A MAID IN MAYFAIR

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1934, Page 14

A MAID IN MAYFAIR

GOSSIP FROM LONDON TOWN KING GEORGE’S ACCESSION. DIAMOND JUBILEE RECALLED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) July 5. It seems early to talk of the celebration next year of the 25th anniversary of King George’s accession to the throne, but preliminary plans are already being made, and a full programme is being drawn up by a Cabinet committee for submission to His Majesty. It is expected that the celebrations will follow very closely those which marked the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. On that occasion , not only most of the crowned heads of Europe,, but representatives from the Dominions and from India were present to grace the celebration. London, moreover, enjoyed a round of festivities such as it has never known before. There were gala performances at the theatres, and processions through the streets that embraced representative troops from every quarter of the Empire, while Queen Victoria herself repeatedly “showed herself to her people” by driving in simple state through all quarters of London. A Great Hostess.

For many years Syon House has been a very quiet abode, but its somnolence disappeared for the coming-out dance given by the Duchess of Northumberland for her elder daughter, Lady Elizabeth Percy—Elizabeth being quite a family name in the house of Percy. Her Grace, who was a daughter of the late Duke of Richmond and Gordon, is a notable hostess, and has been since her early years, for she used to act as chatelaine for her father, and at Goodwood used to entertain ' King Edward and Queen Alexandra for the famous race week. Since she became Duchess of Northumberland in 1918 she has had plenty of opportunity for displaying her flair for entertaining, for she has been Mistress of Alnwick, Warkworth, Kielder and Prudhoe Castles, in Northumberland, of Stanwick Part, Darlington, Albury Park, Surrey, Syon House, and of a town house as well. As a girl she was a beauty, and advancing years have given her a majestic, matronly charm. Her elder son, the present Duke, is a godson of His Majesty, and was amongst the Windsor Castle house party for Ascot last week, together with his sister, Lady Elizabeth.

Tire Northumberland Ball. The Duchess of Northumberland’s ball for Lady Elizabeth Percy was, without doubt, the dance of this year’s London season. Down to the very last detail it was the perfect young people’s party. With Syon House, the old Percy seat at Brentford, as the setting, a magnificent background was assured, and against this was etched a colourful picture of youthful gaiety not often, surpassed in these days. Lady Elizabeth and her guests danced in the beautiful ballroom which Robert Adam endowed with so much loveliness; chatted .and greeted friends in the famous marble hall of the house; sat out in quaint little turretrooms used in other days by gentlemen guests for the powdering of their wigs after dinner; and looked across from the charming . long gallery to lawns and flower beds bathed in flood-lit radiance. There were flowers everywhere—rich royal blue delphiniums in great vases, fragrant roses, delicately-hued sweet peas, all arranged with loving hands by a garden staff associated with the family not only for years but for generations. Dancing with the other guests were the Duke and Duchess of York and a dozen more members of the Royal Family, while Princess Juliana-of Holland, looking very happy, was congratulating herself that her visit to England was timed to include this delightful gathering. The Duchess of Northumberland, to whose genius for organisation and thoughtful care for the comfort apd pleasure of other people the success of the ball was due, was a lovely figure in a silver sequin gown, . emeralds scintillating at her throat, and a wonderful diamond tiara on her hair. Lady Elizabeth, a dainty- little person in white and silver, had the support of her younger sister, Lady Diana, who is to come out next year, and Lord Hugh Percy acted as host in the absence, in India, of ( his brother, the young Duke of Northumberland.

“Saying Nuffin’.” A doctor was expressing amazement to me at the assertion made in Parliament recently that only an infinitesimal number of married women have been allowed to retain their posts in the Civil Service. The official lists of employees in the different Government departments admittedly bears out the Ministerial contention—but these lists, it appears, are somewhat illusory. A great number of women clerks and others, when they get married, retain their maiden names in order to keep a soft job in Whitehall, or elsewhere, with an assured pension to follow. The. secret is apt to leak out when they have to obtain a medical certificate for any reason. This explains how the gay deception comes to be more or less common knowledge in medical circles. But it is hard to believe that the higher officials are completely blind to what is going on. A Debutante of Ducal Rank.

