PREMIER DUKE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 41, 18 February 1937, Page 19

PREMIER DUKE

HEAD OF HOUSE OF HOWARD

SPECTACULAR WEDDING

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

LONDON, January 30. Probably the most notable wedding that has taken place for a considerable time was that of the Duke of Norfolk, on January 27, to the Hon. Lavinia

Strutt, twenty-year-old daughter of

Lord Belper and the Countess of Rosebery. The Duke of Norfolk is the head

of the oldest Roman Catholic family in England, and he is the Premier Duke of England. The service was comparatively short, for at present the bride is not a Roman Catholic though she is being prepared to become a member of that Church. There -was no Nuptial Mass and no choir. Father Henry Talbot, one of the oldest.members of the Oratory staff, assisted by Father John H. Cudden, the Duke's private chaplain, officiated. As ,the non-Catholic party to the wedding the bride had to promise that any children of the marriage should be brought up as Romtm Catholics. The Duke thereupon received a dispensation from the Pope for the marriage to take place.

The Oratory presented a brilliant scene. The absence of ritual and choir did not detract from the solemn splendour of the service. There were no lighted candles on the high altar, but on either side of the chancel steps were four large vases, from which spread clusters of crimson roses,, amaryllis, poinsettia, carnations, and red foliage.

Long before the ceremony was due to begin the majority of the guests were in their places. Only those with tickets were allowed to enter, and they were shown to their seats by a corps of ushers, headed by Lord Herbert, Equerry to the Duke of Kent. The Royal Family was represented by Prince Arthur of Connaught, Princess Alice, and the Earl of Athlone, and Lady May Abel Smith. Ambassadors and-Ministers, members of Parliament, and friends of the bride and bridegroom filed into the Oratory. When the Duke of Norfolk, with his best" man, the Earl of Eldon, entered the church, there was a congregation of 2000.

While the guests were arriving the organist played Mendelssohn's Allegretto from the Fourth Sonata, Elgar's Allegro Maestoso from the First Sonata, and the prelude and fugue in E flat, and the organ choral "Mortify us by Thy Goodness," by J. S. Bach.

For three hours there was great congestion in the vicinity of the Oratory. So eager were the crowd of onlookers to see the bride as she drove to the church that mounted police were repeatedly compelled to push them back across Brompton Road. Miss Strutt's arrival was the signal for a stampede by hundreds of women, who surged wildly towards the railings, causing photographers to jump on to a wall to avoid damage to their cameras. Police reinforcements, who were summoned, finally contrived to clear a way for traffic. Throngs of women broke through the cordon with such force that the policemen were pushed almost to the ground. As the bride walked up the steps of the church the crush was intensified. Serious injuries were avoided by the prompt action of the mounted police, who edged their horses into the crowd in.such a way as to relieve the pressure.

THE BRIDE AND HER RETINUE.

The bride arrived with her father. She walked up the nave to Handel's March from the Occasional Oratorio, and was met by Father Talbot and Father John Cudden. She wore a classically-simple dress of silver lame, cut on straight sheath lines with-long tight sleeves and a high round roll collar. The skirt just touched the ground and was continued at the back to form a long square train. A girdle of silver cord was knotted in front. Her long veil of white tulle fell from a simple coronet of orange blossom and green leaves, and she carried a sheaf of arum lilies. She was followed by six little pages, who walked hand in hand—Robin Herbert, Timothy Hun-, loke. Bob McCreery, John Scrope. George Vivian-Smith, and Michael Watt; and by six bridesmaids— Lady Katharine and Lady Winifrede Howard (sisters of the bridegroom), Lady Anne Bridgeman, the Hon. Pamela Digby, Miss Gillian Drummond, and Miss Nancy Malcolmson. The bridegroom's racing colours, pale blue and scarlet, were introduced into the dresses and suits of the attendants. The pages were in pale blue satin suits piped with scarlet, and the bridesmaids wore dresses of sky-blue corded crepe, with touches of scarlet at the waistline. They had high roVided necklines with long bellsleeves, and their headdresses of fed baVardia were massed in front. They carried bouquets of red flowers, including tulips, amaryllis lilies, carnations, and e:#)horbia. The bridegroom j gave them brooches showing his and his bride's initials—L (in rubies) and N (in diamonds). Father Ronald. Knox gave a brief address from the centre of the transept. The bride and bridegroom remained kneeling at the chancel steps facing the altar. They then went in procession to the vestry, where the registrar, Mr. J. P. Bond, conducted the civil ceremony. THE RECEPTION.

