THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES’ SUITE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12535, 24 June 1901, Page 11

THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES’ SUITE.

r ' SOME OF THE VISITORS IN CHRIST-

CHURCH. The Royal visitors’ suite is composed of members -ofjthe permanent household, and others, who have been specially chosen for the Imperial journey. Sir Arthur Bigge is staying at Te Koraha, Lady . Catherine Coke, Prince Alexander of Teck, the Hon Derek Keppel arid the Hon Mrs Derek Keppel at Mr H. J. Beswick’s residence, and Admiral Beaumont *md three of his staff, and the remainder of; the Royal at the Christchurch Club. LADY KATHERINE GREY COKE. Lady Katherine Grey Coke is a daughter of the second Earl of Wilton. She was wry young when she married, in ls6l> the Hon Henry John Coke*.son of the. Earl of Leicester. Her father'bore the name of Urosvenor. before he Assumed that-of- Egcrton, and her mother was a Stanley, a daughter of the twelfth Earl of Derby. Lady Katherine was Lady-in-Waiting to the Duchess; of Teck, and has seen as muon ol “Princess May,” almost from the time ol her birth, as if she hadbeen "her own daughter. Lady Katherine'has two good-, looking sons, who both served an th6>cots N Guards, and, on© daughter, Sybil Mary, married in 1887 Lientenant-CV.ond Charles Crutohley, also of the Scots Guards. Mrs Crutchley is a very well-known. woman in. society, -having the reputation of being the best amateur actress alive, 'barring, perhaps' Mbs. Muriel Wilson. The talent is here-ditarv, for. Lady Katherine Coke (pronounced Cook, by tho way) was herself distinguished! on the (private boards, and has always been devoted to music,; punrtual: at concerts, unfailing, to 0,.. at picture pn* .vat© ;■ views.” She, was one of the earliest friends of Sir Arthur Sullivan, and perhaps mourner at-his funeral. HON hCBS DEREK KEPPEL. The Hon .Airs Derek Keppel is. a superntimerary of the Royal.paxty, albeit a particularly welcome one.: The indispensable Major Derek Keppel , did not-- care to go away for seven and a half months without his wife ; and; with so exceUent ,an .excuse for adding her to the party, the addition was made. Mrs Keppel- had to rindergo one parting in any case; she said goodbye to a very young baby. That is a pmnt in which she has had 1 unbounded sympathyfrom the Duchess of York. Are yop taking baby? Las been the. poignant question put to Mrs Keppel by the casual friend who makes unintentionally; cruel inquisition. The quavering, but conclusive, answer was always the same,' “The Yorks arc it taking'their bwm” Mrs : Derek Keppel as- an attendant' on Royalty is to -the-manner born.; Nee the Hon Bridget Hirbord, she was the youngest: daughter of -Lord. Suffield, Lord of the Bedchamber to the King, and for-; merly Lord-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria, and one of her Militia aides-de-camp. He was chief of the Staff of the Prince of Wales’s famous visit to. India. Mrs Derek Keppel’s .sister, .the Hon Judith Harbord, was the favourite Maid-of-Hon^ur-in-Ordin-ary to Queen Victoria; Their 'brother, the Hon Charles Harbord, was Groom-in-Wait- , ing-in-Ordinary to her late Majesty. Mrs 'Derek Keppel has: a. little nephew named Victor, to whom Queen Victoria stood sponsor. Lady Carrington, who charmed, everybody in Australia when • her husband was- Governor of New South Wales from. 1885 to 1890, is Mrs Derek KeppeFs eldest sister..;- .... * MAJOR THE HON DEREK W. Q. KEPPEL. ' The Hoh Derek Keppel, the Duke of. Cornwall’s Equerry,- lias the good fortune, to be at once uskiil and ornamental. White’s. Club* yrfth' its; famous bow (and; ‘ beau) window iii St James’s Street, loses, during his absence on the Ophir, one of its most attractive, as well as_ one of its most, familiar figures. Ho has a strong resemblance to his elder - brother, the Earl: of ■ Albemarle, both of ..them - being types of the ‘best sort of sporting - Englishman! Like yet another brother, the Hon George iKfeppel (Who is at present in the. United I States, where his wife, the greatest intimate at Marlborough House, will join him :n the autumn), the ‘ departing Equerry has the ! knack of always ’appearing to be par ticularly well dreated. Not that he gives anything of that aftenti-oi .to hlobhes which Stevenson said “is a shame in a man," nor has he any of that air of. being garmented anew, which is usually Mr Chamberlain’s. But by good luck he always look well, and everything - fits .him -—. even his. uniforms. J Of these he: required a goodly supply ' before .