A MAID IN MAYFAIR

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 158, 6 July 1935, Page 3 (Supplement)

A MAID IN MAYFAIR

GOSSIP FROM LONDON.

GALA OPERA.

(From Our London Lady Correspondent.)

Covent Garden has had few Royal visits so far this season, although the King and Queen took the Royal box as usual, and it has been occupied by groups of their friends most nights. Their Majesties have been so fully occupied with Silver Jubilee functions that a gala night at the opera has been out of the question, but they have now been able to fix a date for their visit, and will hear "La Boheme" with Miss Grace Moore in the principal part. Miss Moore is a film star as well as an opera singer, and the choice of the King and Queen fell upon the work in which she is to sing at Covent Garden because they had previously heard her beautiful voice in the film in which she starred. This was among the pictures they selected for the cinema performances given while they were staying at Compton Place, Eastbourne, in the spring. WEDDING AT ST. PAUL'S. When the marriage of the Princess Royal to Lord Hat-ewood was being arranged some twelve years ago, so many invitations were necessary that it was suggested St. Paul's Cathedral would hold the guests more comfortably than Westminster Abbey, and for a while people thought that the Lord Chamberlain would recommend the King and Queen to consider allowing the ceremony to take place there. Nothing of the kind happened, of course, but the incident is brought to mind by the announcement that young Lord Curzon and Miss Priscilla Weigall have decided to be married at St. Paul's in July. They have been granted permission by Lord Athlone for the ceremony to take place in the chapel of St. Michael and St. George—he being the Chancellor of the Order of the two saints —and it is possible that the prelate of the order, of which the father of the bride-to-be is a knight, will give the blessing after the marriage service. The prelate is the Bishop of Salisbury. ROYAL INVITATIONS. Snobbish people in Mayfair fire Very fond' of talking about being' "commanded" to Buckingham Palace, -and the word is being heard a good deal just now while Silver Jubilee functions are taking place. It is interesting, therefore, to remember that it is only to the four Royal Courts of the year that the Lord Chamberlain, at the request of the King and Queen, issue "commands." For the State dinner parties, receptions, Court balls, and any other social gathering held by Their Majesties the card sent out on their behalf is regarded by them as an ordinary invitation. Even for the Royal garden party~there is no question of a command—the piece of pasteboard which is received is an invitation. The Royal garden party for this year is fixed for July 25, but before that brings the long list of Royal functions to a close there will be another Court ball and two more Courts. RUSSIAN FIANCE. The engagement of their second daughter, Miss Elizabeth Scott Ellis, to nobleman, Count Serge OrloffDavidson, has brought many congratulatory messages to Lord and Lady Howard de Walden. Miss Scott Ellis has only been out a year or two, but she is already a great favourite in younger Circles in society, especially among the musical ones. Lord and Lady Howard's eldest daughter married a son of Lord and Lady Crawford two years ago, and their son and heir was married to a German lady last year. The family is a very friendly and united one, with a great interest in music, so much so that each member of it plays a different musical instrument and can provide a small orchestra when necessary for home concerts. AN OLD CHELSEA. Old Chelsea church has become a favourite for smart weddings this year, and it looks as though in the near future it will have to be included in the small atid exclusive list of churches which are "correct" for' fashionable marriages. It has, of course, many interesting associations, and from time to time a christening or a wedding has taken place there in the last few years because a family could point to some connection with it back in Victorian days. The latest bride to choose it for her wedding is Miss Dorothy Chamberlain, who is to be married at the very end the London season (July 24) to Mr. Stephen Lloyd. The only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Neville Chamberlain, and a_ very popular member of her own particular set in society—which is not the ultra-smart, ultra - gay set — Miss Chamberla-in became engaged about a year ago, but decided not to be married until this summer. PLAYING TENNIS. The Duchess of Westminster is developing into a very fine tennis player. She gets a good deal of practice while she is in the South of France with the Duke during the early months of the year, and more play on the very fine courts at Eaton Hall, the Duke's place m Cheshire. The Duchess intends to play in several of the charity tournaments in London this summer. Mrs. Winston Churchill is another very good exponent of amateur tennis. She haiS always played a great deal, and is regarded as a formidable opponent because of her steady style, and the fact that sne never plays erratic shots. Lord Curzon, who recently became engaged to Miss Priscilla Weigall, is another reliable player, and as his fiancee is just as interested as he is in the game, the two play together a good deal. Lady Georgma Curzon finds tennis a very good recieation as a contrast to her literary and artistic interests. OSTRICH FEATHERS. Edwardians loved ostrich feathers. Women's hats for garden parties and race meetings were weighted down with them, and necks were considered almost immodestly bare unless they were wreathed by feather boas. The featheis of those days were expensive luxuries, for they needed constant attention in the matter of curling, and, after a long run of popularity, they were gradually discarded in favour of less troublesome adornments. This Silver Jubilee season they have returned to the world of fashion, but in a slightly different form. Hats are etill trimmed with them, but little soft masses of plumage have taken the place of the nodding feathers and the lancer plumes. So far as boas are concerned, these are now represented by collars and capes. Tightly curled fronds are quite demode. The feathers of to-day are uncurled, except so far as their natural "wave" is concerned.