Friday, February 4, 2011

Princess Royal may see brother in Austria

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February 4, 1937

The Princess Royal and her husband, the Earl of Harewood, are making plans to leave London for Austria, and "some of those who profess to know to say that the Princess Royal will make an extended stay with her brother," while her husband returns to London.
According to an exclusive report in the Chicago Daily Tribune,  the Princess Royal wants to "repair differences" with her eldest brother, the Duke of Windsor, who is now living at Enzesfeld Castle near Vienna.

The Princess's marriage to Lord Harewood "was never popular" with the Duke.  Her visit may provide a mutual benefit to herself and to her brother as the Duke is "feeling rather acutely the reaction from the strain incident to his recent abdication and matrimonial tangle."

There have been reports that of a rift between the Princess and her husband in the "gossipy papers," but others believe that the Princess Royal is going to Austria for a "conference on family matters with her brother -- matters which require discretion."

The Duke's youngest brothers, the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent,  "have been warned away from Austria,"  but "no such bar was raised against a brief Austrian holiday for the pleasant, much respected Princess Royal."   She met with family members, who agreed that she and her husband should arrange a trip to Vienna.
The brothers-in-law are not close.   The Duke, as Prince of Wales, is reported to have said: "Every day I get commoner and commoner and every day Lascelles gets royaler and royaler."   Lord Harewood was titled Viscount Lascelles at the time of his marriage to Princess Mary.

Three years, after the Princess Royal had undergone an appendectomy, the Prince of Wales announced at a public dinner:  "The best news I can give you of my sister is that I spoke on the telephone to Lord Harewood about half an hour ago and he told me he was going to out fulfill an engagement."

It appears that Prime Minister Baldwin has "forced Harewood to go to Enzensfeld and bury the hatchet."  The earl will be occupying "a greater share of the limelight" now as George VI has named him as one of his aides-de-camp.

Read more about the Princess Royal and her family

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