1954-01-30 — Page 7

T

BE

THE

Edwina

Ashley

@ 1922

picture

taken just before her wedding

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1954.

FABULOUS MOUNTBATTENS

With the marriage of Lord Louis Mountbatten, his bride brings a new factor into the family, story

immense wealth left to her by her self-made grandfather, Sir Ernest Cassel. Lord and Lady Louis become leaders of the Bright Young Things of the

'Twenties and early 'Thirties, Meanwhile the young Prince Philip of Greece-now the Duke of Edinburgh is being brought up by Lord Louis' elder brother. Later he is to come more directly under the influence of Lord and Lady Louis his uncle and aunt.

EDWINA

the bright

young thing

in September 1925,

o

the vast

A loophole was found in her which had London mansion' passed to Lady gandher's will.

house outs,

practically entailed the

itu successive Decupants. and in May 1833, the site was sold to

and Co.. Messrs Coutts the bankers.

down

a

the

responsibility fell on Lord and Lady Louis Mountbatten.

} In spite of all her social and

family

tles, wanderlust

was

still the chief outlet for Lady The Louis' questing energy. now penthouse did not prevent her from embarking on a long mfari in Atrica.

Then, In 1938, on a tour of the Far East, she made up her mind to explore the Burma Road from Lashio to Yunnan- fu. This had not yet been completed, and Lady Louis was the first person not connected with the actual construction to moke the trip from end to end in a lorry.

It was in many ways a pro- phetic journey. Burma was not

only to be the scene of one at her husband's major triumphs, but in due course was to add its name to their title.

Моге Immediate and more

of the she encounter-

The two girls were the fami- pertinent at the ume was the

others impact on Lady Louis llar playmates of two much of their own age-Prin- human misery

and Princess ed in the suffering country to

the north.

cess

Elizabeth

is

Pointless

In February 1924, Lady Louls gave birth to her first daughter,

Margaret

Prince The fifteen-year-old The Patricia Edwins Victoria.

Philip Greere, 01/1 under Prince of Wales stood sponsor

the care of his elder uncle, nud provided one of the baby's The house was pulled names, had his grandfather and a block of offices and flats the second Marquess of Mil-

China was at war, and some- as f

Hoven,

another Whe ford will its stood, to her mother.

erected in

member

thing of the primitiveness and welcome

of the These

still шете

the

hardship she saw must have days two-storey penthouse at the top.

family. the activities of the upper which in the years, leading up

the new up for hor fact, there 1ert

a first opened In to the wom Wis

and stratum of society attracted at-

of interests

attitudes that tention out of all proportion to Mountbattens as their London glimpse of him at the age

home. It their importance.

their four in the Brook House days, were to govern her later life. of all was

She saw refugees and mass the most specta- when he hid himself under one

ond enterprises

the ramshackle culor

of the vast beds and had to be poverty Designed to Lord Louis' own dragged out screaming and pro- equipment of a country light- ing for ita life against aggres- plans and decorated with total testing from his private cave

Louis' sion. silli Lord Was disregard of expense the Mount-

principally batten's home in Park Lane be-

brother who was came London's most astonishing responsible for his upbringing. private dwelling.

per-

by

The young couple, and ticularly Lady Louis, who

fre Icon of her husband's

quent long periods of service allont in foreign stations more directly in the pubile eye, were a major stand-by of the scandal-mongers.

Many Parties

It is

of

tha

WUB

to

It

Gordonstoun

keep

Penthouses and the

of her existenco scurry have scerned singularly away and pointless,

This is

GORDONS

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TAILOR CHEUNG

The Tailor of Distinction for People of Distinction

vapid

34

must

tar

When he returned to Lon- don it was as if she had como

of age; which is not a matter

With its five reception rooms Hyde Park, auto- overlooking

trom A matie lift

private

His father and mother had entrance in Upper Brook Street

to

but the at- a never-ending source and every refinement fur-

of one's majority, of

made up their minds

un-tainment of an Inner equiii- estonishment in surveying nishing and interior decoration him right away from the

of vicissitudes

the brium which can work changes carlier

Lady years of

happy It was a show place hardly Lo Mountbatten's married life,

a Holly Greek Royal Family, and after in D person beyond their own be equalled outside

attending a preparatory school equate the severe practicalities wood film set.

or the imagining

expectation with his cousin, of their friends. of her present public service Mrs Cosden, a Long Island at Cheam

Mountbattens, David, he was turning into

Britain, too, was a country friend of the

The Nazis had now who had become a professional sturdy teenager

the after

tour.

themselves in à light interior decorator

With the tragic death of the which left only one conclusion

Marquess of was Second

to be drawn. Haven from cancer in 1933,

with the relative admlessness these years.

