SURPRISE FOR SOCIETY

Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1920, Page 5

SURPRISE FOR SOCIETY

DUCHESS OF WESTMINSTfItIfI MARRIED QUIETLY TO EX-wiilß OFFICER "Sgi It was briefly mentioned gotQe wUI backs that the Duchess of WMtafifl had married again, and that JntsH hand was an ex-Flying Corps It was subsequently learned /thapflU Duchess of Westminster wag .jjjSrifl quietly in the country to Kitzpatrick Lewis. The Duph«t#u9 London and went to stay it fcejrttfflß try home at Annesley Bank, LynrtlSffl Hampshire. Captain Lewi*, .whdPfli formerly in the Royal Air FomiTjlfM or 27 years of age, CT "I would rather not state wSnfHS marriage took place," said Tjotfi Lewis in an interview, "I mnllH however, that I first net the dnXJBpM her hospital in France. In a fevwH we hope to go to the Continent tomßj We had expected to be *«Br"l*£9 It had been our intention to J* mm from England and then annountvHi marriage." oj r s Captain Lewis is short and tllaw j| appearance, and still looks the Hying officer. Before the war VtM in business in London at Lloyd's. flgß a keen sportsman and an expert Mum player. He has considerable 4inbhD ability, being among other things cellent mhnic. He ha» Tfmtimif M the stage on several occasions. Captain Lewis was under trcatatdt ifl the hospital where he met Us fi mB wife. This hospital at Le Touqwt mm of the best in France, was by the Duchess at the beginning o5 3B war, and usually Contained over 33 patients, including about 1200 HI Captain Lewis is. the only survi Ml son of Mr. James H. Leeds, of Deal £9 York Road, Woking. He wmi jffl cated at a private school, and thoi'i 53 to Uppingham. During the war Mwi good work, " ; DIVORCE SUIT RoOAiia»i ' DUKE AND DUCHESS LIVE «»»*» | ate uvbs. • , Duchess of Westminster MSMnt in the Divorce Count in June 'flutyw. ' She was granted a decree nisi of the legal desertion and nahithfai—. of her husband, the Duke. " ww y , l The decree nisi was made absolution December 19th, 1019. ; * Miss Cornwallis-West (as the Pmjmt was then), younger daughter of the Uto Colonel Cornwallis-West, of BnHitn r%._ tle, Denbighshire, was twenty-two v«M* old when a boy and girl romance, wfctok is said to have lasted fifteen years, endfid' in her marriage to the youthful n»W «£ Westminster, at St. Paul's, ' bridge, early in 1901. She is a woman of unequalled'' Ttirtftl accomplishments, with a passion tor <?«t" door sport, inoluding riding and She w&9 one of -the first society womoitt° fly. : During the early part of the war sh«> served as a volunteer with the Red' Crawi in the fidld, and she had the and lay cbntrol of the base hatpfaltfi Etaples. For her services there she yrui mentioned in despatches, t .,J

ESTRANGEMENT BEGINS. 1 Her life with the Duke, as told byS her counsel in the Divorce Court June 17 last, was without any serious quarrels, if not completely happy, until j the end of 1909. | Then the estrangement which had al4i ready begun became more riqtfked. - During the following three yean, it Wu ) explained, they were both living jn f thai same house, but saw very little of Mufti other. In the morning the Duke WQuldl go to his study. Then he would go oat I to luncheon, not telling the Duchess where lie was going. He would return •] m the afternoon, sometimes goiiQf tpsf see his wife, but very rarely, for a minutes. Then he would dress, go out ~j and dine, return about 9.30, and pro-"] ceed to his own study. The Duke wonld'l remain there till about 11 pjn,, when J his car would take him away. He would'j come home in the morning. In lflia hj« j refused to live in the came houw Ml 1 Jiis wife. 1

In 1011, when the Duke was in Egypt, 1 the Duchess wrote to the Duke gayiiig * that she and her sister were coming ! out to him. When they got to' the '■] hotel he immediately left, and hit fril* 1 was unable to see hjm or communists W with him. While the Duke Was at 1 Eaton Hall with a party of friends tin J Duchess went there, and on her arriva} he departed, leaving three of the bers of his party behind. . J On January 5, 1913, the Dufce wrot* 1 t'» his wife offering her a separation <;] allowance of £13,000 a year And th» J use of his yacht, promising to continq* I the allowances to the Duchess's lather i and mother. i This offer Jier Oraoe refused, and (n J the following month the Duke's solicitor -j inforihed her that Baton " Hali and j Grosvenor House were both cloned, to' j her. '■] In the witness-box the Duchess said | that at the commencement of 1910 she j did not exist at all. , a