DAME FLORA MacLEOD

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28267, 3 May 1957, Page 2

DAME FLORA MacLEOD

Plan To Visit N.Z. In September

[By SUSAN VAUGHAN] LONDON.

The remarkable Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod, Chief of the Clan MacLeod, continues to. display the energy of a woman half her age. She has only recently returned from the latest of several tours of the United States and Canada; now, in her eightieth year, she is planning to visit Australia and New Zealand next September.

The forthcoming trip will by no means be her first to Australia and New Zealand. As head of “the world’s largest family,” she has trotted all over the globe to meet other MacLeods. There are members of the clan in almost every country. Indeed, it is estimated that there are as many MacLeods in the United States as there are in Scotland.

In Australia and New Zealand, Dame Flora MacLeod will meet hundreds of her namesakes, many of them formed into MacLeod societies. Her last visit was three years ago. v

Grandson in Canada . On the return trip, the chief of the clan may stop in Canada to see her grandson, 21-year-old John MacLeod, who is studying at Mac Gill University, having completed his National Service with the Black Watch.

John MacLeod, 20 minutes older than his tfrin brother Gordon, is the heir to the chieftainship of the clan. Dame Flora MacLeod, who received her title in the Coronation Honours of 1953, is the twenty-eighth chief. She was elected on the death of her father, Sir Reginald MacLeod, in 1936. Her historic home, Dunvegan Castle, on the Isle of Skye, is reputed to be the oldest in Britain. It has been continuously occupied for 1000 years.