- lie .‘ set . .sail. A rather sore subjeefc with equerries in general is the cost of the trappings of office. . Gold lap© absorbs most, of. the very few hundreds a year the office' carries;, and the Keppel younger sons did not inherit 'very much more from their father than his very good name. From their mother they have Canadian traditions to be ■ remembered by Major Derek Keppel when he reaches Ottawa, lor she W6s a ‘ daughter of the- Hon Sir Allan Napier M’Nab, Barti, a predecessor of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in the Canadian Premiership. , Mr Keppel is thirty-eight years of age, was educated at Charterhoivse, remained a member of the Church of England when his father joined the Church of Rome, to the slight perturbation of Lord Beaconsfield, whose Undtr-Secretary 1 of State for War fie then was; married; three years ago, the lady of whom mention has already been made; has everybody’s goodwill, and no griefs—-except, perhaps, that an Equerry is expected to .take a hansom, in St James’s Streep, when otherwise he would mount (again to quote his father’s friend, Dizzy) “-the cheap but convenient 'omnibus.” Cheap and convenient, Mr Derek Keppel would rather say, removing the chance slight thrown on what is ‘'cheap” by the extenuating “but.” "LORD WENLOC-K. Lord Wenlock, as the brother of Sir Arthur Lawiey, has . already . . a tie with ■Australia.’ He himself was Governor of Madras for five- years at the beginning of the nineties—choosing that Presidency as the least expensive. His mother was Lady Elizabeth Grosvenor, daughter of the second Marquis of Westminster, but ho does not possess the wealth which might be inferred from the relationship.' Escrick Park, Lord Wenlock’s seat in •,Yorkshire, knows him not. It has been let for some years to Mr Menzies, its owner being unable to keep it up. Lord l Wenlock is an old Etonian, and -a Light Blue; he sat in •Parliament for Chester as a- Liberal (eldest sons of peers sometimes were Liberals in those days), and he married in 1872 Lady Constance LasceJles, daughter of the fourth Earl of Harewood. There is not much more that is 'remarkable -about him except his smartness and! his good looks. From a social point of. view, ho should make. an admirable Chief of the Staff to the Duke of Cornwall. His favour with the King was evidenced by his .elevation to the Privy Council a few days before the Ophir sailed. • ' PRINCE ALEXANDER OF TECK. In takng out her brother, the Duchess of Cornwall makes a’ very- .popular and agreeable addition to the staff of the Ophir. Captain Prince Alexander of Teck, CiV.O., was born at Kensington Palace twentyseven years ago, educated at Eton'and Sandhurst, entered the 7th Hussars, and served in Matibeieland and South Africa, whence he returned late last year. Tha goodlooking Prince makes an excellent A.D.C. to his brother-in-law. SIR CHARLES GUST. Commander. Sir Charles Oust, R.N., who has served as equerry to the Duke of York for nine years,; was bom in Shrdp-s-hire, in 1864, tho eldest son of ,Sir! Leopold Cust, second baronet, whom he succeeded at the age of fourteen. He was then on board the Britannia, where ho

became a midshipman the year after - his father’s death. He served- on the Newcastle, .'the ; Achilles, the, Oarysfort, the Minotaur, the- Alexandra, the Rodney, the Orescent; and the lloyjl yacht Osborne, becoming a lieutenant .in: 1887.... He is a popular- member of the Naval. add Military Club—Lord Palmerston’s old house m Piccadilly—in the drawing-room of which, by the wav, Leo Xin. attended, one of, Ladv Palmerston’s receptions m .1846, _tue only salon in London _ whicli certainly boasts such an association with a Pope of Rome. !'

