BEETLE ON JACKET

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30338, 14 January 1964, Page 2

BEETLE ON JACKET

Diplomat’s Pet IB:/ SUSAN VAUGHAN! A remarkable woman is Carmen Ydigoras Laparra de McGarvie Munn. Her father, Miguel Fuentes, is a former President of the . Central American State -of Guatemala, which explains the first pant of her name. Her husband is a Scot. Captain lan McGarvie Munn, which explains the second. Her parentage provided her with impressive good looks. Her marriage provided her with a certain useful Scottish canniness. The combination of these assets came in extremely useful recently when Mrs Munn was appointed Guatemalan Ambassador to Paris. At that time- her father was still president. The Paris diplomats thought that the new occupant of the smart embassy off the Champs Elysees was a decided asset to their profession. Unfortunately, in April her father was removed from the presidency during one of those interminable Central American revolutions. And Mrs Munn lost her job, too. She said spiritedly: “When the new regime took over I would not work for them and they wouldn’t have me working for them.” However, Mirs Munn is only 39, and knowing how things change in politics, her best diplomatic days may still be to come. At any rate, last week, she was on a long European tour, looking up old friends and making new ones.

With' her went what is probably the most remarkable single thing about Mrs Munn: her pet This is a beetle, about an inch long, Whose back is encrusted with jewels. She keeps it on her cardigan or jacket. Living jewellery, she says it is. A lot of women in Guatemala have them. It must provide a good talking point to break the ice in a diplomatic session.—(All Rights Reserved.)