THE WINDSORS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 2, 3 January 1941, Page 9

THE WINDSORS.

UNTRUE STORIES.

MALICIOUS CRITICS.

Brief cable items on their seemingly trivial doings have not provided particularly elevating publicity for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. It is interesting to compare the rather sensational stories coming principally from American sources with following account of the present lives of the Duke and Duchess, aleo from an American eource. The article was written by Helen Water - houee for the "Christian Science Monitor," Boston.

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor are to-day just two human beings trying to do their best in a job which Great Britain had selected for them. They told me that in their new home at Nassau, Bahamas, where I wae granted one of the few exclusive interviews which they have given to reporters since coining to their new post.

A week had gone by since my arrival at Nassau—a week in which I had been told how hurt they had been by some of the false reports in the American Press and how they were loth to ibe interviewed again on account of them. Word had sifted down to me through the first aide-de-camp, to the eecond, and so on, that the Duchess was 60 busy with war relief work that she really didn't have time for reporters. Activities at Nassau. I had caught fleeting glimpses of her, at church with the Duke, on the day which King George had appointed as intercession day. I had followed her to the home of the evacuee children and seen her stoop to gather them graciously in her ams, while the Duke shot at targets, with them. I had seen her enter the Red Cross headquarters, where she is. in charge of much of the work of preparing garments for the war sufferers. And I had watched her as she stood with the Duke, reviewing the troops, of etalwart negro inhabitants of the island, as they swung down over the Nassau hillside past the ancient fortress. But this was to be an official interview—in which I could question her at will —and the powers-that-be were frankly dubious about it. So it was with elation that Captain Drury, lxad aide-de-camp, approached me one day and eaid: "You are requested to vieit the Duke and Duchess at their home to-morrow morning at 9.30." And a#> we wound our way by car through the narrow street* of the town teeming-with life and colour—grass hats for sale on every corner, sail boats lifting their masts at the street ende, Captain Drury, recently over from London, instructed me on the correct etiquette when I should meet Hi« Royal Highness and hie American-born Duchess. Branded As Lies. The low, pink-roofed villa glistened under the raye of the. tropical morning sun. The door opened suddenly and the pair stepped out. They turned to watch me as I walked to meet them. The Duke said warmly, "We liked your story about us and the refugee children." The etories tha* they are Nazi sympathisers, the Duchess branded as "absolutely ridiculous and untrue." "The hairdresser etory—l never sent to New York for a hairdresser. 1 understand that he came here to open a salon for the winter," the Duchess said. "I did, however, allow him to give me a permanent v/ave when he arrived," she added, smiling. Then there was the story that the Duchess had removed Queen Mary's portrait from the walls of Government house because the Queen had refused to recognise her. "Why, on the contrary, she suggested that we move my mother's portrait from its rather obscure niche in .a building adjoining Government House and place it on the walls of the main salon," averred the Duke, with some heat. The criticism that they are spending their time in a round of frivolous parties: "Just because I play a round of golf a day to keep fit, do they think I am npt working?" "If the truth were known," interposed the Duchess, "the Duke doesn't leave his offices at Government House until well after 5 every day—later than most of his secretaries, in fact." Both Planning Tasks. The Duke, I know, has laid out for himself a real task —to start some sort of industry on the ring of outer Bahaman Islands, which are fertile fields for the raising of cattle, the growing of certain crops, and the production of certain wood. I know, too, how the Duchess is planning to instruct the women of the Bahamas in the increased uses of their natural grasses and the making of hats and baskets. r

As we sat on the broad, tiled porch where a splashy golden tropical plant furnished a fitting background for the Duchess in her blue-violet dress with the sparkling earrings and the one diamond clasp at her shouldor—the Duke rose once to speak to a negro boy who was painting letters on the side of a station wagon. "Don't paint the words 'Government House' so big," he said to the boy. "After all, we don't want to advertise ourselves, and sometime we might want to tour the States 'in that wagon. What would the words 'Government House' mean in the States?" We stepped into the house—dream of a house belonging to a Bahaman resident, Frederick Segriet, who has loaned it to the Duke and Duchess until their own residence at Government House is completed. The wicker furniture was homely and comfortable, there were books laid down with their places marked, and a backgammon iboard with the counters still in position for play. The tropical sun shone through the windows on the Duke's (blonde hair. Hie three cairn terriers—Preezy, Pooky, and Dotto—sported at his feet. Presently the black Government limousine drew up at the door, and the Duke and Duchess announced that they must be about their day's duties. Waving as they went, they were driven down the path.