Disclosures of a Royal Beauty I
Arty” Friends Versus
Home and Kiddies in
the Muda of £
\ Sarawak’s 77//1
| with Her White 1
’ Heir to a Borneo
'll
Throne jp
A Citizen of Sarawak—
Borneo Tribesmen De
corated With Human
Hair. At Rieht. Coat
af-Arms of the Brooke Family, Ruler* of Sere
Kali Since Sir James Brooke, an English Ad
venturer, Made Himself Rajah of the Borneo
Kingdom.
ryyHE> lovely Gladys l’almcr at
\X/ guired the imposing title of
Iler Highness the IMyang
Huda of Sarawak, she waa just turned
eighteen. Young, eager, with a re
sponsive heart and a love of the arts,
Gladys was much flattered to have
Bertram Brooke, the Tuan Muda him
lelf, white heir-apparent to the throne
>f Sarawak, a far-away Borneo king
lorn, pay court to her.
‘‘Almost the first words he said to
me were, ‘Will you marry me?’ And,
after a breathless second of hesitation
l replied, ‘Yes.’ ”
It wasn’t long before the world
knew that the Tuan Muda and his wife
were not as happy as might be. Even
the arrival of four bouncing kiddies, as
the years passed, failed to patch up
increasing temperamental dillicuKies
within the royal family. No one knew
just what the trouble was, and of
course tongues wagged all over Eng
land. There was every clement to
excite the imagination: the exotic
flavor of a wild Borneo kingdom's
white rulers; great wealth and a mys
terious clash of wills that no one Quite
understood.
Not long ago London society avidly
thumbed the pages of a book entitled
“Relations and Complications,” writ
ten by none other than the Dayang
Muda herself. Surely, here would be
the fascinating inside 6tory of the un
happy beauty’s marital troubles. But
lespite its promising title, those who
read it were a little disappointed.
There was much discourse upon nota
bles of the day, much drawing-room
small talk, but little of the intimate
stuff that London wanted.
Then Call de Vidal Hunt, inter
national newspaperman and corres
pondent of this magazine, decided to
ask for an interview with the Dayang
Muda and frankly put to her the (jues
ROYAL HUSBAND
The Tuan Mu da of Sarawak—
Otherwise Bertram Brooke—Wlio
Met and Married the Beautiful
Gladys Palmer, Heiresa to Biscuit j
Millions, When She Was Eighteen.
Their Estrangement Was a Mystery
Until Now.
tions in everyone’s mind. Apparently
nobody had thought of that before.
Mr. Hunt was received cordially by
Her Highness. Rather timidly he
broached the subject of her marital
troubles.
She sighed deeply. “Surely, I will
tell you the whole story.”
Here, then, was no haughty society
matron, but a very human woman
longing to pour her troubles into a
sympathetic ear.
She prefaced her revelations; Mr.
Hunt’s cabled report of the interview
discloses, with a brief recapitulation of
exactly what it means to be a member
of Sarawak’s royal family. Her hus
band, the Tuan Muda, is the grand
nephew of Sir Janies Brooke, famed
British soldier of fortune, who, in the
middle of the last century, became the
first white Rajah of a little-known
Malay kingdom in the wilds of Borneo.
Sarawak's independence was recog
nized in lSoo by President Franklin
Pierce of the United States and in
ItiGti bv Queen Victoria of England.
Brooke, the sea-faring adventurer.
WHERE IS SARAWAK?
.Up of the Malay Archipelago, Showing the Location of the
(ingdotn on the Northeast Coatt of the Island of Borneo—
Indicated by Shaded Portion.
earned his rise to the Rajah's seat by
ably suporting the then-rul'ivr Malay
It a jali, Muda Hassim, in his difficulties
with the savage head-hunting tribes of
Sarawak. For services rendered, the
native sovereign made Brooke heir to
the throne—and from that day the
Brooke dynasty has reigned supreme
over a territory of some 68,000 square
miles, a country fabulously rich in.
m. -- "-iF
natural resources. The present KajaT
is Sir Charles Vyncr Bro.Ue, brother
of the husband from whom Gladys rai
nier is estranged. .
