A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1927, Page 24

A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

THE BABY PRINCESS. WOMAN ADVOCATE. (From Our Lady Corraspondent.) LONDON, March 24. The Queen's Flowers. . I heard the other day that the King Tind. Queen per«>nally discuss and decide upon t,he flowers that are to be used for decoration at. Buckingham Palace 'when tliey are entertaining thero. Uieir parties are,most Carefully thought out, and there is never any question of personal details being left to the household .staif, or of orders being given to a florist, in the case of flowers, or other jUadespeople, and of the matter being left at that. The Queen never chooses exotic flowers to decorate her rooms tables if it is possible ts get simple, homely ones. She had all kinds of beautifeul tulips on the dinner table at this week's banquet, which, by thp way, was a nsora or less diplomatic party, and at a recent gathering she wen! over, with '"the florist, a scheme that would harJBQiiise with the beauiiful Sevres dinner .service sometimes used on these occasions. It is of the loveliest green, and to go with it there was a spring floral scheme in which mimosa and daffodils struck a yellow note, and hyacinths and jpiniature <irises one. Princess is as punctilious about details a3 is tli© Queen, and I rememhar that, on" .the night of her first at Chesterfield IJeiise, she and Lord Lascelles were discovered in the diningrotyn, jjis.t before their guests arrived, making sure that everything was as it should be.

Prineess Louise. H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of 'Argyll, who has attained her seventyninth year, is the eldest of the three surviving children of Queen Victoria. According t® another member of the family she "had the best brains of any ipf them!" Certainly she used to be ecujpter and a musician more than amateur ability, and in the many public movements with which she was associated she showed great shrewdness and business ability. Her husband, the ninth Duke of Argyll, held the title for only a few "years, but both he and she preferred, to the ducal seat at Inveraray, a small house on theMieninsnla (which Walter Scott called ttißjisland) of Roseneath. . An inn there used *t© have a sign which the Princess painted, and the furniture, fittings, and decocatiAm were chosen by her. She occasionally lived there when it inconvenient to open the mansion-house.

II 11 Royal Visitors. p|j London expects the Qieen of RuI! mania, who always comes to England in ij| the spring, after the dress shows, to buy j|| new clothes. stays generally at a P| quiet hotel. One of the most beautiful |p suites ever prepared for Rpyal oqgupaj|;|i tion at an hotel was that which the Kjpg and Queen of the Belgians eccu-, I pied when they were over here for the Ij- Flemish Exhibition at the Royal ® | Academy. The Queen had a. charming j bedroom decorated in soft shades of j pink *«d grey, and opening out of it j was an old-world clothes closet. which ; j had been delicately perfumed and flhr- 1 ( ipinated with concealed lightsr The t | dinujg room of the suite, in whi<|i»King Qeorge and Queen Mary dined-wiih the Belgian numarchs, was also done in ~ grey and mnk. It was lit by tall silver candlesticßfe, and beautiful old silvered mirrors hung on the walls. The piece | de resistance was a long silver serving .table, which gleamed in the soft candleII light. j The Prince's New Home.

|| The Queen's private shopping expedi||j lions just now—a few of which she is || aj>le to undertake without being dish| covered by any of her subjects, except || the shopkeepers themselves—are largely P| for the benefit'of the. Prince of Titles. |i jWitliinVfie next .few months Marlborough |1 Houge will be ready for the Prince to lip go into, and'it is jymsibk that he-may jl| give one or two entertainments there |||!< during the London season. Modern fnrg| niture and all kinds qf necessities are S|p purchased for this new Royalr [sf residence by \she Queen, under whose | i|| supervision the renovation and modernilf Queen Alexandra's old home ||1 have been carried out. Her Majesty has |i| also direct®, alterations, to the gardens, ill! the Brinca has left tp his mother's .p| wise judgment the selection of colour if] |?s schemes., for the houtp, and attractive Is| arrangements for his lawns and gardens. |l| The Prince's Keenhass. 11| One who knows him well tells me !||| when the Prince of Wales won a ill race the other day* haj looked absolutely Ulf cool and unconcerned about it so far 111 aa the - p,iblie MP 1 ® telC but inwardly lIS lie as excited , and pleased as a |j!ji Bchoolboy who cpmes in first at his jhlf| school sports. The night before that' ; f J gf particular race hp was askql by a friend j| & if he was going to win, a,nd his reply, |I Ij 'in a very modest tone, was: "Well,'you know, I think I stand a very good | I chance, thajt horse of mine is a | I beauty. Ido hoy I can pull it off." ®he llf Princp works hard for his meed of suc:i pi cess, and does not expect to find any |i Soya!-road to efficiency, either in'ridipg |j||| or. goif, tp both of which he has given yp a,good deal of time. Ha had a particulij larly gruelling course fipder a stern jjgi tutor before Jje could .manage a horse ip -well, and thqse about him were not jiff particularly enfipurfgiijg air to his tritif HIK mate hut he has won through jfij by dint of sheer determination and hard

work. p: Prineesa Elizabeth. ||| The Duchess of will see a greai ji change ip hoc little daughter when the ll] cpas back Australia. Princess Pj Elizabeth is np longer* a baby lying in I|| a pram, and r%ther Ehs all the ' other p] charming babies who. are taken to the ||| Park, oat is already quite a bCTsaqplity. |1 She sits up and looks aboutherwith an. || air of intelligent interest, and Is berfnII ning to put on a pulled, exprezslon || when her presence in the. ftreet.or in 11 Hyde Park excites attention.,, To every. 11 mother this stage of a babyfe life is Ifj extraordinarily Interesting, ami , II vejybody's sympathy goes out t<* the' • ||| little Duchess, who is missing bo much ;i 11 of the joy of motherhoods But hpr loss i ii * ras en thp Queen's' gain. Like all ji| grandparents. Queen Mary is much | yjjj W>re induJjjeti t to the very " new genera- t 11 than «he allowed herself to be to i || fe hp own children, and the baby Princess * Ii * gradually jaccunmlfiting a colleetion i I ™IT 7 ?-&£§& c ' *be Queen * II ™ op Manyof them £ II J!^ y / or * nd the/wiU be, i ftp % sorseryin Pfcdfr i