SORROWS OF DUCHESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18547, 3 November 1923, Page 3 (Supplement)

SORROWS OF DUCHESS.

APART FROM HUSBAND. j FILM ACTING AS A; SOLACE. ANXIOUS TO SEE;HER SON. Unable to make both ends meet on £9 a week, the Duchess of Leinster, formerly Miss May Etheridge,, the actress, has decided to become a film actress. The duchess, who lives in a small flat in a. Bournemouth suburb with her mother* is worried at kaving nothing to do. " I miss greatly the excitement of London with its night . clubs," she said recently. " Unless I find something soon I shall become a nervous wreck. : Mother and I are sick of seeing each other's faces." The marriage of the* duchess was one of the romances of stage and society. Miss .May Etheridge was playing in " Princess Caprice " in 1913 when she met the duke. Now living apart from her husband, the duchess feels the contrast between the old bright life and the dullness of her present one. Seated in her comfortable sittingroom and puffing at a cigarette, the duchess unburdened herself to an interviewer. " 1 find smoking very soothing for my nerves." she said. " You see, I am much nerves, she said. You see, J am much worrier! by family matters, particularly as I am not able to see my son Gerald, the Earl of Kildarc, who is nine years old and lives with his other relatives in Ireland.

" And I am worried, too, by having n thing to do." she added. "I should very much like to obtain some film work, for I feel I can make good if given an opportunity. A little lunger, and I may not,be able to regain possession of myself.'. . "You see,. I feel it. my bounden duty to help my family, who, have been very good to me, especially my grandmother, v. ho is still : living,, at ' the age of 90. My mother, too, has worked hard to make me happy." ■ The duchess- drew attention to the photograph of her little boy. " I have no l seen him for several years." she said. . " I cannot afford the expense, and besides there are the family objections." She also showed a photograph of Johnstown Castle, where the boy lives. It bore out her description as a wonderful place. < Referring to her separation from the duke, she said, '! I am not altogether to blame. ';■'■•* ' "'""' "The 'duke's people for some reason seemed to hold him back from me. In fact, I asked him to - come back to me recently, but I heard nothing. " I am afraid," siie *aid .tadly, " that I shall become an old woman before I have been a young one. At present I can only, sit down and Worry over what might have been." The duchess showed 1 a scrap-book of cuttings from -newspapers, one showing her dash to the register onice at the'time of her marriage. The photographs of the duke were shown with evident pride. "I. wish would come back to'me," she said as she closed the book.