THE PRINCESS OF WALES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2498, 14 July 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE PRINCESS OF WALES.

Fight With Old Time,

When the Empress Eugenie laid aside the crown of royal beauty, it rested for n season on the fair brow of the Princess of Wales. It is now tottering thence to its fall. The lovely Alexandra is growing old, and her charms nro beginning to fade. It is whispered in English society that the colibany of her children, prolonged in the ease of hor eldest son beyond the usual age for royal marriages, is caused by the influence of their charming mother, who dreads the day when the trying title of Grandmother will be be-, stowed upon her. Also to this influence is ascribed the very plain, not to say dowdy, way in which she attires her three daughters, who are celebrated a* being the worst-dressed Princesses in all Europe. And it is a well known fact that, she cannot endure the pretty Princess Victoria of Teck, and snubs her on all occasions, simply because the young princess ha< already acquired the reputation of a royal beauty, and is spoken of as the fairest of the yonugor members of the English royal family. But the Princess of Wales will, in Scotch parlance, have a handful ■with her youngest daughter, the Princess Maud, who will bo eighteen this autumn, and, consequently, will be introduced into society next winter. She is the only one of the three daughters who has any protensions to good look", and she is a spirited damsel, and has more than once Bhown signß of revolt against the ugly and unbecoming l garments imposed upon her and her sisters. It is said that once, being permitted ta attend a garden party or some such mild festivity, she objected to the dress prepared for her to wear, which was, as usual, neither tasteful nor elegant, and when her remonstrances wore unheeded, she quietly put the offending garment in the fireplace, lighted a match, and reduced it to ashes. It took all the influence of her goodnatured father, with whom she is a groat farourito, to win her pardon from her indignant mother. Possibly it was owing to that influence, as well as to tho incident itself, that at the garden party aforesaid, the young princesses, to tho astonishment of all beholders, wore appropriately dressed in white muslin and lace.