ROYAL "GOOD FAIRY."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19764, 15 April 1926, Page 14

ROYAL "GOOD FAIRY."

AWAITING AN EVENT. MISS BILL AND HER TASKS. PRINCE OF WALES’S EX-NURSE. Good fairies do not always take the form of the fairy tales. Sometimes thev are just ordinary human beings; semetimes they are motherly, e . lderl y who find their greatest joy m tending the new arrivals. . ... nr r;ii Such a good fairy is Miss C. J. Bil, the Royal Nanny. Miss Bill has spent over 20 years in the Royal service, and much of that time in the Royal nurseries When the Prince of Wales was a little boy he had to mind his 1 ? and Qs, for •‘Lalla”—which is the affectionate nicknama conferred upon Miss Bill by Royal charges— maintained discipline in the nurseries of Buckingham Palace and Sandringham. . , Now Miss Bill is all agog again, tor in May she is duo to play her part on a very important occasion at Chesterfield House, the London residence of the Duke and Duchess of York. . , Already Miss Bill has been busy in the showrooms of a certain famous baby-linen shop choosing minute and dainty garments for the expected newcomer _ -these garments, the most beautiful of their kind, are not at all ornate. They are perfectly simple, and, what is more important m Miss Bill’s eyes, they aro perfectly hygicnic. . Placid, capable and understanding—that is what ’those who know her say of Miss Dill. She is that rare thing—a born nurse. Children are the central interest of her life. The layette for the newcomer is provided by the Queen, and in her choice of garments Miss Bill carries out her Royal mistress’s wishes—which happen to coincide exactly with her own. When Princess Mary’s first and second sons were born, the Queen was at her daughter’s side within a few hours of the event. She has been seeing a good deal of the Duchess of York lately, and will be one of the first to welcome the little stranger—the third grandchild of their Majesties. Princess Mary, who is a clever needlewoman, made many of her two sons’ clothes, and the Duchess of York is also doing a good deal of sewing at present. The Queen believes that a mother should be educated for her important role. It was she who initiated the training through which Princess Mary went some time ago at the Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond street—a schooling which has made the Princess more than merely competent to rule her own nursery. The baby-carriage which was used by the two sons of Princess Mary was specially designed by Viscount Lascelles, aud the new arrival will have one built on the same principles. Miss Dill is not to be .retained for any special duties for the occasion in May, but she will be in attendance. The nurse actually in attendance will be a Scots nurse who has known the Duchess since she was a child, and who was with Lady Elphinstone, her sister, when her children were born. Sir Henry Simpson, who attended Princess Mary,‘will aid the little stranger into th" world. This will be the third time he has performed this service for the Royal Fa mil”.