DUKES IN BRITAIN

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

DUKES IN BRITAIN

FOUR ELIGIBLE BACHELORS ( ALL YOUNG AND WEALTHY There are now four wealthy young bachelor dukes in Britain —the most eligible bachelors in the country. They are the Dukes of Roxburghe (aged 21), Norfolk (aged 26), Northumberland (aged 22),. and Grafton (aged 20). Thanksgiving prayers were offered lately in the private chapel at Floors Castle and at the parish church for the coming of age of the Duke of Roxburge. His 21st birthday was elaborately celebrated on September 7 at his country seat. He has inherited 69,000 acres of land, Kelso Castle, and a mansion in Carlton House Terrace as large as a hotel. From his mother, formerly Miss May Goelet, of Newport, United States,' 1 he will inherit a fortune anything up to £1,000,000. The eldest of the four dukes is, in official parlance. " the most illustrious Prince, Bernard, Duke of Norfolk." This young man is the premier duke and earl. He inherited an estate worth roughly £5,000,000. It was once £10,000,000. but death duties have reduced it drastically.

His other possessions are 50,000 acres of land, a house in St. James Square, four country seats, a racing stable, gold and silver plate weighing a ton and a-half, and Arundef, a castle that yields place to Windsor alone. The duke is a Roman Catholic. The Duke of Northumberland is living abroad. When his father died, four years ago, the estate was valued at £2,500,000, excluding valuable heirlooms. He remains in India, shooting, though he owns Svon House, Isleworth, coal mines in Northumberland, a mansion at Alburv Park, Surrey, and Alnwick Castle, the most historic fortress on the Border, with a tenantry of 300.

Early next year the Duke of Grafton will come of ape. Euston, his seat, has 14.000 acres of the best shooting in Britain. He owns all the valuable land round Euston Station. Grafton Street, and Fitzroy Square. He has only emerged twice from the oblivion of minority. Once last year, when he was fined £5. and paid promptly, for driving a three-wheeled motor-car at a dangerous pace, and before that when his mother, a war widow, remarried. Then he turned up at the church will all the hounds of the Grafton Hunt. He is a cousin of Captain Fitzßoy, Speaker of the House of Commons