Blanche, Lady Rosslyn

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 17, 20 January 1934, Page 9

Blanche, Lady Rosslyn

Many friends have been concerned by the report that lately Blanche, Countess of Bosslyn, has been far from well (states a London correspondent). She was born two years after the accession of Queen Victoria. » She is the oldest living peeress, and she is probably the last Jof the great

Victorian ladies who can claim to N have been the intimate friend of both Disraeli and Gladstone. Disraeli, it will be remembered, had several close friendships with women, but very few with men. An exception was Lord Eosslyn, grandfather of the present peer, whom he appointed to be High Commissioner of the Church of/Scotland. In later years Disraeli could never be in London for long without calling on Lady Kosslyn.

,Lady Kosslyn is fond of recalling her friendship with the two Prime Ministers. Gladstone, she says,' was always at the top of his form. He would enter her crowded drawing-room and at once dominate the conversation.

• Disraeli, on the other hand, was moody. He never attempted to be gay or witty when he was feeling depressed. Guests meeting him for the first time would often express disappointment. Yet more than once Disraeli called again tho very next day and, though the drawing-room was almost empty, he would talk like one of the most brilliant characters in his novels.

Owing to her advanced years, Lady Eosslyn was unable to attend the recent wedding of Lord Warwick and Miss Bingham, both of whom are her great-grandchildren. •