1958-01-13 — Page 4

THE CHINA MAIL, MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1958.

BEGINNING AN INTIMATE STUDY OF

THE

QUEEN'S GAY COUSIN

THE PARTY: It was held in Belgravia. It was for the Duke's 22nd birthday. It ended early. At 9.30 the Duke and his sister Princess Alexandra drove away in his Aston-Martin sports car. DWARD GEORGE NICHOLAS PAUL "I don't think a one-bar fire a two-gallon can in his left hand EDW

PATRICK.... Earl of St Andrew's and Baron Downpatrick..

....stood in the ironmonger's shop and frowned. The problem before him was one of moment. Was he to buy a one-bar or two-bar electric fire?

The nights in Yorkshire can be chill, and bleak winds make Catterick Camp a more abysmal place than even the red-tabbed Spartans at the War Office intended.

The ironmonger stood behind the counter waiting for the brooding customer to speak. At length he did so.

will be warm enough" he pon dered. "But I had better not take the Lan-bar. 1:11 use too trouble with the C.O. Patrick.. lieutenant in

much electrielty and I'll be in

Edward George Nicholus Paul the Royal Scots Greys.. and much Letter known as His Royal

on his way to buy 5s, worth of fuel. His left hand, of course, for his right is always ready to

lighness the Duke of Kent, stood. and reached a decision. A deci- son which illustrates that exi- bility of mind which has always made the Brilish Army great.

there among the pols and pons Dule?

He bought a paraffin stove. Since then he has been seen .on many occasions striding with - purpose across Catterick Camp,

BEAUFIGHTER CRASH

A war-time crash, and the way a Rolex watch survived it, is the subject of Mr. 5. W. Martin's letter addressed to The Rolex Watch Co., Ltd., Geneva, Switzerland.

"I bought Rolex Oyster Raleigh; No. 162275/3478 In March 1942 in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, where I was serving as a flying Instructor In the Royal Air Force. The watch was never off my wrist and gave perfect service, but its biggest test came in August 1944, when I was flying Beaufighters in Coastal Command. Returning from a mission, on one engine. I had to crash-land in a small field. it was a pretty rough landing and the Beau immediately caught fire and blew up. Needless to say I got out as quickly as possible, but suffered burns which kept ma

..་ ག་ ད་

in hospital for nearly a year.. Traditionally, the watch should have stopped at the exact time of the crash the Rolex, following its own traditions, kept going. It ran down normally, and when I was sufficiently Interested in things to have it rewound some weeks later, it carried on keep- -ing perfect time, That there is still, eleven years after the crash, an unscarred ring on my left wrist will give you some idea of what the watch survived. The only effect of the intense heat was to slightly shrink and dis-

colour the 'glass' "*

W ROLEX

A landmark in the history of Time measurement

The Daring Duke of Kent

Ho is 22; he has been called the most eligible bachelor in tho world; his proforances includo fast cars, jazz, and night clubs. A gay young prince ? Certainly. But that conventional picture is far from complate. What is he really like? Who are the people who form and influenco his character? What is his future role? Now those questions are candidly examined.

by ROBERT GLENTON

First we must study him. This is the age of the label... the decade of the docket.

Only the most self-effacing nonentity escapes his pigeon hole.

A

tho

In Kent they trust they hayo found an elegant pilot back to those days of lotus eating. dandy to chase away all young men who have to spend half their time in an office.

MARQUESS AT NEW YEAR PARTY

One of London's most interesting New Year's Eve. parties was held under a railway bridge. It was at artist Felix Topolski's three-room studio under Water- loo Bridge. Hosts were Mrs Anthony Kinsman and Mr Michael Alexander,

Dancing, there check-to-cheek were actress. Eva Bartok and the Marquess of. Milford Haven. Music was provided by a Dixieland band.

Guests had been invited by telephone and the place was packed. Lady Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart, sister of the Marquess of Londonderry, tell from the platform while she was dancing. Said she: "What,a wonderful party!"

Among the guests, said Mrs Kinsman, were Prince Rupert von Lowenstein, Baron William de Gelsey and Lord and Lady Kilmarnock,

Two hundred people jived, dressed in anything from bikinis to Victorian costumes. The dance spread on to the Thames Embankment. They even jlved. around the Festival Hall.

"

But he still counts his pennies like any young subaltern. At Catterick, for instance, when, he - went out to dinner with other officers and girl friends at the

give an impeccable salute,

Five months

he ago

Was promoted. On those slim shoulders new alars twinkled in It is hardly likely therefore Even restauraicurs weary of the summer sunshine.

that opinion would

CL- not try to years of expense account And this Talers

rub their hands at the a question find an easy niche for the 22- tomers,

champagne- What is going to happen to the year-old Duke of Kent, who until thought of a new

the era led by

The Duke of Kent find just about £157,000. He is also row recently drove around in a car out-of-slipper

made the disturbing discovery ported to be a beneficiary in the to Duke. His mother is indefatigable in with the registration "K 7"

that Grand Prix cara don't £2,000,000 royal trust fund left shuring the chores that fill the undertise the fact that he is

have motor horns. Since then by Queen Mary. royal daily round. His sister, only seventh in line from the A YOUNG MAN

he has learned a lot, certainly Princess Alexandra, has long most secure throne in the world.

