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When ROYALTY is
ENTERTAINED
There will be many flutterings in do-<
mestic dovecots if Prince George visits
Australia.
He is reputed to be a good dancer,
and have many other qualities that will
make entertaining an easy matter.
Australia has been visited by two
members of the Royal family in recent
years. We have learned that such people
have many human, lovable traits that
make one unafraid of the reputed high
dignity of princes.
WHEN the Prince of Wales was in
Melbourne he commanded Mrs.
Fred Payne and Mrs. Chirnside to ask
him to their dances. At Mrs. Payne's
dance His Royal Highness wandered
away and got lost in the Malvern Hills.
Admiral Halsey was nearly out of his
mind. Mrs. Payne had an attack of
nervous prostration.
The Prince of Wales, while he liked
to dance with strangers occasionally
preferred to keep to the same few part-
ners. Before he left England, Lady
Milbanke (then Lady Loughborough)
said, "Be sure to meet Mollie Little,
she is one of my dearest friends."
Thus it was that Sydney became used
to seeing the Royal car (easily recog-
nisable because the chauffeur was
always standing) outside "Brooksby,"
Double Bay.
His Royal Highness could show his in-
difference by not arriving at the Queen's
Club and the matrons' dances (12
guineas for six invitations) until 11.40
p.m., but at other times was most
thoughtful. The daughter of one well-
known hostess had measles and couldn't
go to her own party. The Prince asked
for an extra programme, wrote his own
name on it four times, and then got his
staff to fill it in. He sent it upstairs
with a note to the patient, saying it was
her programme.
No doubt she could hear the music,
and was to imagine during each dance
that she was dancing with the people
who had written their names.
Supper menus need never have been
a problem to hostesses of the Prince of
Wales. He once said to a Sydney girl:
"We must have another dance later. I
can't arrange it now, as I never know
when they are going to turn on the
beastly supper."
Another time, when he was visiting
"Moonige" station, near Nyngan, nobody
could find the butter-knife. It was finally
discovered inside the piano, where the
Prince had dropped it, being amused at
hearing it rattle.
His Royal Highness did not pose as
a musician, but he was no mean per-
former. Banging the drum was a favorite
means of artistic expression, and he did
it often when he visited the Wentworth.
He rushed home to Government House
one night from a party, and was about
to bang loud and long on the drum
given him by the men on the "Renown."
History reports that the Governor "beat
him to it."
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