She

deprived

herself

of

of

a lady Mountbattens she found the name of have always been who could net as chaperone.

She eventually reached Delhi assured of position.

after arriving in Bombay with They have incked inlent. But when Ed wina Ashley married Lord Louis Mountbatten she in- troduced a new factor-im- mense wealth.

never only sufficient money to pay the mining, nor was the spared the American slump, devised it,

itself is often That in considered suflicient

for

heiresses who marry into

third-clas railway though she was perfectly willing the hard sexts, the to brave Indian booking-clerk objected so strenuously that she had to ring up Lord Louls and explain her plight.

constant public

uppraisal

of

the

at Gordons-

ins shown

crisis.

Milford

facsi- on

Philip Prince directly under the care

eame

more of his

The Munich Crisis was over and the rape of Czechoslovakia

her

One of the bedrooms tricked out in the exact fore. A the envious, the malicious and

mils of on officer's cabin the curious.

board a warship.

Lord and Lady Louis lived in younger uncle. At the impres- was near. Lord Louis, with his the penthouse little more than sionable

Public three years, n it was

only school and naval college, Lord occupied in May 1930, and was and Lady Louts became his closed down, never to be used guardians and mentors. by them again, three days after the outbreak of war,

high

the 'twenties Right through and early 'thirties we are ୯-

fron with stories galed

of fringe irresponsible Lociety.

There were fabulous parties Brook Houso and at the neighbouring mansion in Upper Brock Street belonging to her Fister Mary, by then martie: Cunningham Reid, to Captain M.P. for Marylebone.

robbery There was a jewel Involving loss o! £6,000

in while staying.

September 1924, with Mrs Joshua Cosden

He arranged for her journey

in more at to be accomplished

ng style, and in one of the the British peerage, in this intervals of the heetfe round of to arrange with the passage of ceremonies he had

of Wales Ernest Cassel's for the Prince time, Sir

brought young couple became engaged,

case,

granddaughter

much more.

Her true personality was late in revealing itself, and

For

was submerged

many

the

The Honeymoon

were

Back in Britain, the wedding blue and was a symphony in

over life more com- white, and there mented on by the gossip sixteen hundred gue is to

the bowera

of

et

estate.

t

Jady's

Long Island

and

house

As a gesture, it had outlived its owner almost before it was in bullt. Her husband's career the Navy was prospering his father's before him, on his own merits.

In

ilke

Royal Friends

Το

age between

Prince Philip his rich clulllent younger uncle was an object of particular regard.

To

to

Д

professional insight, left

things were taking. in, no doubt as to the course

The Future

ag

Lady Reading suggested that Louts should bend her There was between them an Lady

and talents to the nursing services affinity of both character

needed so

50 urgently to physique, both big. handsome, which boisterous men with a very be expanded and reorganised.

It was a held with which, distinct physical resemblance.

side, the young

Prince, the from the administrative

well acquainted bic dashing, debonair Lord Louis, she was

grandfathers' his full life and all the her

directed from were destroyer cap bequests A new note became apparent panache of a Rolls-Royces and Gar Wood

the

a her own same office have appeared their years in a

lives. The gracious tain, must the speechools rear across cur pic

trusts. This was valuable, but hostess

not figure worthy of emulation of the penthouse lure of her life against a back-

and royalty the ground of drces shows, night only entertained

Lord Lould was only too glad not enough. Columnists than the social reception amid

Lady Louis Immersed her- orange blossom ranged in

club entertaining

of European and to act in loco parentis the cream

sido historians.

the American society,

the practical great rooms of Brook House.

but an in- representative of

new self in Royal parties.

well, and she took a full cousa cntire British

who had The Lord! Louis She

At one point she is recorded creasing roster of labour leaders generation,

with, the Mountballen a month of two Family

with the was there,

as uppearing at Court in n and other exponents of more modated himself so well to the of first-aid training before her grandfather's death. Prince of Wales as best man.

