A ROYAL ROMANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11854, 4 January 1902, Page 5 (Supplement)

A ROYAL ROMANCE

Lord Euhinstone, who has just returned to England after a protracted tour in. company with Mr. Vanderbilt after " big game," is not only distinguished as an enthusiastic sportsman but as the representative of one of the most ancient titles in the United Kingdom. Created as long ago as 1509, the barony has given to England many famous administrators, notable among them being the peer whose services in India at and after the downfall of the Mahratta power in 1817 are ranked by,historians next to Wellesley's in consolidating British dominion in the Far East. His immediate successor in the title was reputed one of the handsomest men in England in the early years of the last reign, and a romantic - interest attaches to his memory. Brought by the circumstances of his rank and Court employment into the almost daily society of his youthful Sovereign in the first months of her accession the young nobleman fell desperately in love with Queen Victoria. There were those in authority around the girl-Queen -who believed that she might come to regard her too devoted courtier not -unkindly, and high State employment abroad was judiciously found him. As became so ambitious an attachment, the subject's love for his Sovereign was the passion of his life. Serving" his country, always v with . distinction and ; dutifulness, throughout the course of many years, Lord Elphinstone was ever chivalrously true to the memory of . the : past. : . I have heard a pretty ■; corroboration this> from a distinguished Anglo-Indian who, in the stormy days of the Mutiny, held a high post in the Bombay Presidency, ,;■■ Lord;: Elphinstone was at. that time Governor of Bombay, and my friend had many opportunities, officially and socially, of visiting at Government House. ;He told me that at the dinner table or in the drawing-room, wherever the Governor might be, there,. was always placed among the guests, in a central position i; of honour,, a magnificent gilded chair, in which stood a superb portrait of Queen Victoria framed : in gold ; and /ornamented .'with jewels, representing her as in 1837 in the full tide of her girlish comeliness. No one ever heard Lord Elphinstone speak of this silent guest ;/ijiy friend does not re- , member his ever giving a sign of consciousi ness of its presence, but there at his ; side, filling the place of honour ijn his home, as her memory filled his heart, always stood I the i picture":'., iu the chair 1 ■■ : :: l::}s'\:^ : :[^