People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2, 9 January 1908, Page 28

People We Hear About

Ex-Empress Eugenic of France, who is now 81 years old, has been visited by the King and Queen of Spain, who are at present in England. A recent issue of ' Rome ' contained a facsimile of 'a letter from the late Archbishop of Hobart to the editor. ' As a specimen of the writing of a man of 93 years (says the '-Monitor '), it is like him who penned it, a marvel. There is not a shake or quaver in it indicative of old age. - ' It is extremely -pleasing to the Irish of Canada to. have one of their nationality acting as Governor-Gener-al during the absence of Earl Grey in England,' says the ' Quebec Telegraph.' It is the first -time on record that an Irish Catholic has stepped to such an exalted position in this Dominion as Hon. Charles Fitzpatrick has now attained. Miss Johanna Redmond, daughter of Mr. J. E. Redmond, M.P., has written two Irish plays. One- was recently produced at Notting Hill (London) by aii amateur company. ' Leap Year in the West ' was a sentimental sketch of rustic courting, the heroine being Mona, a delightful , peasant girl. Miss "Esther Redmond played Mona as a typical colleen. The second play was in two acts of four scenes. It ranged, from light comedy to tragedy. The theme is treated with much art and- cleverness by the young playwright. It is a curious fact ,(says the Westminster Gazette ') that nearly all the present Queens of Europe are taller than their consorts. The most graceful woman among European royalties, Queen Alexandra, would perhaps come an easy first ; our Queen is six inches taller than King Edward. The Czar is also, much smaller than his beautiful consort, and according to" the same authority the German Empress has a greater height than the Emperor. The King of Italy, is Lnown as one of the smallest' rulers of his time, and scarcely reaches to the shoulders of the truly regal Montenegrin Princess whom he married about eleven years ago. The Queen of Portugal also, we are told, is taller than King Oarlos, .and likewise the Queen of Denmack. Queen Louise is a Swede, and belongs to a nation of big peorle. The Queen of Roumania and the Queen of Snain also equal, if they do not exceed, their consorts in height. All his fellow Catholics in England, and very many of them in Ireland and Scotland (says the ' Catholic Weekly ') were delighted to see the name of veteran 11 singer* (Charles Santley) in the list of birthday ho:o s. Indeed, the whole kingdom has been deligh cd. Sir Charles had a magnificent reception at the Manchester Free Trade Hall, where he appeared in one of his most famous parts, that of the Prophet in ' Elijah.' ♦ I am simply overwhelmed,' he said to a Press representative, ' with the way in which the news has been receivedi When I was first communicated with by the Prime Minister on the subject, 1 thought whether I was entitled to accept— but I did so with the knowledge that his Majesity was honoring the whole musical profession as much as myself.' 'If the musical profession had been asked to nominate one of their number, 1 said a well-known vocalist, ' through whom the whole profession could be honored, they would with common consent have chosen Santlev— the very embodiment of all that is noble in his art.' Two Catholic families of great antiquity-r-one English and one Irish— will be united- by the marriage which has been arranged between Mr. Humphrey-Weld, cf Ohi'dcock Manor, Dorset, and Miss Ellinor de la Poer v (says the 'Glasgow, Observer'). Mr Weld is a cadet cf the Welds of Lulworth Castle, being a great-grandson of Mr. Thomas Weld, the founder of Stonyhurst College, whose eldest son and heir became a ..priest after his wife's death, and was raised to the Cardinalate in 1829, the year of Catholic Emancipation. Mr. Humphrey Weld is the^ eldest of the large family of the late' Sir Frederick" Aloysius Weld, G.C.M.G., the distinguished Colonial Governor, who died about sixteen years ago. One of his brothers is a Carthusian monk., and another is Dom Basil Weld, the well-^nown Benedictine of TTortAugustus. He has also- three sisters in religion, one having been for some years Superior of St. Scholastica's Priory, Fort-Augustus. Miss Ellinor de la Poer is the eldest of the three daughters of Count de la Poer, of Gurteen Le Poer, County Waterford, a former M.P. and High Sheriff for that county, and a Roman Count of the creation of Pius IX. His family has been settled in Waterford since the twelfth century, and has intermarried with many noble Irish houses. Miss de la Poer's mother is the only daughter of William, first Lord Bmly, and sister to the present peer.