ROYAL ENGAGEMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 204, 31 August 1935, Page 9

ROYAL ENGAGEMENT

I DUKE OF GLOUCESTER • AFFIANCED TO LADY ALICE SCOTT WELL-KNOWN SCOTTISH LADY. I Per Pi ess Association. ] LONDON, Aug. 29. The engagement is announced of the Duke of Gloucester to Lady Alice dcott, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh. Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas Scott was born in 1901. She is at present with her family at Gowhill, Selkirk, her father’s Scottish seat. She is the third daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, and is prominent in social circles in the West End. She is a sportswoman and a lover of horses. The Duke and Lady Alice have been close friends for some months and have often danced together. The Duke travelled to-day to Balmoral with the Queen to join the King. There had been rumours that he intended to acquire a residence in the West End, and these were strengthened when, during the past few days, he bought furniture. The Duke of Gloucester obtained special leave from his regiment to seek the King’s consent to his engagement to Lady Alice, who is shorter than the Duke. She is a brilliant conversationalist and spent much time in Kenya painting water colours which were exhibited at the London Gallery last month. The Duke is a friend of tho Duke of Buccleuch, who sits in the House of Lords as the Earl of Doncaster, and who has a priceless art collection, a portion of which was destroyed by fire in 1929. “I AM SO HAPPY” LADY ALICE INTERVIEWED. LONDON, Aug. 29. “I am so terribly happy I can scarcely put my feelings in words,” Lady Alice told the Daily Express. “I think the wedding will be within six months. The Duke and I have known each other for many, many years and have much in common. We have spent a good deal of time together.” The Daily Mail says that the wedding will probably follow the precedents of the Duke and Duchess of York .and .the Duke and Duchess of Kent, and will be held at Westminster. Their first home will be either \Vhite Lodge, Richmond, or Frogmore. TENANTS ENTHUSIASTIC ROMANCE KEPT ESECRET. LONDON, Aug. 29. The tenants of Balmoral and Bowhill were enthusiastic when the news leaked out. The Duke of Gloucester visited Bowhill a fortnight ago. The romance was not evei suspected, as nothing came of the rumours that he was engaged Lady Alice some years ago, when the Duke of Gloucester was a frequent guest of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch. He met his fiancee through her brother, the Earl of Dalkeith, with whom he was a very close friend when, they were schoolboys at Eton. The announcement of the engagement a year and a day after the Duke of Kent’s engagement was wired to the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Kent, who immediately replied with messages of congratulation. The Daily Mail says that Lady Alice loves the quiet life of the Scottish moore, and spends much of her leisure time with needlework, specimens of which are frequently seen at charity and church bazaars. She is commandant of the local V.A.D.’s and is a great favourite with girls. She dresses with excellent taste. The date of the wedding has not .yet been discussed. Lady Alice’s mother is reputed to have the finest collection of jewels in Britain, with the exception of the Queen. One of the Duke’s pictures, a magnificent Rembrandt self-portrait, was sold for £lOO,OOO a few years ago. AUSTRALIA’S MESSAGE. Received Aug. 30, 11.7 p.m. SYDNEY, 3O. The Governor-General, Sir Isaac Isaccs, on behalf of the Commonwealth Government and the people of Australia, has cabled congratulations vO the Duke of Gloucester. THE HAPPY COUPLE THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER The Duke of Gloucester is a captain in the 'Tenth Hussars, a major of the Second Cavalry Brigade, Aidc-de-Camp to the King, and is High Steward of King’s Lynn. He was burn at York Cottage on March 31, 1900. The Duke is athletic and fond of hunting, and paid a visit to Africa in .1928. In 1929 he went on a special mission to Japan and invested the Emperor with the Order of the Garter. In 1930 he represented the King at the coronation of the Emperor of Ethiopia, which took place in Addis Ababa. Last year he visited New Zealand. When the Dukedom of Gloucester was revived for Prince Henry about seven years ago, it was only after a lapse of many years. The first IDuko of Gloucester was Thomas of Wood ‘-tuck, a younger son of Edward HI, created Duke in 1385 ami deprived of the title for treason twelve years later. The title, was next held by Humphrey, son of Henry IV (the Duke Humphrey of library fame) and after him by Richard, brother of Edward IV (afterwards King Richard Ill). From 1483 to 1659 there was a gap, the next Duke of Gloucester being Henry, brother of Charles 11, who died in 1660. Wil iam, son of Princess Anne was given the title by William 111 in 1(589, and with his death in 1700 it again became extinct. The eldest son of George 11, Frederick Louis, bore the, title for some time, but when he I was raised to the peerage in 1720 it was as Duke of Edinburgh only, in I

1764 Frederick’s third son, William Henry, was created Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, and the last previous holder of the title was his son. William. Frederick, who died in .1834. The titles conferred upon Prince Henry are known as “subsidiary Royal titles” and go by a precedent. It is customary for a member of the Royal family to make use of them when he travels and thus (sometimes) escapes some of the publicity that attends Royal figures. I Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott is the fifth daughter of the IDuko of Buccleuch, and has four sisters and three brothers. Her father is John Charles Montagu - Douglas -‘ Scott, seventh Duke of Buccleuch r .d ninth of Queensberry (Scotland). He also holds the titles of Baron Scott or Buccleuch, which is over 300 years old, Earl of Don.astcr and Baron of Tynedale (England), which was conferred on hi s ancestor in 1662, Earl of Dalkeith, Marquis of Dumfriesshire, Earl of Drumlanrig and Sanquhar, Viscount of Nith, Torthorwold and Ross, and Baron [Douglas. He has been LordLieutenant of Dumfriesshire since 1915, and is Lord Clerk-Register and Keeper of the Signet and Captain of the Royal Company of Archers. The titles which Lady Alice’s father holds have an interesting history. Sir Walter Scott, Warden of the West Marches (third of tho name and second of the office; was the first Lori Scott of Buccleuch. His great grandfather, the first of three Sir Walters, was a daring chief, ami his unsuccessful attempt to rescue King Janies V from the Earl of Angus is the foundation of the story told by his namesake, in the “Lay of the Last Minstrel.” Sir Walter, tho first Lord Scott, carried on a. predatory warfare against the English »nd on the conclusion of a peaceful arrangement he was delivered up as a hostage. When he. was in England he was brought before Queen Elizabei li. who imperiously demanded hor; he coi Id engage in such deeds. For once the Queen met her mat h, for ta this ruler who was very conscious of her position as a woman lie replied: ‘ What is there that a man dare not do?” Struck, with the reply, she turned to a Lord-in-Waiting ami said: '• With ten thousand such men our brother of Scotland might shake the firmest throne in Europe.” This “brother of Scotland” was James VI, who, on becoming James 1 of England, as one of his first, acts made a- lord of the intrepid warrior. His successor obtained the honours of 1619. 'The f:iii :l\ has been Jinked with English lb illy before, the Countess fourth in me having married Jain > Duke of ALwinoulh, the natural son of Charles 11, who thereupon assumed her name and ,'reived the Dukedom of Buccleuch villi tho Earldom of IDnlkeilh. When he was executed after his unsuccessful rebellion the titles were unaffected, being held jointly by his wife, to whom they had come by inheritance. The Queensberry Dukedom camo through this line. The original name of tho family. Scott, had the prefix of “-Montagu” added by the fourth Duke, while the fifth inserted ‘ ‘ Douglas. ’ ’ A sister of Lady Alice married Lord Bui’ghley, the famous runner, vi.v years ago.