Comments on: Really rich men smoking quietly in corners

By: Henry Brownrigg

Henry Brownrigg — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:41:09 +0000

Who was it who described White’s as ‘an island of civilisation in a sea of democracy’?

By: Gerald Warner of Craigenmaddie

Gerald Warner of Craigenmaddie — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:41:32 +0000

A detail on Lord Ballantrae (Sir Bernard Fergusson of Kilkerran): when he was serving under Orde Wingate with the Chindits in Burma, among the supplies dropped by the RAF to those doughty warriors was a supply of monocles for Fergusson, since the damage/loss rate was so high in the jungle.

By: Fr J F Emerson

Fr J F Emerson — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:49:50 +0000

History can play funny tricks: Ribbentrop’s son Adolf (named after you-know-who) is a prominent member of German society, and a Knight of Malta. His wife is a Countess Eltz (who by her first marriage is the mother of Germany’s Minister of Finance, Baron Guttenberg), and his nephew (ex matre v Trotha) recently married a granddaughter of a Prince Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn.

By: Rafal Heydel-Mankoo

Rafal Heydel-Mankoo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:56:00 +0000

The Ballantrae line would be good contenders for the Kiwi Throne but perhaps the offer of first refusal should go to The Lady Davina Lewis (daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester) and her husband, Mr. Gary Lewis?

Mr. Lewis, a former builder and son of a champion sheepshearer, is the first Maori to marry into the Royal Family. Though hardly as accomplished as the Ballantrae breed, with Lady Davina Lewis’ future issue sporting Maori blood and ranking fairly high in the line of succession, this family would seem to have a strong case.

By: Andrew Cusack

Andrew Cusack — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:41:39 +0000

I’ve often thought that the line of Lord Ballantrae (né Bernard Fergusson, and sometime Chancellor of the University of St Andrews) would have the best claim to the throne of New Zealand should the Windsors ever exit the scene: Lord Ballantrae was Governor-General, as was his father, and both his grandfathers served as Governor of New Zealand.

His son is currently Her Majesty’s High Commissioner to New Zealand, appropriately enough.

By: Rafal Heydel-Mankoo

Rafal Heydel-Mankoo — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:27:22 +0000

You are no doubt familiar with Waugh’s infamous diary entry from March, 1964:

“Randolph Churchill went into hospital to have a lung removed. It was announced that the trouble was not malignant. Seeing Ed Stanley in White’s, on my way to Rome, I remarked that it was a typical triumph of modern science to find the only part of Randolph that was not malignant and remove it.”

Happily, with Randolph’s health fast deteriorating, the two men ‘sheathed their swords for lack of argument’ later that same month, ending a twelve year estrangement.