ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13134, 24 March 1906, Page 5 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

[FROM THE SOCIETY I'APKRS.] Every member of the Royal Family is an ardent devotee of motoring. The first motor journey King Edward ever took was in 1695.' The Tsar lias 110 l.kitig for the pomp and ceremony of a Court., and would, :t circumstances permitted. abdicate with the greatest willingness. Beyond the memliers of his family circle la; li;u> lie close cumpanions. Queen Alexandra of England is. like most women, ill at ease a- a public speaker. Her voice is iow and sweet, with ji.6t a suspicion of fuieiirn accent about it. There is an almost j.rthetic not;; in its lines that lingers in the memory hauntnigly. Princess Victoria of Sehk.-wig-Holstein has gone on a visit to Prime. 1 Gustavus of Sweden ; they are very much attached to each other—the two cousins--and Princess Victoria is to remain at .Stockholm for some time. Princess Christian is at Cumberland Lou The dressy Americans at Giro are very disappointed with Princess Louise because s,:e we,' a plain llamiel shiit. and short skirt, and tweed toque at luncheon, and ;:i the evening quite an ordinary gown. Piincess Louise and her sister'* have never en smart or fashionable <I re-ssei: but they always look nice and distinguished. Princess Eli a is really a (leiman princess, though all her upbringing is English. Her father was German, and so was her grandfather, while her maternal grandmother. Queen Victoria, as of lei man descent also. Rather sulky-looking a.-, a girl, the Princess has developed into a strikingly beautiful young woman. She looks considerably older than her age when her face is in repose, but whin she smiles you can see she is only eighteen.

Lord Wolverton is one of fortune's favourites. Eighteen years ago lie was a poor man comparatively, with an income of a few hundreds a year. Unexpectedly his elder brother died unmarried, and lie succeeded to the title and an income of £50,000 a year. Lady Wolverton is a sister of Lord Dudley, arid one c.f the tallest women in London society. Like her husband she is devoted to yachting, and as Lady Edith Ward always spent, the fortnight- at C'owes with her handsome mother, Georgina Lady Dudley.

Debutantes were many and charmingduring 1905. but 110 sensational beauty appeared—even married loveliness seems less to the fore than in days gon:- by. Ladv Eileen Welleslev. Lady Jean Cochrane, and Miss Elfrida Eden were anion i- the prettiest "comers-out," and Miss Ivy GordonLennox has become noted for her extreme smartness. _ Among married women Princess Teano and Mrs. John Jacob Astor an Italian and an American—were greatly admired ; and others who held their own were Princess Henry of Pleas. Lady Westmorland, Lady Mar and Kellie, Lady Alington. Mrs. George Keppel, and Mrs. Rupert Beckett.

His friends are curious a.» to what costume Mr. Burns will assume when he dines at Buckingham Palace as the guest of the King, says the Sketch. There is certain etiquette to be observed for Stale occasions, but nothing in the Constitution definitely to prove that a statesman mutt be tailormade. Tennyson got his pierage in spite of Gladstone's fear that he would appear in the House of Lords wearing his disreputably famous wideawake; ' and Dean Stanley was not the man to have his dinner spoilt upon a great occasion when it was pointed out that his collar was all awry. "Do you mind?" lie as Led sweetly. "No? Then I don't at all."

On© seemed to have gone l ack to the Middle Ages 011 a recent day when St. Peter s, Crawley Gardens, was opened for a wedding. The bridegroom . was Mr. Claude Henry Blake, Athlone Pursuivant of Arms, and lie walked to the altar in the bravery of his picturesque uniform, with ribbons and orders on his breast. Ulster King-of-Arms, Sir Arthur Vicars, made an elfective support as best man, and the Dublin Herald lent his house at Torquay for the honeymoon. The bride, Miss Emilie Gerrard, is an Australian, and very comely did she look in ivory satin and Honiton lace, with a veil of Limerick lace. Her sister and the sister of the bridegroom were bridesmaids in cloudy draperies of mauve and blue, and a little girl strewed flowers in she path of the newly wedded.

The private chapel at Buckingham Palace, which was not long ago the scene of the marriages of the Queen's -of-honour, is very small in its proportions, being only about thirty feet in width and forty feet long. Consecrated sixty-two years ago, the late Prince Consort took great interest in its decoration, and since the King's accession it has been still more adorned and enriched with much fine carving and em- J broidered altar frontal Two Royal marriages have taken place in. the' private chapel, both of them having been King Edward's daughters—namely, the Princess Louise to the Duke of Fife and Princess Maud to Prince Charles of Denmark. It is stated that no wedding other than that of a Royal personage has taken place within its walls, so that- the respective brides and grooms should feel honoured by so signal a mark of Royal favour.

Princess Irene, the wife of Prince Henry of Prussia, enoys the unique distinction of having more godfathers than any other woman in the world—namely., 4'uoo. Born in the course of the war of 1866, her father, Prince Henry of Hesse, requested the officers and men of the Hessian regiments forming part of the cavalry brigade under his command to stand sponsors to his baby girl, and at the christening, which took place at the termination of hostilities, deputations of officers, non-com missioned officers, and men from each regiment were present in order to express in the names of their respective corps the readiness of the latter to assume the customarv spiritual, moual, and material obligation} towards their godchild. The name Irene—which means peace—was given to the little Princess, whose christening was coincident with the end of the war.

The announcement that the Earl of E"linton and Winton lias taken Mis. Aduir"s deer forest at Glenveagh, in the Donegal Highlands, for the next tie asm is particularly interesting. Glenveagh is one of tho most picturesque parts of Ireland, and there are parts which rival Killarnev, some people say. Glenveagh Castle, Mrs.'Adair's residence, is a castellated building amongst the mountains, where " rs. Adair has entertained Royalty. And Lord Eglinton was quite old enough—lie was ten then— to remember when his father was LordLieutenant. of Ireland, for the second time, in 1858 and 1859. He was. ono of the most hospitable Viceroys Ireland had in. the last century. He it was who was mainly instrumental in establishing the Steam Packet Service between Galwav and America —which would probably be in existence to-day had there been bettor management— and his services to Galway are commemorated in the Eglinton (..'anal, which connects Lough Corrib with Gal way Hay. Before going to Ireland he had held the famous tournament at Eglinton Castle, which is immortalised in Disraeli's " Endymion," and which cost him nearly £40,000. He had also won the Derby. The- present peer's mother was a County Lcngford lady.