss Greta Lauder, niece of Sir Harry Lauder, who will accompany her uncle on a visit to New Zealand this month, possesses the same quality of charm which Sir James Barrie has so often portrayed in his Scottish heroines. Her greeting is friendly, her eyes grave, and her accent lyrical Scotch, according to a Sydney writer. Miss Lauder has looked after her uncle since Lady Lauder died nine years ago. She is both his housekeeper and his secretary; she knits all his socks and travels with him, and had the onerous duty, on return from their last Australian visit, of decorating his new home at Strathaven, 17 miles from Glasgow. She knows all his likes and dislikes, even to the fact that he won't eat porridge because he had had so much beforo he was 14 that he couldn't boar to eat any more. She says ho is fond of his home and likes a comfortable, simplo life; and he likes domesticated women. "Most men like blue, but my uncle’s favourite colour is rose pink. His own room is decorated in this colour, and he has a bathroom adjoining with rose pink tiles. "Wo have one room in the house called the curio room, where I have put his collection of 350 walking sticks. Some are those he used on tho stage, others have been presented to him from many parts of the world, and some are of Australian woods. Mr Donald Mclntosh, an old friend, gave him another—a new stick with a fishing rod inside—when we were in Melbourne." The Lauder home at Strathaven is a meeting ground for many vaudeville artists and actors, and Scotch teas given there are a great attraction for overseas visitors. * Miss Lauder has met Queen Elizabeth, first at the home of Mabel, Dow ager Countess of Airiie, who presented her at Court, and whose estate is close to Strathmore, and again at the golden wedding celebration of the Queen’s parents, the Earl and Countess of Strathmore. "The Queen is charming, and has a great sense of humour. She and my uncle got on very well. They exchanged stories, and hers were just as goou as his. My uncle has known all the members of the Royal family, and has given command performances before King Edward VII., King George V., and King Edward VIII.''