A MAID IN MAYFAIR

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 217, 12 September 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

A MAID IN MAYFAIR

Coronation Bookings Already Made.

ROOF GARDENING POPULAR IN CHELSEA,

(From Our London Lady Correspondent.)

PEOPLE are already booking rooms in London for next year's Coronation celebrations. All the big and little hotels are being besieged with advance applications, wliidi come from all over the world as well as all parts of the kingdom. The more fashionable hotels are usually deferring any definite steps until they know from the Government ( how many special guests are expected to be in London, attending the Coronation as guests of the nation, and what accommodation will be required for these royal visitors. A point that is causing some v concern is tlic route for the Coronation procession. The desire is to make this as long as reasonably practicable in order to afford a view of the historic pageant to as many people as possible. But against this there has to be considered the attitude of the police,, who are charged with safeguarding the important royal guests, and now more than ever dislike adding to their anxious duty by having the processional route made longer than necessary. Married at Seventeen. Lord Strathcarron's younger daughter, Patricia Macplierson, looked as though she had stepped out of a picture frame at her wedding recently. Somebody with a genius for clothes had chosen for her a period bridal gown of the oldfashioned stiff cream satin, with wide sleeves and lovely cuffs of golden embroidery. and with her head held high and her shoulders well back she carried off the style magnificently. On her fair hair was arranged a coronal of tiny lilies, and the lily note was carried further by the dresses of the bridesmaids—who included Lady Joan Isaacs —which, although of rose colour, were designed to resemble a lily cup. St. Margaret's was filled with guests; scores of them, naturally, young people, for the bride is still little more than 17, and only came out a few months ago. The bridegroom, Mr. Denys Lowson, is tiie son of Mr. and Mrs. Flowerdew Lowson, who have a lovely place in Gloucestershire. Satin and Old Lace. The wedding at St. Margaret's, Westof Lord and Lady Wolmer's son, the Hon. William Palmer, and Miss Priscilla Egerton Warburton — was one of those charming ceremonies which used to be associated with the fashionable wedding church in other days. The Salisburys, the Selbornes, the Cavendishes, and the Cecils were all among the wedding guests, and there was that charming air of friendliness which is all too often, alas! lacking nowadays when so many wedding ceremonies of modern brides take place there. The ( bride wore lovely old lace with her satin gown and orange blossom, and the bridesmaids were ill dainty muslin frocks and sashes copied from a Eoniney picture. The youngest Lady Anne Cavendish — the name runs for generations through the Duke of Devonshire's family — 1 was one of the small people in attendance. She is a daughter of the Marquess and Marchioness of • Hartington. Regency Atmosphere. One evening recently society women who are interested in original clothes attended a cocktail party in Belgrade Square. Their host was a young man

of 22, son of a famous county family in the north of England, who has an unusual flair for frocks and hats. He has taken the first floor of a fine okl house in the square and made one of the most luxurious salons in Mayfair. The decor, designed by himself, has a Regency atmosphere. The reception room is hung with soft shell pink and contains silvery grey rugs, large mirrors, gilded chairs and a profusion of flowers. An uncommon feature is the silvered wrought iron "drapery," carried or. gilded arrows, which surmounts the mirrors, while another is the concealed spotlight which, with the mirrors, enables women to see the complete effects of their dresses from all angles. Large French windows open on to a balcony overlooking the gardens, and this is spread with cool green and yellow matting, made gay with flowering plants in tubs and boxes. Chels&a Gardens. Chelsea, home of the artists, is the place to see roof gardening carried to a fine art. There are a great many suitable housetops in this part of London, and tenants of flats and houses have taken advantage of them. There is also a Roof Garden Committee, which encourages amateur horticulturists by offering prizes, periodically, for the best efforts, much as similar organisations do in the suburbs and the East End. Perhaps the most successful roof garden in Chelsea belongs to the man in ehargc of the heating boilers in a block of flats. He has turned the roof of the boilerhouse into a miniature paradise of flowering plants. Creepers arc beautifully draped over the walls, and there are charming little rock subjects, sweet, okl-fashioncd things like cherry pie, and a riot of hardy annuals and perennials. This man finds the "good brown earth," even though it is in tubs and boxes, a fine antidote to his somewhat sultry employment below stairs. King and Caddie. One result of the alleged attack upon the King will probably be a tightening up of police control on State occasions. King Edward has grown so accustomed in the past to moving freely about, almost without any personal guard whatever, that it will be somewhat irksome to him to submit to more rigorous protection now he has come to the . throne. Even as Prince of Wales he was sometimes submitted to annoyance. Usually he treated such incidents with complete indifference. On one occasion, when Prince of Wales, he was rather grossly insulted by a golf caddie who was obviously the worse for drink, and who stood on the first tee while the Prince drove off. Although the man was abusive the Prince gave one glance in his direction and then ignored the incident altogether. The offender was hustled off the links and a telephone message was sent through to the local police station, asking that the man should be watched so that there would be no chance of his annoying the Prince again in the course of his round of the links. On the other hand, during all the frequent visits the Prince paid to slums in various districts he was invariably treated, with the utmost courtesy and respect—even in neighbourhoods which had the reputation of being distinctly Communistic.