THE ROYAL CHAPLAIN. The Roval chaplain on rte OP lnr , Rev John Neale Dalton, C.M.Q., Precentor and Canon of St George s Wmdsor. He .was. also Deputy-Clerk to the Closet in Ordinary to the late Queen, and he was one of the three drvmes who assisted in her final funeral ntes dt Fro - more. : But his chief post was that of tutor to Prince Albert Victor and- Prince George of Wales, whose Governor he was on board the Bacchante.- Many • things htve happened since then—including certainly an increase off the Intimation in . which the colonies are held by the Motherland. Tim cruise of the 1 when it is written by &m Donald Mac kenzie Wallace, will be couched m terms differing, at times, from those xn which Canon Dalton told- the story th ® of the Bacchante. But through aJ chops and changes, through the mournful mem ties of the, one Prince taken this re j“ ain fY the .loyalty of the living Prince and former tutor on? to the other, very «re i table to both. The Canon, who has now passed his three score of years, married, fifteen years ago, Catherine, eldest daughter of Charles Evan Thomas, Welsh by birth as well, as by name. \ SIR A. BIGGE. Sir Arthur' Bigge, who goes on-the Ophir as Private Secretary,'■ .learned n» business very thoroughly, when he served the late Queen in the same capacity. - Before' that .timie his, career seemed formed in another direction. The son of a northcountry clergyman, he entered the ... Royal .Artillery in 1869, served in. the and was A.D.C. to Sir Evelyn Wood. Then, as Groom-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria, he began in 1880, at the age of thirty-one, the Court life with which he has since been . associated. ,Ho become in due course .Assistant-Private Secretary, and Equerry, and. fiWly Private Secretary. the Household of Queen Victoria was disbanded by her death, the King, with his own private secretaries already about him, was happy to'be cable to suggest Sir Arthur for the post of honour that he now fills, that of Private Secretary for personal affairs to the Duke of Cornwall. SIR DONALD MACKENZIE , WALLACE.

Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace, K.C.1.E., is a Scotsman, a simple bachelor, ,as well as a Bachelor of Arts, knows his France nearly as-well as Mr Bodley knoiys it, and has travelled and lived . Germany, Russia and Turkey. _He acted as Private Secretary, to two Viceroys of India—Lords Dufferin and: Lansdowne—and he was attached to tile- Czarewitch as Political . Officer during his tour m India and Ceylon ten years ago. He is a man of the “Times,” havings been editor-in-ohief of its Foreign DepartmentSir' Donald. is- a member of the Athenaeum Club, but, perhaps because Le is a bachelor, he belongs ■ also to the Marlborough amid tine St James’s. SIR JOHN ANDERSON,

Sir John ' Anderson,, of the Colonial Office, who is the Duke of York’s Private Secretary for official business, is, another "of the numerous Scotsmen on; board the ’Ophir. At Aberdeen University he got the . gold medal as the most distinguished student of tlie year; at Gray’s Inn he was Bacon Scholar; and he took the Inns ot Court Studentship., in . 1888. He eervoi as’ Private Secretary to; the late Sir Ai Meade,' Under-Secretary of,. State tor Jhe Colonies, and then he went on • the jdatt of the Behring Sea Arbitration London ■ and Paris. He was Secretary to Mr Chamberlain at thd ’Conference of Colonial Premiers four years ago! He has edited “ The Colonial' Office List,” and is more thoroughly acquainted, perhaps, than any on© man with the personnel of the various Governments in , the Coinmonwealtn, .colonies and Dominion to be visited. Aus-. tralasian affairs are part of his special charge when permanently located at the Colonial Office. He was specially invested with the K.C.M.G. by his. Majesty on the Tuesday preceding the commencement of .the Ophir’g cruise. .THE ARTISTS.

