Social Gossip from Home.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1535, 26 January 1887, Page 4

Social Gossip from Home.

(Prom a London Correspondent of the Argus.) At about 5 o'clock in the morning, a few day ago, the Princess Beatrice became the mother .of a.prince, who is the Queen's thirty-sixth grandchild and forfcy-eightb living descendant. The only contretemps about the affair was that the Home Secretary, being a bachelor was unable to be "present," as prescribed by custom, and the Indian Secretary, had to be sent for, to the consternation of all sticklers for Court etiquette. The actual presence of a Secretary of State on these occasions is now a mere ceremonial fiction — a survival from the middle ages, when the whole Court and all the ambassadors were actually present to guard against the possibility of a spurious child being introduced into a Royal family. Nevertheless, the fact that there were over 40 persons actually present at the birth of • James the Second's ill-starred son, " the Old Pretender," did not prevent his authenticity being subsequently disputed by the Whigs. It may be of remote interest to you to know that when a Royal infant is born in a colony, it falls to the duty of the Governor to be present, instead of a Secretary of State ; and, in fact, the Governor of Malta was so present on the Ist of January. 1887, when the Princess "Victoria Melita, the child of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh was born at Malta.

The marriage of the Princess Beatrice has proved a most happy one, and tbe Queen's chief happiness is in watching over that happiness. The young people negotiated the match for themselves in 24 brief hours, at Darmstadt, during the wedding between Prince Henry of Battenberg's elder brother and the Queen's granddaughter, the Princess Victoria of Hesse, when Providence, for once in their lives, relieved them from the trammels of Court etiquette. As is well known, on that occasion the widowed Prince of Hesse was so elated by the festivities, and so carried away by the association of ideas, that he himself straightway got married, at midnight, to a madatne De Kalainiue, which proceeding rendered our Queen furious — why, it is difficult to say. Her Majesty. it is said, devoted 24 hours to coercing her widowed son-in-law into putting away his new wife, which he did, thus restoring himself to the good graces of

the Queen. The German Court has, however, never yet forgiven him, and never will. When the Queen turned her attention once more to her own domestic affairs, she found that the mischief sbc had averted in one quarter — that is, the intrusion of a non-royal (or non-" born") person into her family circle-re-appeared from another quarter. The Princess Beatrice had given away her heart to the moneyless and morganatic cuirassier. The weather-glass again pointed to " stormy ;" but all ended happily, thanks to the spirit and determination of the young lady. The result has been a great brightening of the Queen's declining years.