“In my book,” Her Royal Highness
began, “I recalled many happenings in
my mother’* salon, her intimate friend
ships with such men as John Ruskin,
Oscar Wilde, Alphonse Daudet, George
Meredith, and Swinburne. I told of my
own contacts, as Dayang Muda, witn
such men as Sir Philip Burne-Jom =.
Ellen Terry, Wiibur Wright, the Em
press Eugenie, Frank Harris, and the
Due d’Orleans. But I want now to con
vey to those who may be interested
the purely personal side of my rela
tions with the husband.
“Choose the Right Field
GRAHAM GROSVENOR
V V *1
RE I again a lad of fifteen.
I'd devote most of rny
thought to the choice of a
Held of endeavor. I’d be rare I wanted
ko enter it when I did. The earlier a
Hfe’e work la chosen, the sooner suc
cess will be achieved.”
Graham B. Grosvenor, president of
* the Aviation Corporation, $200,000,000
, world-leader of aeronautic concerns,
believes that the fruit of his long, suc
cessful experience would be of great
service to Mm If he started all over
attain.
What he’d do, back at the beginning
of the trail, ought to be intensely in
teresting to all young men today who
are just beginning the climb. “Once
the extremely important business of
choosing my goal were disposed of,"’
he continues. *Td strive everlastingly
toward it, disregarding all the non-es
sentials which did not contribute to its
attainment. Those non-essentials are
really important if they aren't dis
carded.
“Foresight, initiative and depend
ability are cardinal qualities of *ucce»»
—and they can be cultivated. Wel
come responsibility. With it comes
authority and, with increasing author
ity, advancement.
“It seems to me vain to tell anyone
to work hard. That ought never to be
necessary. If one’s occupation has
been wisely chosen, a natural interest
in it will inspire hard work. If you’re
not working hard, it’s time to examine
what you’re doing pretty critically.
The chances are you’re unsuited to
your vocation.
And don t be timid about a change
if you see that you’re on the wrong
track. Get out immediately, before
it’s too late.”
Graham Grosvcnor went to work
first as an office boy with the Otis
Elevator Company, By the time he was
33 his undeviating aim for success had
brought him to the vice-presidency.
Then he probably exercised the same
initiative in changing jobs that he rec
ommends to young men now. He
changed his job, going to work as a
free-lance consulting engineer.
But even then he wasn’t satisfied.
He had always been interested in avia
tion, and when the chance came to be
president of the Fairchild Airplane
Manufacturing Company, he took it.
It was but another upward step to the
presidency of the largest aeronautic
group in the world.
“There are innumerable men in all
walks of life interested, as I am, in
aviation,” he says. “And aviation, in
turn, is interested profoundly in men.
l’rrsonnel is one of the major prob
lems of this rapidly rising industry.
“The untrained, however, have little
place in the field. Those whose hearts
and minds are bent upon identifying
themselves with aeronautics had best
prepare by sound technical schooling.
For competent engineers, skilled pilots,
trained administrator* and experienced
— Graham Grosvenor
executives, there is and there will be
an even greater demand.
“Such schooling, combined with ap
plication and close attention t« ♦'Hails,
will get you there.”
Thaaa Ana Typical Subjaeti Ovar Which tha Brooka
Family Haa Rulad for Many Yaart. Thia Unuaual
Fhoto Showa Wiva* of Sarawakian Haadhuntara
Holding Thair Huaband'a Grim Trophiea.
“f want to re
veal how I broke
with my husband
because he placed
my four dear chil
dren under the tu
telage of the Brit
ish courts—placed
them there, away
from me, because
he did not approve
of my actions or
the company I was
keeping.”
Mr. Hunt then
heard from her
lips the atory of
her impetuous woo
ing, at eighteen, by the very suave, re
served and enigmatic Tuan Muda. The
correspondent was told how the mar
riage almost went upon the rocks dur
ing the honeymoon.
