A Violet Bride

Southland Times, Issue 22011, 10 May 1933, Page 9

A Violet Bride

BUSY SEASON COMMENCES. (From Our Correspondent.) London, March 29. Royal Informality. The Queen, in addition to the two big afternoon parties at Buckingham Palace at the beginning of this month, had a smaller tea party of her own on Wednesday, March 22. The guests invited to the Palace on this occasion were members of the Committee of Queen Mary’s Nursing Institute. Thereare no more popular events of the season that these pleasant homely teatime gatherings that it pleases the Queen to give. There is little formality except for the fact that an air of importance must always attach to . a party with Buckingham Palace as its background. The Royal hostess chats in • friendly fashion to _ her women guests, and everyone is sorry when the time comes to go home. It is not surprising that our Royal family is so popular, for without departing from their regal dignity, they are.not ceremonious where ceremony is not essential. Yesterday, for instance, Prince George lunched at Claridge’s as a guest of Lady Cunard, but when he and the others went into the restaurant there was no question of going in according to rank. The women, among whom were the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, Mrs Corey and Mrs Stanley Smith, just went in first, and Prince George followed them with the other men of the party, which included the Earl of Dudley, the Marcuis of Dufferin and Mr Leslie. HoreBclisha, M.P. It was pleasant to see Lady Dufferin’s spring-like get-up, a

coat of fondant pink trimmed with fur, and her draped turban cap of felt to match. Like many other hostesses with pretty country homes, the Duchess of York is preparing for summer weekend guests at Royal Lodge, where she and the Duke and their daughters have enjoyed several quiet days recently in the spring sunshine. One of the Duchess’s latest acquisitions is a breakfast set of honey-buff-coloured pottery made at Ashtead, which she and the Duke, aided by the Duke of Gloucester, chose the other morning in Wigmorestreet. Large breakfast cups, each containing nearly a pint, were chosen by the Duchess. “I shall not fill them more than once, even for the men, she explained to the Duke. A practical idea of this Royal hostess was the selection of two teapots, a very large one for when the Duke and Duchess are entertaining a house party, and a small one for their breakfast “en famille.” The Duchess likes to be down for breakfast in the country and to pour out the tea herself. She and the Duke prefer tea in the morning to coffee, and out of an earthenware pot rather than china or silver, but she has purchased several break-fast-in-bed sets for those guests who like to make their first appearance later in the morning. These are in pale blue, and in buff with a green band, and were chosen to match the colour schemes of the bedrooms. A breakfast delicacy about which the Duchess is very particular in her country home is honey in the comb, and in her breakfast set is included a square holder for honey, which the Duke explained must always be cut with a knife when in the comb. Four capacious jam and marmalade jars are also included in this service, so that both light and dark marmalade can be served and two kinds of jam, and oval dishes for cereal or fruit were added to the service at the request of the Duchess, so that the breakfast table at Royal Lodge will be laid with real Scottish hospitality. Lunch On The Church Steps.

A violet wedding at St. Georges, Hanover Square, last Thursday—that of Lady Anne Wellesley and the Hon. David Rhys—was seen by a crowd which had waited many hours. Some of the watchers lunched on the church steps—lemonade and sandwiches. Lady Anne’s magnificent satin gown, the shade of the white violets she carried, was “powdered” with tiny posies of violets embroidered in seed pearls. Out of compliment to her famous great-great-grandfather, the _ Iron Duke, she chose the Empire period for the style of her own and her bridesmaids’ gowns. Velvet of Parma violet shade made the frocks of her three trainbearers and nine grown-up maids, and they carried bouquets of deep purple violets to match the wreaths in their hair. The bride’s four-yard train was slit near the end into two trains, each of which was carried by a small train-bearer. The tiny three-year-old daughter of Lord and Lady Glentanar walked in the fork made by the trains. After the ceremony the bride’s parents, the Marquis and Marchioness of Douro, gave a reception at the Dowager Lady Glentanar’s house in Hill-street, Ber-keley-square, and in the evening the Dowager Lady Glentanar gave a ball to celebrate the wedding. Mislaid passports caused excitement just before the .Hon. David and Lady Anne Rhys left London for their honeymoon. It had been arranged that they should spend the night at a house near Dover before crossing to the Continent to-day, and they were on the point of leaving Mayfajr when it was found that the passports were missing. Guests and .household'staff joined in a search for them, the bride and bridegroom waiting anxiously and at last they were found. A Duke Marries. Mademoiselle Marianne de ■ Malkazoury, the 24-year-old daughter of a Serbian diplomat, and once a dancer in Paris, was married at Nice yesterday to the Duke of Leeds. The bride had a terrifying experience after the religious wedding service at the American church, which followed the civil ceremony performed by the Mayor at the Town Hall, She and the Duke found themselves imprisoned by a surging mob of sightseers outside the church porch. Desperately she. clung to her husband’s arm as she was sway.ed hither and thither in a frantic effort

to escape. Finally the bridal car managed to plough its way through the dense crowd, taking the couple swiftly to their hotel. The Duchess had previously managed to escape her admirers by arriving at the church at the side entrance, while the crowds were waiting in front of the church. The bride was an exquisitely radiant figure entirely in white. The 32-year-old Duke, with whom was his mother, the Dowager Duchess, awaited her at the gate of the Mayor’s office, and the couple walked hand-in-hand to the little blue and gold room for the first ceremony. A few relatives and friends had assembled there. When the bridal car passed through Nice’s famous flower market some of the old flower-women picked up bunches of mimosa and carnations and threw them through the car window. The Duke and Duchess are to spend their honeymoon in Egypt. The Duke of Leeds, by the way, succeeded his father, the 10th duke, in 1927. He once worked in a London bank, but lately has spent much time abroad. Girl Sculptor.

I looked in at the Beaux Arts Gallery the other day to find that Countess Tasha Pahlen, whose sculpture I had been invited to see, was a slim young girl, her hair cut like that of a medieval page and her simple brown frock belted wtih a wide band of bright yellow webbing fastened with leather straps. Several of the friends for whom she had done “heads” lent the . work for 1 her exhibition, Lady Cable and Mrs A. M. Balfour among them. The sombre colours of the Countess’ bronzes- were thrown into relief by Lady Chalmers’s most enchanting flower pictures, also on view.