W.V.S. She was not alone in tabizlows Wory net, silver advanced social philosophies. demands of a modern world. only

that Sir plty

this.

The when she was invited to a ball The

weighing dresa,

Her sumptuous

spirit of service was Almost from the start of this and at another as at Claridges Hotel given by Mrs Ernest Cassel was not still alive equin

It ono pound,

ments perhaps provided an in- relationship circumstances were abroad during the pente months attend the

fashion by Cornelius Vanderbilt.

that

preceded the outbreak of congruous background to these

to sunder Prince Philip

war, but it was to raiso few The previous season he had would have gladdened his heart tuting a new

his parents, diamonds in her another to see revived in his grand- wearing a bandeau of emeralds, "deviationist activities, which enned them the increasing become engaged to

Princess Alice, his mother, women to the heights attained with rubies and

comment of their more ortho-

by Lady Louis Mountbatten in young debutante named Audrey daughter the close union

a some time at had spent had been his own hair, or a jewelled clip in her had changed

that lay be- dox friends. hut. James, but they their minds while he accom- special

Many people attributed this Swiss clinic during the thirties the stoop career

from intermitten: fore her. "leftward panied his second cousin, the

swing"

oppor- suffering Prince of Wales, on a tour to the

tunism and the calculated back heart trouble, West Indies and the Antipodes.

first

nist

Had No Money

His

with

tlons, were at Cowes for Regalla

to

was

ceremony.

yalty which royalty

pride.

lasied Ave The honeymoon months, and consisted of a grand tour of Europe and the United States. Visits to the King

only

Luxury House

to

entertain-

accom-

By 1929 sho was solemnly ing of both horses in times Wanderlust

Queen of Spain at Santander dortbed

were

of

poly

that

sym-

from

father,

RS

Yacht

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NEXT SATURDAY: "The play- and

boy days were only a pass- as the best-dressed which threatened social change,

ing period for Lady Louis.......so were to show

they and to Louis' uncle, still bearing woman in London, and started but events

were for her husband.. the patroness of much more fundamental

his Prince Andrew, title of Grand Duke of to appear as the

pathies wero involved. ere large charitable undertakings.

large new friendship

cars and expensive There i something Hesse, at Woolfsgurten,

a At least there was no change continued to live in Paris until he lives against a background of

the Nazi breakthrough in 1940,

Ve parties Edwina Ashley ripened quickly, followed by an almost triumphal

younger

retired to Monte: money is no object...he

blackballed by the Royal They became a recognisable pair

tance at the beginning of 1931, members of the Royal Family when he

towards them. By 1926

Carlo, dying there in Decem Club Lady

(because, at hla prize- in the gay round of suelal func- journey across the United States Uk is this gregarious exis- in the affection of the

In a private train.

when she embarked on a long

a motor- Their

stay in Hollywood in

Louis had two daughters grow her 1944. For Gve years he had

POPULAR PUBLICATIONS his wife nor his winning monster of ing up.

Pamela, scen neither

bost) .but all the time he fr Week, and were both invited by the palatial home of Mary Picks Journey to the West Indies and Mexico with Lady Brecknock.

in son Mrs Vanderbilt to join her yacht ford and Douglas Fairbanks, On her retum she closed down had been born

Princess Alice was in Athens following hils naval career with

an almost Lanstioni devotion. Atlanta for a cruise to Belgium with Charlie Chaplin acting as Brook Houer to join Lord Louis 1929 while her parents were on

Enjoyable Cookery But their fabulous

working with the Swedish and Barcelona. to Ba their host in the absence of the In Malta.

reached

in North Swiss Red Cross. right through The bumpy reads

Baby Book tour cxhience had not yet was the end of a owners,

which the German occupation.

