Ugandan Princess Is London Model

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31632, 19 March 1968, Page 2

Ugandan Princess Is London Model

LONDON.

Princess Elizabeth of Toro is tall. The tiny navy dress that just covers her thighs makes her seem even taller. The legs are not in the Dietrich class, but they are good. However, it’s the face that captures and holds the attention from the outset.

Her dusky skin stretches smoothly over a regal bone structure. Her moulded classic profile is a blend of the ancient and the timeless. Her face in repose is like a carving from Cleopatra’s tomb, yet when it springs to life is as modern as the mini.

She has been called “the princess from the Mountains of the Moon.” New York columnists dubbed her “the black Nefertiti.” London is only now getting used to the idea of a royal blue-blood who wants to be a full-time member of the hard, succeed-if-you-can world of fashion modelling. Princess Elizabeth of Toro, a daughter of the royal household of Buganda, which goes back four centuries into the mists of Uganda’s history, has several distinctions which set her apart. She is a princess, she is African, and she is the first woman barrister in Uganda’s history. She is also, although she only hints at it, a sad young woman of 28 bravely working out her destiny as her country does the same. She does not talk about the revolutionary abolition of the monarchy last year, only to admit that now, for the first time, she is having to plot her own course.

“Before I knew exactly where my path lay—straight back to Uganda and my people,” she says softly. “Now I am in the position of being

able to do exactly as I choose." At the big Knightsbridge agency where her name, measurements and description have been on the books for just on a month, she is known simply as Elizabeth of Toro. “We can’t give with the princess bit every time we ring her up,” the receptionist had explained logically. But there Is no escaping the fact that she is royal. It shows in the positive way she asks you to sit down again, in the skilful way she evades certain questions by channelling the conversation elsewhere, and In the implication, when she asks about Australia that she really wants thoughtful answers. Law Finals Three years ago, Elizabeth completed eight years study in Britain by passing her law finals at Cambridge. After a round of farewell parties given by young society friends like a fellow graduate. Prince William of Gloucester, she returned to Uganda intent on practising as a barrister. For a couple of years she did, then returned to London towards the end of last year. She had done some modelling during her undergraduate days, and when an invitation arrived to represent Uganda in the Commonwealth Fashion Show at Marlborough House in December she made her decision.

“The monarchy was finished and I felt that I should leave. I came away with my family’s complete agreement. We all felt that I could serve them best by being abroad, doing what I wanted, and this light-

ens some of the burden of worry for them. “But I worry—or used to—until I realised I wasn’t sleeping. Now I try not to 1 think about it. I just concentrate on what I have to do.” A clear, attractive speaking voice, a commanding presence, and a sharp, disciplined mind that would assure her success in any courtroom leads to the obvious. Why modelling and not law? She thinks before she answers, not wanting you to think that she has been led on by the glamour. “It’s very difficult being a barrister in London, especially one just starting. It takes four to five years before you even start to be established. “Creating the necessary trust and confidence between barrister and client is a long, slow process. The way I feel now, I could be anywhere in the world by then—back in Uganda, even Australia,” she says, the regality slipping to let the model girl show through. Love Of Travel She is not restless but she loves to travel. “Modelling can enable me to do this,” she points out. She has already appeared in British and American “Vogue,” is due to grace the cover of “Queen,” and the day we met she had just returned to her Westminster flat from Simpson’s fashion show. “Oh," she said, grimacing as only a princess can, “when I see the other models I realise how much I have to learn.” —“Sydney Morning Herald.”