Untitled

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20454, 6 November 1934, Page 2

The bride-cake originated in “ confarreation, or a token oi* the most furn conjunction between man and wife, with a cake of wheat or barley, from “far” (Latin, bread or corn). Dr Moffat tells us that “ the English, when the bride comes from church, are wont to cast wheat upon her head.” Herrick, speaking to the bride, says: “ While some repeat our praise, and bless you, sprinkling you with wheat.” Gladys Duchess of Marlborough, widow of the ninth Duke, is living in seclusion in the village of Mixbury (Oxfordshire). She has left Blenheim Palace, the ancestral home of the Marlboroughs. for an old-fashioned farmhouse. She is known as Mrs Spencer. The villagers know that she is a duchess, but when she is seen in the village street they are careful to greet her simply as Mrs Spencer. At the farmhouse are kept nearly 100 of the famous Marlborough BLnheim spaniels.