ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13193, 2 June 1906, Page 5 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

[FROM THE , SOCtETT VAPERS.] The Marquess of lireadalhane possesses the finest service of gold plate in Great Britain.

Lady Aberdeen. wife of the new LordLieutenant of Ireland. is one of the moat gifted women speakers in the country.

Queen Alexandra possesses u tea service of sixty pieces, each piece being decorated with a different photograph which she took herself in Scotland.

The King of Spain, whose coming marriage has been so much discuss**]. lias at least, one trait in -common with the German Emperor. He is fond of visiting military barracks unexpectedly, m order to see that the troops are conducting themselves properly.

King Edward owns a sketch which depicts one of the most thrilling incidents in his Indian tour as Prince of Wales. A tiger is shown in the act of attacking the elephant 011 which the Prince was riding at a hunt. Mr. Simpson, the artist, was with the King in India.

The' Duchess of Devonshire, who plays a not inconsiderable part in the political world when Parliament is' in session, is of Hanoverian birth, but from her speech no one could possibly detect her foreign origin. Before she- married her first husband, the Duke of Manchester, she was the, Countess Louise von Alten. .

The Countess of Crewe, who was Lady Margaret Primrose, the second daughter of Lord Rosebery, shares with her distinguished husband the delights of hunting and shooting. At many of the fashionable ra.ee meetings they form members of the same house-party and attend the races together, though their opinions as to the merits of a horse and its chances of success do not by any means always agree.

Mr. Carnegie never smokes. He does not play cricket, is not devoted to riding, never followed the hounds in his life, arid does not shoot. Golf he plays in moderation, while he is fond of trout and salmon fishing. Ho loves to work about his garden. Skibo Castle is to him a great open-air toy. of which he never tires. He is always planting trees here, diverting a. stream there, making a new road, or mending a bridge.

Countess de Benckcndortf is one .of the most- delightful of the diplomates now in London. ■ Good-looking, highly artistic, and interested'in all thait goes forward in .other worlds besides the one into which she was born, the wife of the Russian Ambassador goes a. great deal into that society most frequented by the " Souls." She and her distinguished-looking husband own enormous estates in Russia, and are among tlio optimists as to the future of their country. Tift count is a persona grata at the Russian Court, and both have become very popular in the city of their temporary adoption.

The King's perfect health and his absence from England mean that his surgeons can, if they wish, take a holiday themselves. Sir Frederick Treves does not practise so much now as formerly, but Sir Alfred Fripp is still one of the hardest working of men. The envious will' have it that Sir Alfred Fripp, Knight of Grace of the Order of St. John and Jerusalem, and surgeon to the King, owes his enviable position to luck. Whilst it is true that Sir Alfred's fairy godmother did not fail to keep a watchful eve on him, the fact remains that he lias worked with an enthusiasm and untiring energy which would have won him his spurs without the intervention of any godmother, fairy or no. It is now' many "years ago that the - late Duke of Clarence, quartered at York with his regiment'," put his ankle out rather badly. The Duke's soldier servant ran round to six of the town doctors on the morning that tho accident occurred, and all were out. But (he seventh, the unknown Mr. Alfred Fripp, was in, and came at once to the Duke's "digs" to attend to him. The King— of course. Prince of Wales—came to visit his son during is enforced laying up, when the young surgeon was in constant- attendance upon him, " I like that young Fripp," the Prince said one morning to his equerry in an undertone. Aloud lie said, "What hospital do you belong to, .FrippV" _ "Guy's, your Royal Highness," was the answer. "I shall see that you get on," remarked the Prince. And—well.' lie did. For the list of great things, professionally speaking, that lie has done, readers have only to consult Who's Who? To-day there is scarcely a " difficult" surgical case to which Sir Alfred is not called in for an opinion. He not long ago operated on the Duchess of Sutherland; and with Mrs. Arthur Pa-get's case, one of exquisite difficulty, he specially triumphed, and, if the truth be told, has shown that he can put the Berlin surgeons to shame. Although he has the most charming "bedside" manner, .there is yot very little of the conventional medico about Sir Alfred. He married his wife. Miss Margaret Heywood, of Reigale, when she was in the schoolroom, a leap in the dark which he declares to lie the most satisfactory he ever took! Among his friends the famous surgeon numbers some of the most distinguished men and women of the day.

King Charles of mania and his beautiful wifebest known by. her pen name of " Carmen' Sylva"— met first in quite a romantic. 'manner. Princess Elizabeth of Wied, then a girl of seventeen, was staying at he Palace of Berlin, with the grandparents of the present. Kaiser, when she met with an accident. Running downstairs in her usual impetuous manner she slipped oil the marble, and would have fallen to the bottom if Prince Charles of Hohenzollern, going up. had not caught- her in his arms. A Jew days afterwards, at some Court function. Prince Charles of Hohenzollern was presented to her, and. with a smile an da blush, she remarked. "I, think we have met before." They had met indeed to ■Jome .purpose, for Prince Charles at once lost his heart to her. He proposed, and she rejected him. In fact, she objected altogether to the idea, of marrying. Unless, ' as she said. "1 can be Queen of Roumania, for, down there, there is still something for me to do." This remark was jokingly made, and its purpose was to silence her friends, for at that time there was no King of Roumania.. Yet, shortly after her marriage some years later, she confessed to a lady who enjoyed her confidence that the young man into whose arms she as a mere girl had fallen was the one who from that time forward had occupied her thoughts. During her engagement she began to study the Roumanian language, and her linguistic talent enabled her to master it completely within a surprisingly short time. When Prince Charles of Roumania was fighting the Turks his consort stayed athome to succour the wounded and the dying. She maintained a hospital for a hundred patients out of her own puree, and so great was her sympathy and enthusiasm that- she even braced herself up to witness painful operations. She had immense influence with the wounded. a.s the following anecdote will show :—A sergeant, who had suffered compound fracture of the right thigh, said he would rather die than have his leg amputated. The surgeon appealed to the Princess; she reasoned with tho man, but again and again ho said: "I am not a- beggar nor will I become one. I will lose my life, but not my honour."' At last the Princess answered : "You are not a beggar, but I am.'.' Then kneeling down beside him and taking his hand she said: "Until now I have never prayed except to God. Now I implore you to listen to His wish and mine. Let your leg be taken off, and thus save your life for your family, your country, and for me, and--" " And, if I consent; .what then, Princess?" asked the man. "What then?" she echoed with a smile. " Why, I shall give you the most beautiful artificial cork leg thai, can be made in Europe. It . will work with springs, and when we. get peace again you shall come to the palace and dance there with your sons and daughters." "Let it be as you will," murmured the sergeant, " but you must hold mv hand while they cut me.