London Gossip

Southland Times, Issue 22131, 27 September 1933, Page 9

London Gossip

(From Our Correspondent.) The Shooting Season. Now that the grouse season has opened the next excitement will be the numerous Highland Games and Gatherings, which are growing in popularity every year. On Deeside, invitations to house parties are greatly coveted for the first week in September, the time of the Braemar and Aboyne Gatherings. The King and Queen and as many other members of the Royal family as are in Scotland usually attend Braemar. . Too, this year the Aboyne Ball is to be held again after a lapse for a couple of years.' It has been fixed for the day after the Braemar Gathering and ought to be very gay.

A Family Party. Lord and Lady Sempill and their daughters, Miss Margaret and Miss Elizabeth Forbes-Sempill are spending the next few weeks at Craigievar Castle, their fine old Aberdeenshire home, half fortress and half dwelling house.

All the family are good shots, and are looking forward to some good sport. Nearly three years ago, the elder daughter, Margaret, had the unpleasant experience of being blind for four months, following a motor accident. It took her several months of utter quietness to establish her recovery. Her younger sister, who is 21 this year, is an expert with ponies.

Royalty. Princess Alice and Lord Athlone have arrived back from Holland where they have been visiting the Queen Mother and Queen Wilhelmina. Their plans for the future are undecided; they may make only a short stay at Kensington Palace. They slipped away from London to Holland recently unnoticed.

The Queen Mother, who has a reputation for hospitality, is the aunt _of Princess Alice, and on this visit Princess Alice and her husband have been staying at her palace at Soestdyk, near Baam, a beautiful, though rather formal looking place famed for its chestnut trees.

Queen Emma is now 75, but only four years ago she travelled over by special boat to spend nine hours in London, during which she viewed the Exhibition of Dutch Art at Burlington House.

Scottish Games. The grounds of Inveraray Castle were crowded the other day for the Inveraray Highland games, of which the Duke of Argyll acted as Chieftain. As usual, Lady Elspeth Campbell is keeping her bachelor brother to entertain a succession of guests at the castle during the shooting season and many people who are shooting in the neighbourhood have been invited to watch the games. London does not se much of the Duke who is always described as “a highly patriotic Scot.” He spends most of his time in the north looking after his estates and in literary and antiquarian pursuits.

Our Prince’s Holiday. The Chiberta Country Club, which is to be the headquarters of the Prince of Wales during his visit to Biarritz, is often described as the most luxurious country club in Europe. Some 30 groundsmen look after the famous golf course, which is surrounded by wonderful scenery. It was here that the Prince first took to a Basque beret and to white linen plus fours and a sleeveless shirt. Girls act as caddies instead of boys as on English golf courses, and Yvonne was the name of the Basque girl who carried the Prince’s clubs on his last visit.

Straw Hats. The Marquis of Blandford, like the Prince of Wales, wears a Panama hat with the Trilby dent in the crown. I saw him in Bond street during a recent heat wave, wearing a dark-grey singlebreasted suit, with the top of his waistcoat open, displaying a blue and white shirt in closely-placed equal stripes with soft collar to match.

American Woman Ambassador. The only woman Minister-plenipo-tentiary with portfolio to a Court in Europe, Mrs Ruth Bryan Owen, has paid a short visit to London from Denmark.

She brought her “attachee” with her, an attractive girl, and they both stayed at the American Women’s Club. Though she has achieved the distinction of being the first American woman Ambassador, Mrs Owen has nothing of the blue-stocking about her. Precise and dignified at all times, she always looks thoroughly feminine, and she wears charming gowns.

She knows London well. Her husband was an officer in the British Army and her son was bom in London. At Petwood. Princess Marie Louise is staying at Petwoode, Woodhall, Spa, with Sir Archibald and Lady Weigall.

Petwood has been the Lincolnshire borne of the Weigalls for many years. A few years ago, however, they closed it because of heavy taxation, but early this year it was let at a peppercorn rent to Mr and Mrs Flury to run it as an hotel.

Princess Marie Louise is a very old friend of Lady Weigall, and last May she went to Petwood with her for the party which inaugurated the new era there.