The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-13

George Keppel has never ceased being
received at court, and that since the
queen, whose strictness in all matters
pertaining to the good name of the women
of her court is notorious, had no fault to
find with Mrs Keppel, there was no
reason whatsoever why the Duke of Rich
mond should refuse to receive under his
roof the reigning beauty of the hour.
1t is a noteworthy fact that the queen
has in the same manner continued to re-
receive Ldy Warwick, Mrs. CORVALLIS
West, Lady de Grey, Mrs. Arthur Paget,
Mile de Fourges, and a score more beau
ties of the past and of the present, whose
names have at one time or another been
associated by kindly gossip or by calumny
with that of the future king of England.
Queen Victoria frequently without noise
closes the doors of her court to ladies for
no other offenSe than that they have been
talked about if she has any reason to sup
pose that the talk is warranted by fact.
AS every one of the ladies mentioned
above has never been subjected to any
disciplinary measures on the part of her
majesty, 1t may be taken for granted that
she has convinced herself that the atten-
lions of her pleasure-Ioving eldest son to
the fair ones in question has been Of an
innocent character.
1t is necessary to call attention to this
in order to prove the truth of the aSSer-
ton that in the eyes of those who know
the prince best there Is nothing worse
in his intimacy with Mrs Keppel than
Irritation of a rather pronounced order
with an attractive married womn. This
would not create so much attention were
it not for the fact that the man in the
case is the heir apparent to the throne.
The prince naturally prefers the society
of a witty, brilliant and lovely woman to
that of people who bore him, and mas
much as he has been brought up from
early boyhood to look upon his freedom
from ennui as a very important consider
alton, and as he takes the view that it
is possible for a man to be the devoted
admirer of a married woman and her
best friend. zen tout bien ct tout hon
neur," without according the slightest
pretext for the intervention of the d.
Vorce court, he has never considered it
necessary to place any restraint upon his
sentiments of platonic admiration for this
or that fair one.
No one would dream of asserting that
the prince is a saint. If he were one he
would not be half as popular with his
mothers subjects as he is today No
further evidence of this is needed than
the fact that his father, the late prince
consort, was by reason of his very blame
lessness denounced by Englishmen as
prig.
But there IS no DOUBT JndC the prince
has been charged with innumerable Of
lenses which he has never committed in
fact, it would be absolutely impossible
for him to have been guilty Of all the
misdeeds which have been laid at his
door
Wherever the prince has made no at
tenlpts to disguise or conceal his senti-
ments of admiration for fashionable
beauty, people may take it for granted
that it is because there is nothing to con-
ceaI and that the royal attentions are
in every sense of the word platonic and
innocent.
Il is perfectly true that the Princess of
Wales has at times given such marked
and public demonstration of i'll will to
the Countess of Warwick as to give rise
to an impression that it was due to
sentiment of jealousy and to a belief
that the intimacy between the peerless and
the prince We're of questionable char
acter. But this impression is unfounded,
and the attitude Of the princess towards
the countess has been due to the fact that
the latter made the mistake of offending
the notions of dignity of the princess by
keeping Albert Edward, metaphorically
speaking, at her feet, slave to her
charms at times when his wife and
daughters were present. It was not the
morals, but the manners of the countess
to which she objected so strongly.