A PRINCESS OF THE EMPIRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7014, 1 February 1901, Page 3

A PRINCESS OF THE EMPIRE.

Severity is banished everywhere in Paris, . even from the dwellings ; and the classical and majestic dining-room with oak panels and Cordova leather is out of the question, both pak and Cordova leather being so much and so well imitated in the flats at £30 a year. This comes from the 'high authority of Princess Mathilde Bonaparte herself. In spite of having been born in 1820, which makes her eighty years old, the Princess keeps up her high spirits, and intends to receive a great deal this winter, " when we shall be rid of this vulgar Fair," as she calls the dying Exhibition. She has come from St Gratien, her country seat, to keep an eye on the workmen who fill her hotel in the Rue de Berai. ' No loafing is allowed, no smoking of pipes, and, above all, no whistling ; and she falls on the- poor men at the most unexpected moments, not disdaining to open her Royal and Imperial lips to call them names, if she finds them in fault. They are now busy in the diningroom, for the new fashion has taken the fancy of the Princess, and her once celebrated oak banqueting-hall is to be panelled in pale-red marble with, golden filets ; the curtains, portieres and seats will be of a particular red colour, quite new, and made of the thickest brocade. The writer has also seen the hotel bijou, which has bfeen built near the Clianips-Elysees for a rather illustrious newly-married couple, the bride being the daughter of the Duke of Tammanies, a cousin of the Empress Eugenic; She has married a Sevillian Cabal■lero, Senor Jose Lastra. Their dining-hall is also decorated after the new fashion,, but with lapis-lazuli panels, the hangings and furniture being 1 in old stamped velvet of a rich blue shade