A PRINCE, TWO DUKES, TWO GIRLS, AND 40,000,000 DOLLARS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 49

A PRINCE, TWO DUKES, TWO GIRLS, AND 40,000,000 DOLLARS.

The greatest heiress of American birth is Miss Pauline Aatctf. Her prospective fortune cannot be less than 20,000,000<101.

The richest American girl ia Miss May Goelet, who has just come into part? of her vast fortune. Just now it is 10,000,000d0l ;

some day it will be 20,000,000d01.

Fate has marked each of these American girls to be the bride of an English nobleman — a duke at least— perhaps a ppric e of the blood royal.

There may be some doubt as to the particular prince or duke concerned — there can ba no doubt about the main fact.

More than 100 years of money-getting, at first bold and brilliant, later merely conservative, are represented by the vast fortune possessed by William Waldorf Astor to-day. It is estimated at 200,000,000i01. He himself does not know how great it is, for its increase is constant.

Mr Astor is an incarnate monument of American industry— the industry of his ancestors and their fellow- citizens. His own industry has been devoted almost exclusively to obtaining recognition from the Royal Family, nobility, and gentry of G.-eat Britain. He has achieved it. A prominent Englishman described (ha climax of this career, when he heard that the Prince of Wales had visited Clivadon, by saying : " Well, Astor's gob it at last."

It is the elder daughter of this Mr Astor with whom we are chiefly concerned here. It is certain that a marriage between Miss Pauline Astor and young Princa Alexander of Teck has been under consideration. Such a marriage is rather a diplomatic than a sentimental affair, to put it politely. Miss Pauline Aator would be no discredit

lo a dncal household. She has none of the wayß that are convention ally attributed to Americans by ordinary English people. You could not tell she was not English. Her father never tucked his pants in bis boots, carried a revolver ab the dinner table, or stuck an American Rag out of th"c window of an English hotel. His daughter was Burrounded from birth by well-trained British servants, and kntw not the rude contacts of democracy to which most American children are subject.

William Waldorf A3tor has three children — Pauline, William Waldorf, and John Jacob. According to the rule of the family the bulk of William Waldorf Astor's fortune will go to his eldest son, named after him. The rewill be divided equally between the other two children.

The young girl is about 18 years of age, and has inherited the delicate beauty of her mother, who was a Miss Mary Paul, of Philadelphia. Her Christian name is an ingenious memorial to tbe maternal family.

Miss Astor is slight and graceful. Her complexion is olive and her eyes large, dark, and lustrous. She promises to be a very fine type of what is generally called Spanish beauty.

Mrs Astor died at Clivedon-on-Thames in 1894, since when her 'young daughter has been the chief member of the millionaire household.

It was in 1890 that Astor moved permanently to England. There he boughjb the Pall Mall Gazstte, and made it a Tory newspaper. He also founded the Pall Mall Magazine.

He has two great houses in England. One is Clivedon-on-Thames, which he bought from the Duke of Westminster. The other is Lansdowne House, in Berkeley square, the largest mansion available, which he leased from the Marquis of Lanadowne.

Let us now pay a little attention to Prince Alexander of Teck. He is only a "serene" and not a " royal highness." But the great fact is that his sister is Duchess of York, and will some day be Queen of England.

The Prince's father was tbe issue of a morganatic marriage between the son of the King of Bavaria and a plain noblewoman. He ceased to be royal. and he and his son

after him have been " their serene Highnesses the Dakes of Teck."

The present duke married her Rayal Highness Princess Mary of Cambridge, granddaughter of George 111 of England

Prince Alexander is their third child, and was born in 1874. He is a Lieutenant of the 7th Hussars and a big, handsome fellow.

The Princa of Teck's position in England is a curious one. Through his mother he is a descendant of a King of England, but the only rank he has is derived from bia father, wb.036 title is a foreign one, and who is aleo of royal descent, but not royal rank.

Nevertheless, Prince Alexander is of much more importance in England than the younger son of an old German Duke. In the ordinary course of events his sister will bo Queen of England, and his wife will be a sister-in-law of the Queen. One could hardly get nearer the fountain o? social honour than this.

