Evening star., 1911-08-20
SOCIETY LID IS OFF
Cowes Unique Among Worlds
Watering Places.
WHERE KINGS H0BN0B
The One Place Where Royalty Feels
at It's Ease.
A NEW DIPLOMATIC STAR
Kiderlin-Waechter's Rapid Rise As
tonishes Astute States
men Of Europe.
LONDON, August 10. 1911

LONDON, August 10. 1911
Cowes. where fashionable London has
now gathered, may be described as So
ciety with the lid off Here you see all
the doings cf the great ones at short
range. They leave the wide world OF
London-pale with the fatigues of the
season-to foregather on the breezy
heights Of Goodwood for the big racing
fixture, and where the great houses with
in a radius Of five miles shelter every
body who is anybody But a week later
Cowes finds them much more concen-
trated,, and the inclosure Of the Royal
Yacht Squadron clubhouse IS a pocket
edition of Debrett.
Dukes, marquises and earls, dutchesses,
marchionesses and countesses sit by the
dozen in the basket chairs on the green
lawns, and quite often they are Joined by
kings and queens and prncesses. And
the public may peep through the ratings
to watch the doings of the members OF
the most exclusive club in the world. The
lid of that mysterious world. which Or
binary mortals may hear of through the
society columns OF the newspapers, is
lifted for one week only, and the crowd
may gaze to its hearts content, and see
prince in blue serge and yachting
cap, chatting with a duchess clad in at
tire as simple as its own.
Kings Toast Each Other.
And more wonderful still. at dinner
at which the kings of England and Spain
toast each other the crowd outside
bathed in the light of the illuminations
which mark the last festal recognition Of
the coronation, may share in the strains of
the orchestra, which, not ten feet away,
is playing to the brilliant company in
side; may mark the sudden hush within
which proclaims that the King of Eng
land is toasting the King of Spa ain; then
hear the strains OF the Spanish national
anthem as the company stands to drink,
followed by another short silence. and
one bar of God Save the King when
the King of Spain toasts the King of
England. or a brief space the crowd is
almost as near to the life OF Its sovereign
and his attendant great ones as were the
Bourgeois at Versailles in the days when
they were admitted to see Louis the Six
teenth and Marie Antoinette eat their
dinner together.
But they who gaze through the ratings
and wait near the jetty where the royal
ties arrive in their spick-and-span steam
pinnaces are only the visitors to Cowes.
The inhabitants, in spite of the fact that
Cowes is only small town, or perhaps
because of 1t. are most sophisticated in
the matter o. august visitors. Queen
Victoria had her summer home at OS-
borne. a couple of miles away, and King
Edward was a great yachtsman and a
member of the club. They have been
brought up In the very atmosphere of
royalty itself, and so the annual vista
ton of dukes and earls moves them not
except that it Is good for trade. How
can 1t be otherwise when King Alfonso
himself walks down the narrow main
streets and pops into a tabacconist $
shop to buy cigarettes-that boyish king
fresh from the tiller of his racing yacht,
and looking like any other healthy young
man in yachting costume.
Greatness Thrust Upon It.
Perhaps Cowes accepts these things a
little too easily. 1t has really done moth
ing to deserve all this distinction and
Cowes is a striking example Of great
ness being thrust upon a town. 1t hap
pens to be in the Solent, and that is
all. Without that famous stretch of
water, provided by a far-seeing' Provi-
dence for the express purpose of yacht
racing. Cowes would remain an obscure
little place known only to adventurous
annually blazes forth into a brilliance
which attracts kings and emperors, and
leaves London denuded of eminent
people. 1t is partly. no doubt. this
pTlHlIlV0 simplicity which In 1tSei1 at
tracts the great ones. glad for a spell
to escape from the formality and cere-
mony Of the courts. And certainly one
could not imagine King Alfonso walking
unheeded in yachting suit along the
promenade at Blackpool or Brighton.
handsome four-mile promenade. And
an electric tram might detract from the
interest of the yacht racing.
After all. the Solent's the thing at
nlt t. <rl., =
to enjoy it. The trim steam yachts,
with their shining white counters and
polished brasswork-pretty as houseboats,
only larger and more expensive-are not
for the multitude to look at and peer
into. except through telescope They
are separated from the crowds on the
promenade by a quarter of a mile of
jealous water, and once on board it's
yacht society is as inviolate as In
Berkeley Square. One may compromise by
boat, which, although splendid in it's
way. is not a steam yacht, and could
never by any chance. be described as "a
veritable floating palace"
On the Water and on Shore.
Cowes on the water is separated by
great spaces from Cowes on the shore.
Even the racing itself is hardly for the
multitude which may join so intimately
In that other great sport OF kings-horse
racing. The yachts start from near the
wooded shore of West Cowes, glorious
in their spread of white sails. but soon,
like aeroplanes. lost to view In the dis
tance. And until they return there is
no more to be seen from the shore. al
though the crowd remains faithful to
its idea that II is watching the racing,
and budges not from the favorite van
tage point under the walls of the Royal
Yacht Squadron clubhouse. where the
little brass guns announce the start Of
each race.
It is impossible to follow the yacht
racing. although the hotels charge heav-
lily for that fictitious privilege. so that
one remains out of it,, a mere looker-on
of other peoples pleasures. and that is
not sufficiently interesting Cowes exists
for those who own steam yachts and
for those who come to look at the own
ers of steam yachts, and that settles the
matter. And the end of the week sees
both Cowes and society in the same con-
dition-Cowes back to its usual calm and
obscurity, and society again fortified be-
hind its habitual reserve and off for a
round of country-house visits until Lon
don calls again.
New Star in Diplomacy.