WHO DRIVES FAST about racing ears: He knows since buckled down to those The French have had a go,

the famous drivers us his cousin endless lanks which take such a They once printed a picture of lond from the Queen .. hospital visits, the charity meet- and called him a vigorous and

the him in check shirt and jeans THE police too know him, the Queen knows her jockeys.

They regard him as a young

There is a difference, natur- ings, the ship launchings.

practising member of the Guild man who drives fast and who ally. Even on her horse-racing George Hotel at Piercebridge: of Angry Young Men.

has had more than his fair share days off the Queen is usually everyone ordered WHERE DOES HE

hemmed by escorts, The Duke stared at this and of accidents.

their bare straightforward expressed himself in his rather GO FROM HERE?

One particular policeman, heads slightly bowed. high-pitched laugh. No опе

cynically old In the ways of

Duke-and knows better than

The sportsman he that

sport-is despite the easy acceptance of motorists, has an even sharper motor racing is his

impression. He tells, with an down in the plts with all the 1957 he would hardly pass as undertone of astonishment, Can I seriously be intended an intellectus),

cloth cap fraternity, and several the time the young Duke that he shall follow tho

times I have seen him catch the Americans have climbed out of his latest acci❤ Even example of earlier princes and docketed the Duke. The Holly-cent and said earnestly: hearty clowing in the rush to And his life's fulfilment on the wood Bachelor Girls Club you think

pee the car of the moment. I was wrong you royal ladder to the top of the studied his profile and prospects MUST prosecute me. You mustn't military tree to the rapid and voted him the most eligible let me go because of my name," although he retires on such average young man, but at the colonelcy, to the youthful bachelor in the world. grasp of. A -fleld-marshala baton?

ONLY the young Duke has

escaped so far,

Hardly. The Army shrinks cally. The glitter fades. The clink of spurs and the flash of swords are as out of place as a madrigal in the Duke's favourite night-club.

The soldiers have become scientists and the slide rule has replaced the sabre.

Needless to say, Society has

of

meal.

table

plain

d'hote

All the men groped in their pockets and produced their eight and sixpences. The Duko collected the lot and paid with a ebeque ... ope of those special cheques with a CTÓW In the corner,

an

He concentrates on being

Immaculate some time he never forgets that

In all fairness to the Duke,

occasions with And I have my own pleture of dignity, he always looks as the Throne is not so very

though he would like to shove away. He has been known to not mub girls who are too audible and frequent with their "Eddio darling" in public.

not been backward in plotting the Duke, the Duke's position in the scheme of things.

summer

any

right-

the girls who sell flowers and minded person dreams in the

antiques; the bankers dangli- ters and those who keep house in stately homes..

sun.

But he can joke about his Palace connections.

It was at a motor race meet back if royal protocol was has

what it is. of those siudied the parties he goes to. ing on one

when ufternoons The company ho keeps ..

And as far as he is concerned, the distinguished visitors stand with a striped awnings and potted geraniums, inevitable could stay deserted for ever.

The Duke is no fool. Despite all the labels pinned uncashed to him he has no grandiose self- souvenirs. importance.

Not as exclusive or as distin

as Princess Margaret's guished Is there, then, a place for the. young Duke in a force which set are his companions, but soon may have to abandon for there is cachet and prestige to ever the luxury of u leader be found in his presence. whose primary quailfication is Society sees In the Duke a that he is close to the Throner bright hope. In his laughter, The military men say there is. penchant for fun and frolle they They eulogise over his prospects Visualise a renaissance, In that tight little self-conscious-

Jy stiff-backed world of the pro-

fessional officer,

is.

Suggest that aria. day the Duke of Kent might turn eyes away from the parado ground and they hastily exclaim that at Sandhurst he won the Sir James Moncrieff Grierson Prize for Modern Languages.

Point out that he must have ¡been an odds-on favourite in view of his background his legion of foreign relatives the charming Continental Uisp la his mother's volee. Then

Army produces its ace.

NEAR THE TOP

and

the

OF HIS CLASS

THE Duize, it underlines, pass

ed out 44th of his 280 con- temporaries at Bandhurst,

What else could he be but a | soldier, the Army adds irritably. As the bowler hats dy around and

retirement compulsory grants are paid “but, have no tear for the Duko.

Hio senior officers are adula- tory, -Ono mid: “His grasp in masterly." High-Lown words even for the koon, hardworking royal young subaltern In Ch Squadron of the Royal Scots.

But promiso at 22 does noi! always lead to fulfimant at 40. The man who awans the prizes |în a ̈revitalised army will kare to be dogged, stubborn, self- Assertive, and a fighter of an well as on the bathsfeld.

How does the Duka fit thiế picture?

POLITICAL ANTARCTIC

A voloe bebind me splinter- ed the dream of the moment. shrill, Allied with alarm

and

deep foreboding It cried: “Lock out, do look out. ...”

on

There was the tangle-hulred young Duke bearing down mo in a fire-engine red Ferrari, being pushed along by unshaven but beaming Italian mechanics,

+

And despite his money.

Ho inherited Coppins, the country home of the Kents, from his father and it is sald ---

NOW FOR THE JOURNEY BACK

It amuses him that theso bankers'

cheques he *signa often remain and are kept 014

"Edward"

TOMORROW GIRL FRIENDS

NEGOTIATIONS;

London" Express Derei