New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-14
LORD FIFE.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE FUTURE HUSBAND
OF PRINCESS LOUISE OF WALES

OF PRINCES LOUISE OF WALES
FROM TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
London, July 3.
He was long known in London as Macduf and
is still Macduff to his intimate friends. There
have been persons who traced his descent from
ShakeSpeare's Macduf, with whom, in fact, he
has no more to do than Mr.. Irving's Macbeth
has w,.h Shakespeare's. They are entirely dis
tinct and nothing is gained by confusing people
or things entirely distinct Lord Flies ancestor
was Viscount Macduf in 1859. That, perhaps,
is as far back Us his lineage safely be carried
Do not consult the gcnealOgists They like thc
College of Heralds, who are also genealogists, will
construct an ancestral line for anybody Of which
the antiquity shall be in direct proportion TO the
price paid. Ancestors are provided at so much
Il head, or much skull. Whitley, for anght
| know, will provide them. lie is the Universal
Provider He is known to provide collins; why
not the tenants of the collins Since Lord flle
became engaged to Princess Louise Of Wales the
English newspaper press has competed with the
ROYAL College at Arms for tine honor OF finding
him the most ancient progenitOrS. They have
got back 10 the Thirteenth Century; on either
side of which the memory of man runneth not
10 the contrary Time became immcmorial ac-
cording to the lawyers, in the reign of one OF
the Richards, | think the second, but if any
contradict him. / forget which it was.
But the living man matters 10 US and to his
bride more than any series of dead Alacduns in
the past Not if YOU carried him back TO the
most mythical moment Of Highland barbarism
could you attain TO antiquity like that OF
the Guelphs 1t is not for reasons Of mere
ancestral remoteness that this young lady has
chosen her husband; for choose HIM she did.
She might have had German with scores OF
ouarterincs She might have married far-away
cousin or there may even be another of that
family of Battenbergs for whom the Queen has
shown q preference 50 marked and, AZ Is thought
oil the Continent, So singular The Princess
Louise of Wales has had the courage Of her
sentiments. Her attachment TO Lord Fife has
prevailed against even her grandmOthers predllec-
lions for Teutonic alliances. No one about the
court is surprised, or, If there be any surprise
il is only that the Queen should have consented
10 a marriage between the Princess Royal of
England and a subject.
lie is sixth Earl Fife and first Earl OF Fife;
a momentous distinction. The Scottish Earldom
j. Of the same date as the Vscountcy; the Earl
dom OF the United Kingdom dates but from SS5
Lei, us take the story Of the peerage editors il
its SIMPLEST form Is descended from MAcduff,
Earl of Fife. who contributed TO the destruction
o.
colin Ceanmohr. The 9th of this line
diving in 1885, the title became extinct. but The
representative of the family raised to the
pcerage by the Queen Regent Caroline in 735."
If YOU like. we will say that the representative
of the family in 49,, when he was made Baron
Brace WIS Writer 10 the Signei, in plain Eng
lish an attorney; and he II was who laid The
foundation of that fortune which is now sup
posed to yield yearly income OF not less than
half a million dollars lie made judicious invest
ments in land, and his descendant Owls. or did
own, something like quarter Of million OF
Scotch acres. His possessions stretch far over
the Counties of Bann, Of Aberdeen, Of Moray, and
know not how many others.
The question of Lord Flies wealth has been
discussed with truly British fr1nllncss in con
ncction with the proposed grant by Parliament
10 his bride lie has, shy the wise men who
liqhten the public on these private matters, a
rent roll Of 100000 a year or, say,
s400 900. All that comes from land Then he
has IN income from personal property and
especially from his share i'll the banking business
of Sir Samuel Scott ~ Co., one Of the few remain
ing firms Of private bankers in London. In this
business hr invested 2,OOO,O0O some years ago
As no bank is supposed to pay less than ten
Per cent, ana some pay twenty per cent and
over, the addition from lillS source 10 LOfu fllc
income would carry it well over the half million
with which he is credited. Why, then,
cries The Radical qucrulousV in the public
prints, why should the people of Great Britain
he taxed for the support of this rich mans wife
Lord Fife is this point IN agreement with the
querulous Radical lie offered to settle upon the
Princess Louise Of Wales sum the interest Of
which should equal any grant Parliament would
make. Bat reasons Of State prevail over con
,iderations of delicacy, and the grant is 10 be
asked for
Lord Fife has in MoIayshre q residence known
as Tunes House, which he does not live in, but
lets. lie came there in the year 1855 the
guest of his tenant, and II happened & be on" OF
the rare occasions when n made an appearance
before the public Tunes Hous" lies not far
from klgn, and Elgin was then celebrating Il
civic function, Of which Lord Fife was in sense
the head. For Lord Fife is much more than thu
courtier and smart man about town in London