A ROMANCE RECALLED

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7021, 8 January 1910, Page 8

A ROMANCE RECALLED

mow OCR SPECIAL COEEESPONJIENT. LONDON, November 26. The death this , week of Consuelo, Duchess ot Manchester, removes from society ono of its most notable figures. Clever, witty, charming in manner, and beautiful, the Duchess was one of the most popular leaders of society, and, like her mother-in-law, the former Duchess of Manchester, who afterwards became tho Duchess of Devonshire, she enjoyed tho. warmest personal regard of King Edward and the Queen. The Duchess's marriage with tho then Viscount Mandeville, was ono of the earliest Anglo-American alliances which have since become so general among the English aristocracy. The engagement was contracted under romantic circumstances. The Viscount, who succeeded his father as eighth Duke of Manchester, in 1890, was travelling in the States when he was taken seriously ill with fever. He was mused back to life by Consuelo Yr.naga del Valle, a beautif.nl Cuban ladv. Between nurse and patient there arose a mutual admiration which resulted in their plighting thentroth, and in 1876 they were married. When the announcement of the viscount's romantic engagement reached England there were .set afloat all kinds of rumours regarding the lady he had selected for his bride. She was variousIv reported to be a beautiful quadroon, a mulatto, and a full-blooded negross. Tbe grand dames of society, were prepared to give the bride-to-be the cold shoulder. But Consuelo came, saw, and conquered society in the briefest possible space of time, and soon became one of tho most sought after women of the dav. In addition to her personal charms the Duchess possessed a very fine voice, which she often exercised at bazaars and other entertainments held in the homes of her friends in aid of philanthropic institutions.