This world copyright series of The Hongkong Countryside (Herklots) 10

Africa and Spain over its peak.

Lady Louis "followed the Fing" So Prince Philip became articles is abridged from the Cassci momentarily disrupted ony film script,

Even with on income such as to London hers, thus £17,000 a your in- while her husband was serving completely On their return

absorbed into the book "Manifest Destiny" by | Hongkong Birds (Herklots). the lives of their respective son and granddaughter,

in they automatically became volved in the upkeep of Brook In the Destroyer Flotilla leader British side of his famliy. And Brian Connell, and published Coronation Glory

Stuart were probably the cause, as we have seen much of. the by Casselis. group, House, was proving a luxury. October Lord Louis left in the members of the small Renown to act

again as A.D.C. with the Prince of Wales at its to the Prince of Wales during head, which enlivened what might be called the night-club

and France.

The deaths first of Prince Louls and then of Sk Ernest which would have done credit

his tour of Indin.

and

His just message to Edwina civilisation of the period.

was that she must find some way.

The young couple found them-

of accepting an invitation of the solves almost the standard

bearers of the Gay Twenties.

Viceroy, Lord Reading, who

had been a close friend of her Edwina had an income of grandfather, to slay with him in Delhi

The heiress to nearly a million and a half pounds found herself in the extraordinary position of tho having no money to pay fare,

£50,000 a year after taxation. They were both good-looking, vital, amusing and popular.

The gossip columns of the day

1

Visit

The Poodle tells the Peke: Step down

THEC

HE pop-eyed Pekingese,

top dog with British women for 20 years, has

animal,

the

By CHAPMAN PINCHER

FORTS.

Rupert Adventures (Annual) More Adventures of Rupert (Annual) Rupert (Magazines)

$15.00

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'It's Fun Finding Out --- 2nd varies,

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4th Impression now ready Hongkong Escape (R. B. Goodwin)

breed has been around for 500 No Hiding Place (Behind Scotland Yard)

Common Marins Food-Fishes of Hongkong

(second enlarged edition). "What's 500 years to a Peka?" It is beaten only by the cocker knots, are also popular with mid ono disgruntled › Paka been pushed far out of spaniel and the Alsatian, which Chancellor R, A. Butler. They fancier. "Pedigred Pekingese Weights & Measurements Scandal-Mongers favour by an equally absurd have undoubtedly had their easily top the list of exported were being bred by the Chinese Chiness. Creeds & Customs (V. R. Burkharde) miniature heydays, as the steadily falling pedigree dogs, which brought in emperors when the poodle, was She was still restricted to

much of it in dollars. 1953 Brood supli alowance, and she would are full of accounts of her kak poodle, according to a dog figures of registered pedigree more than 2250,000 last year, come wh

1952 1938 Reason for the poodle's

1: Cocker paniéla The Peke, which stubbornly only come into the accumulated styles, her dresses, her parties popularity poll issued by pups thow,

Interest of her and her capital and

mistery

Alsatians of new the Kennel Club of Eng-

land..

held in near-tep position in succest The dog is of current inheritance at the age of 21 or Lashformable dancing steps. when she married.

At the beginning of 1923 Lord

*beth and fits into the smallest flat. Edwina showed a first glimpse Louis was appointed to the In a non-stop, rise to spite of the fickleness of canine hem-line height, cheap to feed place. It has been " overtaken But much rentons do not ex- conully she was to display in his wife set about reopening her years ago, the frisky poodle by the ebullient boxer and the plain why favour har deserted: of the determination and in battleship H.M.6. Revenge, and fame which started-flye fashion, has fallen to

now iles third in the poll of low tung corgly established the dacimbrund, Pake, and fox mich dull measure, in later years, Frandfather's house.. She asked Mrs Cassel, her great flymained the property of 108 breeds which will com favourite of the Royal Family supt, for the loan of £100, and her great-aunt, but she was too thin went to "k shipping commodo che fornecio pete at Crufts Show

next vind farm pood with this explains

'cut costs, and ⋅ toge

8 Miniature poodies 4. Booths

8. Peking

-Labest

Why Limited Stock Only

Giles Annual Arvos

Limited stock, now available

On Sale

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