Lady Anne Cavendish-Bentinck, for whom her mother, the Marchioness of Titchfield, gave a “coming-out” dance, is distinctly one of the notabilities amongst this year’s debutantes. She is of ducal descent on both sides, for she is a grand-daughter of the Duke of Portland (a title her father is destined to bear eventually), and she is a great grand-daughter of the sixth . Duke of Richmond and Gordon. She is a “war baby,” for her birth found her father serving in the Royal Horse Guards. He is now a Member of Parliament, and was for a period one of the Government Whips. Her mother was, as the Hon. Ivy Gordon Lennox, maid of honour to Queen Alexandra, so it is small wonder that the first Christian name of that night's heroine should be Alexandra. Black and Scarlet.

Walking down Piccadilly towards the Park the other afternoon, at the hour of the fashionable promenade, was a young woman not in the least disconcerted by the knowledge that everyone was looking at her. She was an attractive brunette, with a pretty figure, but

rather on the petite side. And she wore a most elaborately en suite toilette. Her frock was of black silk, and even the long skirt failed to conceal the fact that her legs were bare. Her hat was the last word in black straw pork-pies. Add to this black sandals, black ebony walking stick, black Aberdonian terrier on a black lead, and you have the ensemble. But not quite. Effective colour relief had not been overlooked. In the hat was a scarlet flower. On the .corsage of her gown gleamed a scarlet coral brooch. Lips, finger-tips, and sandalrevealed toe-nails were of an equally vivid scarlet. The ebony stick had a scarlet ring. The Aberdonian wore a scarlet leather collar. The poor animal was registering supreme self-conscious-ness. In Many Waters.

Miss Joyce Cooper, England’s swimming champion, will be home again this week after her tour in Australia. She succeeded in winning many titles “down under” and set up several new records. The strange surroundings did not disturb her in the least. She went straight from boat to swimming pool as a diick takes to water. But Miss Cooper had already swum in many waters. She spent a good deal of her childhood in Ceylon and off the coast of that island the foundations of her career were laid. She also toured in South Africa some time ago and has represented Great Britain in the Olympic Games at Los Angeles. On her way home from Australia Miss Cooper left the boat to revisit Ceylon. I hear there is talk of Miss Cooper going to America again in the autumn to compete in international events at New York. Nine European champions are being invited to go and she is virtually sure to be one of them. Society’s New Arbiter.

Despite the fact that Ascot will not be with us until next month, the Earl of Granard and his staff will be busily engaged at the Ascot Office in'St. James’ Palace from now on dealing with applications for the coveted badges which admit to the Royal Enclosure. Theoretically, everyone who goes to Ascot is a guest of royalty; consequently the control of the course is vested in the King's representatives. This year a change has been made in the arrangements owing to the death of Viscount Churchill, who for a quarter of a century acted so successfully as Steward and Trustee of Ascot. The work is now divided, and Lord Hamilton of Dalzell is the King’s representative and Trustee, and controls all the racing arrangements. The King felt, however, that it was desirable for the

issue of permits to .be in the hands of a member of his Household. Consequently, he has appointed the Earl of Granard, Master of the Horse, to act for him in this respect. Tweeds and Taffetas.

Just at the moment, 'most West End displays are concentrating on Court gowns, but I have seen some smart everyday dresses in fine taffetas and others in chic tartan plaids. The tendency is to suppress the exuberantly decorative note, and go in for severely plain lines. Some of the plaids are mixed tartans, doubtless revolting to Scottish clansmen, but quite effective for dress purposes; so much so, of course, that buttons, belt, cuffs and collar are expressed in the soberest style. The taffeta vogue is of special interest, if only because the modem designers make such chic and piquant use of a material essentially antique. Shakespeare talks of taffeta. Apropos of Court gown parades, it is noteworthy that here, for once, the mannequin rather fails. The professional mannequin can perhaps outpose the Mayfair patrician, but she cannot achieve that debutante touch. Number Sixteen.

One by one even our most fashionable Mayfair streets are being vulgarised. The cloven hoof of commerce, however sumptuously shod, is obtruding on once exclusive residential amenity. The Overseas League, by securing No. 16 Arlington Street as its club premises, may do something to arrest the rot in that once polite retreat. ■ For over a century No. 16 was the town home of the Dukes of Rutland. But other old mansions, every brick of which could whisper high political secrets, are apparently doomed. Thus will disappear stately dining-rooms whose memories extend unbroken from Walpole to the late Lord Salisbury. Charles James Fox had a house in Arlington Street, and it was in lodgings there, in 1801, that Lady Nelson, tired.. of hearing about “dear Lady Hamilton,” parted for ever from the hero of Trafalgar. y