MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1514, 7 March 1901, Page 21

MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER

The future mistress of Grosvenor House is the beautiful daughter of a still more beautiful mother. Not so very long ago, Mrs Cornwall is-W e-st had the reputation of being the fairest, woman in the three Kingdoms, and even now she rivals her two daughters in freshness and charm, while to her might still be addressed the verses written in her honour many years ago'by the late Mr Abraham Hayward, -andof which - the concluding verse -ran.— For though envy itselfshould disarm, . And in praise of thvf beauty' agree, On none will thy fulness' 'of charm. Ever flash as it flashed*'upon me. Although it is pohuiarly supposed that the course ■ of a- Duke’s,/ oil/even of a future Duke’s, true love inust necessarily run smooth, dt is’ ail. open secret that the young; millionaire .wearer 1, of , the strawberry leaves had : to; encounter a considerable amount of opposition' before his romance ‘ came to a .satisfactory conclusion. " . Rumours /Of bis engagement were current bSohie two year's ago, when the Duke,' then the very youthful Lord. Belgra.ve, spent many of his'happiest days in Ruchin -Castle, Colonel Cornwallis-West’s splendid; -aplace in* 3 ' Wales. A-n Then followed^’-;.. sojourn in South Africa, where, with >Sir.;.- : Aifred Milner' a an"-“guide, philosopher, and friend,” the future wearer of the strawberry. leaves-f,was encouraged to see something of Greater*Britain y His grandfat he 1% ■: the. late Duke of Westminster’s . unexpected death revived rumours of nis heir’s, approaching marriage, fbut/-,true to the old British adage, ‘TfcouilcL hot love' thee, > dear, so well, loved I nothonour/more,’i, the new.. Duke, after spending, a few ' days inj England;-has-teiied 'to the’seat "of war,' from whence •he "has ohly’ just ".returned. Miss.. Shelah”WestUy sister, • Henry of Pleiss,' might ' r repr,e- a sent > "'Mobnligßx -''aiid'h Sunlight, - so,j,,utterly different are theiiv.types i ,Qf beauty. The Princess- is .tali'aiid very fair, while the future Duchess of Westminster, is piquant-looking, < her’style recalling the early Irish loveliness of her mother. , j. ; The Duke’s marriage is .naturally a source of great gratification to.'his tenants and neighbours in ;=i. Cheshire/’ the - more sop'that ; Miss- CornwMlis-West is very: well known in • that part.; of,- the,) world 1 . ' Indeed, r she has been acquainted withy: her future ./luisb.and since early ’ childhood, for as a little girl she . often . stayed*: with her % grandmother, “Lady' Qiivia. who lives at Brigh-d ton Ha 11,/hear Chestef jN’wliileTßrichin ; Castle, situaye^l,.half-way betweeir'Den-f Wgh^ahcl ; Corweiiy . _ is..,*,- considered' by •Welsh folk to be witlifh a very, easy distance of historic Eaton Hall.. 'Miss' Shelah West is essentially./ a country girl, (her two favouihtebaihusemehts 'being riding la.nd’q yachtingv v' ; The'-' flatter ~ form of amusement by her, ancP'by /lief ; sister ’’’ froiif' Nfi The delightful' 4 in the. New .<■ Forest--which has-now been for some years the . property of ::)G!olqijelUCoriiwal 1 is-West / One of the prettm||ttraits.TiaLthe;-char-. v aeteivof "the^D^ke -a ofwWestihinstej/s...fiancee is" lier^ great/affection forUher /mother. - The; hotwithstaia^-^ nig tfie difference's/their age's/ might* be,/sisters,.-. and /••Miss , t;W.est shares , all lier mother’s/ t:astes^^oJab^/Thah"« ; /fof,d ; As him-*' self, - it.’ ihay be said/veryf literally, that , v hekuras ; ;sT>oon in His U month f Tl|l|agh lie badWhiiefmiisfoftune/; of /earlydlpsiag Eis father/;the' Earl" Gfbsydribfy iie’* liad all' ttfc fqf. f constant. ; ;v intercourse - withy his gfauSfathef": ceftainly. one of the ,rein arkabJ e ■ personalities of the-' YicTorian* era, and who will go down in : history as having - Been on© of the most, noted pliilanthropists, Tsportsmen j ia,ns 'jDjf liis fjme.'* The laLe ' tduchingly cleyoted 'to ’ heir, and ’ Belgrave—as he .then was—was' never’ seen/ftqUgrea'ter 'hclvantage “ than when in on his grand-1. to pdsitioh'hyas'/ done da se. dfifwflie pre§ent Dliilfe'' of Westrh.^^er every tree, every he'dgeljmd v ever:^mfm 'building oV the great 4!\^^tminst|f^Estate; v and, through y his c Mr George ’ Wyiidliam, he opportunities' of seeing political life at its best and t _ -c: / * In these days (there,, is. always something'.; peculiarly the 1 possession, of immense/ wealth. “'At, one time tlie late : D-uke/rather v went out of liis way to say that:his Income was not nearly. as large as'^^s’ /popularly supposed. a His V heir, , cannot ' fail f to become -in -.'due of wealthiest men in of the • -&M. <'

civilised world. Even in the last twelve: months a great many leases on his London property have fallen in, and, when, it is remembered that the "Westminster London Estates, consisting of about six hundred acres, lie between' the Marble Arch on the one side ancl Buckingham Palace road oh the other, it will be understood why the late head of the House "of Grosvenor should have been credited with an income averaging over a. thousand pounds a day!