BRIDE FOR A DUKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20508, 8 March 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

BRIDE FOR A DUKE.

PEER'S THIRD ROMANCE.

FIFTY WEDS TWENTY-SEVEN.

ROYAL TREASURER'S DAUGHTER.

One of tho wealthiest of British peers, tllo Duko of Westminster, was secretly married to Miss Loelia Mary Ponsonby, the 27-year-old daughter of Sir Frederick Ponsonby, Treasurer to the King and Keeper of the Privy Purse. One of the most popular figures .among the younger set of society, the new Duchess is tall and dark. She is one of the best ice-skaters in London. Her grandfather, the late Sir Henry Ponsonby, was Queen Victoria's private secretary, and ono of her uncles is Mr. Arthur Ponsonby, M.P., whoso elevation to the peerage \yas included in the recent New Yoar honours. In 1928 Miss Ponsonby'tf father, Sir Frederick Ponsonby, created a literary and political sensation by the letters of the Empress Frederick of Germany, daughter of Queen Victoria and mother of the ex-Kaiser. The letters were given to Sir Frederick by the Empress, and for 28 years they lay hidden in his private house at Windsor. The Duke of Westminster, who is 50, has had an adventurous career as a soldier, vachtsman and big-game hunter in many parts of (ho world. He served ill tho South African war as an extra A.D.C. to Lord Roberts, and in 1916, while on war service in Egypt, he headed an

armoured-car expedition into the desert and rescued -a. crew. of. shipwrecked-British sailors from the Senussi Arabs. At the age of 20 tho Duke succeeded his grandfather in the possession of. estates reputed to be-worth -£20,000,000. Ho owns 600 acres in the heart of. the. "West End of London, in addition to-30,000 acres in Cheshire and Flintshire. Grosvenor House, the family mansion, was sold a few years ago for conversion jnto: modern flats, and the Duke, has preferred, when in London, to live in a smaller house in Davies Street. Among the art. treasures . .which . the Duke inherited were Gainsborough's" " Blue /Boy" and Reynolds' " Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse,"" and their SalQ to America some years back caused a great sensation. The Duke has been married twice previously. Two years after to the dukedom lie wedded Miss Constance Edwina Cornwallis-West, who at that time was one of the reigning beauties of London. That marriago was dissolved in 1919. The first Duchess is now the wife of Captain James Fitzpatrick Lewis. The Duke's second marriago was to Sir William Nelson's daughter, Violet Mary Geraldine, but this was also dissolved after .five years. • The second -Duchess later married Colonel F. II. ; Cripp.s, second son of Lord Parmoor. ;•- . ■