' The expedition has its illustrators as well as its'scribe/ Mr Sydney Hall, tbo wellknown -artist of the “ Graphic,” was _on the Indian tour of the Prince of Wales, which means that he is a certain >age as well as a' , very popular companion. He has a great eye for likenesses, and he himself will be recognised everywhere by his ■' resemblance to the late Mr Parnell. Of -the Chevalier de Martino, who paints water-colours of water, and knows, the points of a ship, it is enough to say that be; is 'one of the seniors of the company, that he was born in Naples, that he served in the. Italian Navy, and that, coming to England; he was nominated inarine painter to Queen Victoria. Perhaps his excellent Italian —the only excellent Italian ,on board the Ophir—'may be of some service during its historic cruise. OTHER MEMBERS OF THE SUITE. Various A.D.C.’s add to, tho gaiety of the Roval party. Commander B. Godfrey Fausset, R.N., -Major James Bor, R.M.A., Captain Viscount Crichton, and the -Duke of Roxburgh?. - General interest naturally attaches-to the last two names on the-list. Lord Crichton is .the'eldest son of : the fourth Earl of -Erne, is not yet quite - thirty years of age, was educated at Eton and Sandhurst, is a captain of Royal. Horse Guards, belongs to the Bachelors’ Club, as well as the Turf, and will be again much missed in smart circles in London, as he was during his recent campaigning in South Africa. The. Duke of Roxburgh© (another Scotsman) is five-and-twenty, has. held his- title and estates since he was sixteen, and has shown himself to be -in earnest in one thing—his soldiering.. From Eton he passed into the Militia, Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, relinquishing his commission a year later, in order to enter the Royal Horse Guards. The formation of the composite regiment of Household Cavalry gave the young man his chance of active, service in South Africa, whence, like Lord Crichton, he but lately returned, non? the worse for -a tough, spell of The Duke is the most eligible of his order in the marriage market, .and rumour has associated his name with that of a charming American, heiress. Special sanction had to- ba given, by the War Office to his Grace and Lord Crichton being .attached to the staff of the Heir Apparent during his tour.

No expedition undertaken in such varying climes, and 1 for such a protracted period would be complete without provision for medical attendance of a special character. Dr Alan Reeve Manby has had the honour to be selected as the Esculapius of the tour-.- Dr Manby’s appointment is explained, and ho' doubt justified by the Royal Family!* experience of his abi-li-ties, bv the fact that he has -lor years past held the position of Surgeon-Apothe-cary to the King and Queen and the Duke of York at 'Sandringham,- 'lt; is devoutly' to be hoped that Dr Manby’s aid may not be' required, but, at any -rate, it will give comfort and confidence to all cone;i-netl that one so competent and tried is at hand in case the need, arises for his services.

Major Bor, who will be the Royal marine representative on the Duke’s staff during his Australian tour, is the officer who did such splendid service, in command of the Cretan gendarmes, for which he was given the O.M.G, and the DeputyAssistant Adjutant-Generalship- of the Marine Forces. Like Lord Crichton’, he is an Irishman. ■ To Australians, the best-appreciated ap-

pointment on the staff will he that of Lieutenant-Colonel J. J. Byron, who has been nominated extra Aide-de-Camp. ■ He has been associated with the Queensland Permanent Artillery, since May, 1895. Having been selected for service in South Africa, he served with the Ist Division in. the advance on Kimberley, and was present at the battles of Belmont, Graspan, Mo-dder River, and Magerstontein. In the last disastrous affair lie was wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel Byron was appointed on Lord Roberts’s staff, and: subsequently invalided home, when he received his present honourable promotion.