Page 1 Advertisements Column 1

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12698, 29 October 1904, Page 1 (Supplement)

I Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Grenfell, who, it is rumoured, may succeed Lord and Lady Minto in Canada, occupy a quite unique place in the great world—indeed, Fate seems to have seen fit to endow them with her choicest gifts. They are both goodlooking, clever, wealthy, and so, inevitably, popular; and of late they have become persona grata tc a marked degree at Court. The achievements of Mr. Grenfell— politician, and kindliest host— known to all those interested in politics and in the many sports in which he excels. More retiring is the personality of his beautiful wife. Mrs. W. H. Grenfell is the daughter of a hundred earls, hei father having been the fourth son of one of the early Victorian Earls of Westmorland. Her marriage to the owner of Taplow Court, the most delightful of Thames-side estates, took place in the Jubilee year, and for some seventeen years Mrs. "Grenfell has been among the most important hostesses, both in London and the country, for Mi. Grenfell's town house is one of the finest in St. James' Square. Every Londoner who j loves the Thames and is fond of boating is J familiar with the beautiful grounds of Tap- j low Court. The house is said to be on the site of one of the oldest inhabited spots j in the kingdom ; there are traces in .the grounds of a Roman entrenchment, and j under a huge mound was found, some years ! ago, the skeleton cf a Viking, clad in full accoutrements, and hung with gold and silver ornaments. The house itself is a perfect museum of objects of art and of sporting trophies, and there Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Grenfell delight to entertain their ; friends to week-end parties, noted as among the most delightful ever gathered together within easy distance oi London. Since hei marriage Mis. Grenfell has only had one piece of ' really bad luck. On a certain Friday— was also, it may be noted, the thirteenth day or the month—the greater portion of her jewels, valued at £15,000, were carried off by burglars from Taplow Court, and from that day to this nothing has been hoard of either the thieves or of their booty!. [