DUCHESS OF KENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23273, 16 February 1939, Page 5

DUCHESS OF KENT

INTEREST IN CHILDREN REMARKABLE PERSONALITY Speaking from her home in Devonport, Tasmania, Dame Enid Lyons said recently that Australians would have a great admiration for the Duchess of Kent. "No reports of her beauty and her charm are exaggerated," said Dame Enid. "She is an outstandingly beautiful woman. She has remarkable personality, also, but to me her most striking attribute is her amazing vitality, which will make her tremendously popular in Australia. She is full of vitality and interest in people and in things. "You see photographs of her wheeling a perambulator. She really is a mother as mothers in Australia know mothers. I know perfectly well that the admiration people of Australia have now for the Duchess will turn rapidly into love when they come to know her. "I met her when the Prime Minister and I went to present the gold cup Australia sent as a wedding present to the Duke and Duchess. 1 was struck then, although it is not often mentioned, by the great beauty of her speaking voice. It is a contralto voice of a very musical quality. "The Duchess has a keen sense of humour, and is extremely interested in children. She takes a keen interest in art, too, and has inherited her father's talent for drawing." Although the Duchess was renowned for her fashionable dressing, she was never elaborately gowned. Dame Enid added. "She always looks very smart, but is always simply dressed," she added. "The only time I saw her elaborately dressed was on the day of the Coronation.''