Evening star., 1923-09-07
By THE MARQUIS DE FONTEvO,

-"ahdbiS LIE FONTENOS. ].
Under the stage name of Nancy
PARSONS, pretty Lady Mercy Gre
vile, nipeteen-year- old daughter of
the Earl and Countess of Warwick. of
Warwick castle. has for the last six
months, been earning her living as a
professional actress. at the Ambas ssa
dor Theater in London and is now
touring in the provinces with her
company, in the play THE Lilies OF
the Field"
Although, filling, until now. relative
ly minor parts, she has proved enough
of success to determine her to adopt
the stage as a permanent career The
fact is. she has been fond of acting
ever since she was fourteen when her
mother. Lady Warwick, fitted up an
old barn on her estate at Little Eas-
ton, in Essex, as a village theater, for
the entertainment of the local peas
antry, and in which Lady Mercy fire.
quently appeared in Shakespearean
parts, on one occasion under the di-
rection of Ellen Terry But she had
to learn that there is vast difference
between amateur starring and real
professional acting and that is why
she is working her way up from xhe
lower rungs of the ladder.
Lady Mercy's eldest brother is Gen.
Lord Brooke. c. y. c., who command
ed Canadian infantry brigadeS in
France in the great war, took part in
the Boer campaign of quarter of d
century ago, and acted as Reuter- cor
con ~ darNt i'm ft.11 IL -l,.,
Russo-Japanese war. He is married
to Elfrida. daughter of the late Sir
William Eden of Maryland Lady
Mercy's eldest sister, Lady Marjorie.
is the mother of the very rich Earl
of Fitzwilliam by her first marriage,
of her husband on the battlefield.
Since then she has married again. her
second husband being Sir Gervase
Beckett. the banker, brother of Lord
Grimthorpe. But Lady Mercy's par
ents have long been in terribly
straitened circumstances and. while
Warwick house, st. James, in London.
is now the home of Lord Rothmere's
son, ESmond Harmsworth and War
wick castle has been tenanted on a
long lease by Mr.. and Mrs. Henry w.
Marsh of Boston and New York, Lady
Warwick's own particular property,
Easton lodge. in Essex. has, at least
on two occa siopS. been the scene of a
sheriff's sale of all her alienable be-
longings for the benefit of her cred
itors. Consequently, Lady Mercy has
little to expect in the way of none
tary assistance or of inheritance from
either. of her parents. Consequently.
she is doing well to pick out for her
self a profession of her own, which
may prove lucrative and in which
she is already making enough of a
success to assure her of independence.
X N X
Prince Andrew of Russia. who, with
his wife. has just undertaken the
management of the so-called Re-
gents Park Club in London-a coun-
try club in the metropolis formed of
the estate of the late r. u. Walker of
cricketing fame. is a son of the
Grand Duchess Xenia. eldest sister of
the ill-fated Emperor Nicholas. He
is, therefore, a grandson of Alexander
III and of the latter's widow, Czarina
Marie. 1t is necessary to explain this
in order to avoid his being con-
founded with Grand Duke Andre
Wladimirowitch, brother of the Grand
Dukes Cyril and Boris. (.
Grand Duke Andrew is far better
off than either of his brothers or than
his cousin and nameSake. For. two
years ago. he contracted a marriage
at Nice with Mathide Kszessinska,
formerly the premier baflerina of the
imperial corps de ballet at Petrograd,
and who, by the the time of the out
break of the great war. had amassed
an immense fortune among 'le monde
ou fon s'amuse" In the Russian capi-
tai as we'll as collection of Jewels
that enjoyed international fame. She
managed to escape from Petrograd at