The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-08-28
SOCIETY FLURRIES.
Rumors That Mr.. AstOr Will Wed
Royalty.
His suit for the Daughter of the Prince
of WaleS-A London
Sensation.

NEW YORK, Aug. 13.-The Worlds
London cable says: High life in Lon
don has taken seriously the possibility
of William Waldorf Aston marrying
ria. The ugly things that are said
prove that British pride is touched to
the quick. High life in London is no
more apt to be thrown into a furry of
excitement by fancifuI rumOrs than to
be shocked by commonplace immor-
atty But drawing-rooms and clubs
have had no sensation like this for
months, nor have they been so wrought
up.
Ask an English woman Of the circle
her grounds for alarm for supposing
the son of the Queen of England will
permit his daughter to marry the
grandson of a German fur peddler and
she will ansly yer, But the diamond he
gave the Princess Maud 1t is a fact
that Astor's New York properties have
contributed a gem worth a fortune to
the royal bride, but the circumstance
that the gift was not returned is signi-
ficant. 1t will be hard for Americans
to understand how much this really
means, and it is this that has set Lon
don agog. 1t is a tacit recognition of
the renegade American on the plane of
a British nobleman of the first rank.
Astor, with his millions of New York
rents, has been stalking high game.
To every one who has taken the trOu-
BILE to observe the cautious, deliberate
course adopted by the American mil
liOnaire, it has been apparent from the
very outset that he had in view some
definite aim, some object upon which
his ambition was centered, and to
which everything, his newspapers, his
magazines and his vast wealth, were
subordinate.
After having during the first few
years of his sojourn here maintained
the most reserved demeanOr, that, in
fact, of social chysalis, he has this
year burst forth as a fulI-fedged but
terfiy of the most gorgeous and magni-
ficent species, a butterfly, indeed, who
manifests supreme disdain for all but
the very choices flowers of England S
aristocracy At one moment it was re-
ported he had in view marriage with
Lady Randolph Churchill, and many
even went so far as to question her
sons as to the date fixed for the we'd
ding. But it has since become apparent
that w. w. Astor flies at far higher
game, that he aims at nothing less than
match with the British royalty in the
person of Princess Victoria, the only
unmarried daughter of the Prince and
Princess of Wales.
Slight as may appear the possibility
of Mr.. Astor's becoming the grandson
in-law of Queen Victoria, the matter is
very seriously discussed as not at all
unlikely in the drawing-rooms of, May
fair, in clubdom and in court circles.
And let it be understood right here at
the very outset. there is nothing what
soever in the English Constitution or
law to stand in the way of such an alli-
ance. One of Queen VictOria's daugh-
tiers, the charming Princess Louise, is
married to a commOner, her husband,
Lord Lorne, being only accorded the
title of Marquis by courtesy, and being
nothing more than mere John Camp
bell in the eyes of the law.
In marrying Princess Victoria Mr..
Aston would probably, like his future
brOther-in-law, receive the title of Duke
on his wedding day, and might become
as much factor in the history of Great
Britain as the lamented husband of
Queen Victoria, known by the title of
the Prince Consort.