The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-29


 knew still refuse entirely to discredit cess Mary's engagement to the Earl of Dalketh will be made public. Of course, it must be rather embarrassing even for princess to have an announcement re- garding her matrimonial intentions made public, and then contradicted on the same day. But it is said that there is more than spice of truth concerning the attachment of the young couple, only | it is not official" and, therefore, ac- cording to court etiquette it cannot be mentioned publicly.
 | Certainly the match seems quite an excellent one both for the princess and the earl There are very few princes of | royal houses who are eligible for the hand of a kings daughter at the present | time. Therefore, her union with the 1 heir to the Duke of Buccleuch seems ex | e ptionaily correct Lord Dalkeith is | great friend of the Prince of Wales and | they are nearly of an age. Both the , prince and his sister dearly love dancing, and since Queen Mary has within the ] last few months been less strict in her home regime, the young people have met frequently both at formal dances at | houses where the princess is occasionally permitted to visit. I believe that it is however, Windsor castle that has been the scene of good many tete-a-tetes between the future duke and the popular princess.
 l I am told that Lord Dalkeith is the greatest parti in the peerage and that | he is heir to vast possessions for the l Duke of Buccleuch owns more estates 1 than any other peer in the kingdom. Among the most famous of the ducal
 residences is Broughon house in North
 hamptonshire and Dalkeith house, which is in Scotland, as are also Lang holm lodge in Dumfrieshire, Drumlanrig castle in Dunfermline and Bowhill at Selkirk-suredy long enough rent roll for any young man of twenty five to 1 fall heir to. At any rate the story IS l that we have by no means heard the l last of Princess Mary's romance with | the Earl of Dalkeith.
 1 London is looking really quite like it. self once more. Gorgeous weather, many entertainments and crowds of people everywhere make it as gay and wonder l ful place as one could wish to see Everybody is dancing and the gowns that Fare worn on all and every occasion sur pass in extravaganza and elegance even | the pre-war efforts of the ,dressmakers. Big balls and little parties, dinners, the opera, and luncheons follow each other lin a whirlwnd of activity, and Plcca- dilly and the park 'show a kaleidoscope passing to and fro of open cars and 1 carriages conveying wonderfully garped
 women en route l., various functions. i Lady Pagets deatn in Paris has been
 a great shock to English people as well | as to Americans in London, for she | was a great personality in the soclai world, and arrangements were already far in advance for number Of big paiis l and charitable entertainments that she | was organizing. Exactly who will take Iup the reins that she has so skillfuily lheld for so many years is not known A
 good many people, however, suggest that the beautiful Countess of Dregheda is her most likely successor.
 She is an admirable organizer and IS responsible for the success of a good many functions of charitable nature during the war She is the lady who is
 generally called "the flying countess. She takes a special interest in aviatlon' land toured" a whole museum Of op-
 jects of interest to do with the air serV- ice round the country under her own
 management for the benefit of nos
 nital for members of the Royal Air forces.
 | Exactly who will take on the ma Iarrangements for the coming Peace ball is a matter of some indecision at the
 moment It is a festivity that IS 1neVl table and I should think would marx
 the last of the very big pupilc ehtei, tainments to be given in London tnls lseason. People are getting just little . tired of big balls. They much prefel smaller and less crowded affairs where they can dance in comfort and nave good time without an immense amour of crowding and surplus outlay Q
 money.
 month or more ago. I visited thu
 great Aviation depot at Farnborough ! Hampshire which is near the famou military town and establishment
 Aldershot. A boy with bright brown eye
 and curly dark hair showed me Variou points of interest and also oispiaSeu ,,,o e
 me with pride a monstrous wooden puiiu . inp that housed, at that time, the DIE . pest aeroplane that had ever been buli'
 "As soon as I make my test flight 10
 the transatlantic passage in that aero
 plane" he said to me, 'l Will take yo
 for your first air trip in my own HUI HUI . 1 m. chine' The test trip HsAs peel , s,artad and ended in utter disaster; tn great Tarrant aeroplane stands hldeou . wreck at the Farnborough Aerodromt : and that bright-eyed boy, Captain Dunf { is dead h., 1 l Dunn was only about 20. but ne ha seen enough of war to make nm lnoee a veteran. lie was oie ot M : cheery, amusing young men nave eve ' met. and by all who know him at a T l well he was always called Dusty. Tn
 dav after the disaster I had iette
 l from one of his brother officers who wa e m the scene when the tragedy occurred n He writes a rather interesting accour T of the affair as seen from close qual
 ters, and I acute it because I think Una Il just now every one is thrilled by tn
 spirit of adventure and immense heroisr
 stirring in airmen who are testing tn
 practicality of aviation all over tn
 world
 we arrived at the aerodrome,' write n my correspondent about 3 o'clock o