The Countess-of Rosebery held a reception at 38 Berkeley Square, lent by the Earl of Rosebery. Here, again, interested sightseers had assembled in great numbers. "Warned by the earlier experience, a strong cordon of police and R.A.C. scouts had been provided, but, despite their efforts, sections of the crowd surged round the bridal car.

. Lady Rosebery wore a dress and hip-length coat of fine woollen material, in autumn brown, with a blue fox fur trimming the neck, and elbowlength sleeves. She wore also a brown velvet hat, and a spray of greenbeige orchids was pinned to her coat. The Duchess of Norfolk wore a dress of flowered black taffeta, with a black felt hat, trimmed with coloured ostrich plumes. The bride went away for the brief honeymoon in a dress of black and red silk taffeta, under a broadtail coat with a fur cap to match. About the middle of February the Duke and Duchess will return to Arundel, where a great welcome awaits them. The town will be decorated and a triumphal arch is to be erected on the bridge over the Arun. They will be given a full civic reception and their carriage will be drawn through the town to the castle by members of the local fire brigade. In the market square an address is to be presented by the Mayor. The townspeople are planning great festivities. About 150 workers on the Arundel and Littlehampton estates of the Duke of Norfolk travelled to London to attend the wedding. They were taken to 38 Berkeley Square to see the presents and afterwards had luncheon as guests of the Duke. Places were reserved for them at Brompton Oratory. Among the party were pensioners who had worked for the Duke: s father and grandfather and had attended the wedding of the present Duke's father.

Tenants and employees from the three villages on Lord Belper"s Not-

tinghamshire estate, Kingston, Radcliff, and Westlake, were also present. GIFTS OF PORTRAITS. The King and Queen sent a silver and ebony cigarette-box in a case to the Duke. Another present to which, as Duke and Duchess of York, they subscribed with the Earl and Countess of Eldon, the Earl and Countess of I Erne, Viscount and Viscountess Halifax, the Marquess and Marchioness, of Hartington, Major Sir Richard Molyneux, the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, and Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Reginald and Lady Katharine Seymour, was a portrait of the Duke of Norfolk by Oswald Birley. One of the gifts of Lord Belper to the Duke was a portrait of his daughter by Mr. Oswald Birley. It shows the future Duchess I wearing a gay green jumper with a I'red and green, scarf.

Queen Mary sent the Duke a diamond Garter cipher. cuff' links, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester eight silver mustard pots, and the Duke and Duchess of Kent a gold snuffbox. The

Princess Royal and the Earl of Harewood gave him a large Oriental silver jewelled ladle, and to the bride the Princess Royal sent a silver flask. Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, and Major-General the Earl of Athlone sent the bridegroom a blue leather writing set, and from Prince and Princess Arthur of Connaught there came an old silver cigarette box.

The Duke's presents to the bride included heirloom gems, among them being a diamond tiara, and riviere, a diamond and sapphire bracelet, a large square diamond brooch, diamond and sapphire earrings, large diamond and pearl drop earrings, small diamond and pearl drop earrings, two pearl and diamond rings (one a black pearl), a diamond and sapphire ring, an alexandrite and diamond ring, two rose diamond bracelets, and a brown hunter. A pair of wrought-iron gates was among the gifts of the Duke's mother.