DIPLOMAT'S WIFE

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29734, 30 January 1962, Page 2

DIPLOMAT'S WIFE

Mrs Hagglof Is London Hostess One of the topics keenly . discussed among diplomats’ wives in London at present is what influence Mrs Anna Hagglof will have on the extensive redecoration of the Swedish Embassy, now taking place, writes Susan Vaughan from London. For Mrs Hagglof, wife of the Swedish Ambassador to London, is a woman with a rare taste for design. She designed the evening bag that the London Diplomatic Corps gave to Princess Margaret for her wedding. It is a marvellous bag, made of interwoven gold and silver thread. The clasp is a crystal bar, inlaid with diamonds. A trained interior decorator and designer, Mrs Hagglof is a consultant to a big Stockholm department store and searches Europe for ideas. She takes planes as other people hop on a bus—to London, Paris, Rome, or Vienna. Mrs Hagglof, the daughter of an Italian counit and mother of a 21-year-old son, Axel, is very smart. Even when she wears the uniform of the Swedish Red Cross, she manages to look elegant. International Reputation She has an international reputation as a hostess. Before coming to Britain in 1948, she lived in New York and Moscow. Big embassy functions are often a bore—but not at the Swedish Embassy. “I can havfr as many as 30 at a time for dinner,” says ; Mr Hagglof. “But if I put 30 . pepole at a big table, nobody can talk sensibly to anyone else. Small dinner parties are the answer and I have lots of . those. ' "And if I have to have about 30 people, I put them at small tables, four or six to each, and then each table is a small dinner party in itself and the people can really talk.” Mrs Hagglofs next party will be when the embassy re- . decoration is complete. Embassy wives in London are awaiting it with more than usual interest.