NOTED ENGLISH PALACE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

NOTED ENGLISH PALACE

BLENHEIM'S PLEASING CHANGE CHILDREN'S HAPPY LAUGHTER j GLOOMY PALACE TRANSFORMED The laughter of children is to be heard again at Blenheim Palace, the historic home t»f the Malboroughs. ;/. Children have not lived there for nearly 30 years. Now, the new Duke and Duchess of Marlborough are to live there, and parts of the palace are being transformed to become the home th3i'r four children. The children are the seven-year-old Earl of Sunderland and his sisters Lady Rosemary, aged four, Lady Caroline, aged 10, and Lady Sarah SpencerChurchill, aged 12. Blenheim, the nearest village to which is Woodstock, Oxfordshire, stands in nearly 3000 acres of beautiful parkland, of which the principal feature is the large lake. Twelve rooms have been set "aside for the exclusive use of the children and their staff. They will have their own dining room, iheir own sitting room and J their own bedrooms. They will also have , a playroom and a classroom. Their ! "staff" will include three nurses, a governess and a footman. The footman will rerve thfe children's meals; valet their clothes, and look after their tojs. Other apartments in the palace are being redecorated, but the children's quarters are receiving the greatest attention. A remarkable feature of the work now goirg on has been the calling in of, a London firm to disinfect three rooms I —a sitting room and two bedrooms I These rooms, although luxuriously furn-j ished for human habitation, had for a long time housed thirty dogs. Kennels were placed in the rooms. These ha\e been removed, and the rooms are being repainted. The breeding of spaniels was the main hobby of Gladys, Duchess of , Marlborough, widow of the iate duke, who died in June. Blenheim Palace has a skeleton staff of twelve at the moment, but accommodation is being : prepared for at least } another thirty servants, who will come . / from the new duke's Leicestershire seat, Lowesby Hall. The duke and duchess : were on holiday in Scotland, and were expected to move into the palace at the end of September. Family retainers who have served rt the palace upwards of forty years were, rejoicing at the changed atmosphere j , that was stealing over Blenheim. One j '< of these said to a Sunday Fx press repre-j sentative: " It is 30 years or more since j we heard the laughter of children and; the patter of their feet in this house. I Some of us wept for joy when we heard j I that the duke and duchess proposed; I settling down here. The palace has ( been a gloomy place this last few years, i but how different it will be with the j children. It will be a great day when | W:"- tKey arrive.' 1 , Another visitor whose arrival at Blenheim was being eagerly looked forward : to is the duke's ihother, Mmc. Balsan. She was the late duke's first wife. J heir marriage was dissolved in 1921. The return of the Marlboronghsalso nieans the return of prosperity to Wood- , stock, whose tradespeople are already receiving • large orders.