A LOVE MATCH

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 72, 26 March 1931, Page 17

A LOVE MATCH

LATE PRINCESS ROYAL

AU who know the lale Princess Boyal personally or \>y repute mourned Hie loss of ;i kindly, s\vi?el, ;iiul gentle lady, who did. .much .in :i quiet, way lo ni.iiutniu tlir. high traditions of the Ttoy.nl family (writes ;i. Londoner). Being delicate and shy, the Princess never took a conspicuous p.'irl; in public or social life, but: she was the keoncsl; lUo-

at re-goer in tho Loyal Family. Born in 15(57, in an ngo when, seclusion was every well-bred girl's normal fate, she spent the first Uveuty-two years of her life at Marlborough and Sandringham. Though her recreations were of the simplest nature, she never suffered any sense of deprivation, and seemed quite content to make infrequent appearances at garden parties and weddings with her father and mother, then Prince and Princess of AValcs.

The Princess Uoyal was intensely^ reserved and retiring—someono laughingly christened her "Her Eoyal Shyness." From her early girlhood she liked Lord Fife, and iv time romance crept quietly and shyly into her simple life. At first she probably regarded him much as an elder brother, for the genial, likeable Scot was eighteen years her senior. But at her father's Highland castle of Abergeldie they were thrown much in contact, her affection deepened into love, and the lovers came to a secret understanding. To obtain tho consent of. her parents was not very difficult, but Queen Victoria, convinced that her family should not marry outside Koyalty, was for some tinio strongly opposed to the match, and it was only after a long struggle that her consent was finally obtained. With her marriage ou 27th July, ISSO, the Princess became Duchess of Fife—her husband was mado a Duke at the wedding breakfast —and almost, disappeared from public life. The Duke, a member of an old Scottish family, had a rent roll of £ SO,OOO v year, besides other large revenues, and the Duchess refused a State allowance to keep ladies-in-wait-ing, or to maintain the ceremonial of a "household." They spent their honeymoon at tho least pretentious of the Duke's houses, the white ivy-coloured Sheen Lodge, near Richmond Park. Tho Duchess was always an enthusiastic angler, and fond also of cycling and fencing. She preferred the country to the. town. Though simple in most things, she always emphasised her Boyal descent by preceding her guests in to dinner. In 1905 the Duchess was given by her father, then King Edward VII., the title of Princess Royal. In the same year began the decline in her health, which continued till tho end. In spite of operations, she remained a semi-invalid, and in recent years her public appearances werw very rare indeed.