Princa Alexander ia subject to the English act; of Parliament which requires the Sovereign's consent to the marriage of all descendants of George 11, except those who have become members of foreign reigning families. Would the Qaoen consent to his marrisga with an American girl 1 • We know nothing about it.

There would ba a possibility of Prince A'exander inheriting the throne, but there are about 200 lives between him and it.

The Prince has apartments in Sfc. James's Palace, London, granted him by the Queen.

The Dake of Westminster, the richest man in England, has invested heavily in Took stock. When his daughter, Lady Margaret Grosvaaor, married the eldest son ot tho Dake and Ducliess of Teck, he put up 5,000,0005 nl.

Which duke will she marry 7 That is the question with Miss May Goelet.

\ Thfcfe nra at least two in the field— the S Dukes ol Rosburghe and Manchester. I Arceneaufl, and particularly Now Yorkers, i take a deep personal interest in the affairs of I Miss Goelet for no trivial reason. They contribute ihe money which makes her one of tho richest women in the .world. Evan when they amuse themselves thoy pay tribute, for tbe Gjelet estate happens to include a very largo amount of theatrical property. If Mis 3 Goelet must have a duke, we should like her to have the b63t goiug, A thing like that is at most a trifle for so important a young woman. In the first place, Ist us contemplate the Goelet estate and wonder. Even the tax books of New York show ifc to bo great. The Goelet estate in 189G paid 500,000^01 taxes. A conservative estimate places the real estate holdings of Ogden Goelet at 25,000,000d01. His personal property amounted to about 5,000,000d01. Mr Goelet died at Cowes, in England, on August 27. By his will he set apart for the immediate use of his widow and his two minor children, aged 17. and 18 respectively, property worth about 10.000.000d01, leaving 20,000,000J0l to accumulate until the children reach the age of 25, when the entire sum is to be turned over to them. In eight years, adding the yearly income to tbe principal and allowing for some certain advance in value of the Goelefc estate, the trustees ; Bhould have about 40,000,C00d0l to divide between the two children. There are only two children to whom the fortune goes — a daughter aged 18 and a son agod 17. It is the daughter who is most interesting. She has now the income of some 5,000,000d0l on which to live in a modest way bofitting her youth. The Duke whose name is now coupled with that of Mies Goelet is Henry John Innes-Ker, eighth Duke of Roxburghe, the head of one of the most ancient Scottish Border families. The young Duke derives added importance from the fact tbat his mother, the Dowager Duchess, is one of the Queen's closest friends. The Duchess was a daughter of tbe seventh Duke of Marlboroueh, and is tbere-

fore an aunt of the present Duke, who married. Miss Oonsaelo Vanderbllfc. The Duke of Rotf« burghe would therefore have family conneo< tions with a very favourable position to cod* ducb negotiations for the acquisition of an American heiress. It is pretty certain that the bride of tha Duke of Roxburghe would be received into , the very bosom of royalty. Tha Dake is owner of Floors Castle, near Kelso, in Roxburghshire, a glorious old place. It is ancient, beautifully situated in a park surrounded by a forest, and built on a Bite where the Kers have ruled from time immemorial. The family name Innes-Kor is pronounced Innns-Kar. Its fortunes were built op by methods common on the Border during the Middle Ages, and which to-day would b« known as highway robbery, cattle-stealing, and house-breaking. The Duke has an estate of GO.OOO acres and an income from all sources of 250,000d0l a year. In fact, he is about the most attractive duke in the market. The other Dake is William Angus Drogo Montagu, Duke ■of Manchester. His late father, a disreputable person, married Miss Oonsuelo Yznaga, of New York. He enjoys' the distinction of being the poorest duke in England, but he haß castlas — to burn perhaps he would ba tempted to say in a jesting spirit. They are Ktmbolton Castle and Brampton Park, in Huntingdonshire, and Tandoragee Castle, County Armagh. — New^ York Journal. i