“1 longed for affection of the de
monstrative type. It was my nature.
Cut ‘Adeh,’ as his mother called him
and I called him later, was so well
,-Wed that he carried an implacable
aloofness. This was charming in pub
lic, but I always hoped that he would
cast aside this cloak during our mo
ments alone.
“I remember that on our wedding
night he found me reading Omar
Khayyam. He picked up the book.
‘Oh, it’s poetry. I say, old thing, the
moon's marvelous tonight.’ ”
Although, as the daughter of Sir
Walter Palmer, of biscuit renown,
Gladys inherited some $2,600,000, her
husband, she told Mr. Hunt, frequently
taxed her with extravagances.
“We took a house in Ascot that first
year. It belonged to my father and
was called Kingswich. All London came
to my concerts there. Often I had
Emma Calve and Clara Butt. Mr. and
Mrs. Asquith, Lord and Lady Reading
and the Marquis and Marchioness of
Londonderry w ere always on my door
step. But my husband never cared for
my friends. He shunned them.’’
. Next, Her Highness said, she moved
with her husband to Australia, and
finally they went to live in Sarawak—
“a beastly uncivilized country.” Among
the brown-skinned Malays and the
ebony warriors scarcely a generation
removed from head-hunting, the Davang
Muda was not happy. She longed for
The ABC*8 of General Knowledge
The Ten Largest City Growths Since 1900
Based on Percentage
Source: Bureau of the Census
Chart by FUELING FOSTER
o
Lob Angeles hap achieved the fastest city
development in history. It is almost 14 times
larger today than it was in 1900. Los Angeles
is also the largest city in land area and the
fourth largest city in population in the
United States.
Lot Angelet
* Top.lation Population
I960 IMS
102,479 1,500.000*
llouaton .. 44,635 273,000
Birmingham ■•,,,««......*«m 30,415 222,400
Akron .*..* 42,720 240,000
Dalian. 42.6.311 217,800
Detroit ...a. 283,704 1478,900
Seattle ... 80,671 383,200
Oakland . 66,660 274,100
Sen Antonio..,.,... 53.321 218,100
Norfolk .. 46.624 1843100
fa On.
1463.7%
516.1%
478.9%
461.7%
410.8%
382.6%
375X1%
309.3%
809X1%
293.1%
* This figure fa « (Minflr
fan! mNhmM aarf aatii kata ai <m lata
•it H «r« pubiiiheJ 67 ika Caaaat Bureau.
Coryrljbt, 1929. Iat«niit1oo*l /otura 6«>ic«, Iso. Otwl BrlUla Hfhti l«»nl
England and her artiatic 1
friends. At last she wen*. ij
back. “What I cared for
particularly was having my
children benefit from tb«
highly cultured and refined
people I gathered around
me."
Then the Tuan M uda returned sud
denly to England end pieced her chil
dren, she said, in the custody of the
courts. “English law ia that way. A
mother has nothing to say. My despair
cannot be described. I was helpless.”
Finally came the dramatic interview
between the temperamentally different
husband and wife. Her version of it
unveils the crux of their whole dis
agreement.
iou must give up all these people '
if you want the children back,’ he told
me.
‘“What do you mean?’ I demanded.
“Ho crushed out a cigarette and eyed
me coldly. ‘You will never under
stand my nature. I want n wife who
will interest herself solely and wholly
in my home life. I don’t care how you
dfess, or what you look like, so lone:
as you occupy yourself with the chil
dren. But what have you done ?
You’ve spent money recklessly. You've
surrounded yourself with a collection
of freaks that ban* tnr-the-piand and
imagine, they axe pudding Beethovens.
Y’ou’ve been carried away by miserable
worms who’ll take every penny you
have and in return show you fifteen
lines of cheap poetry. I, as a soldier,
don’t care ttfo pins about these people:’
“Of course, I waa indignant. ‘You’re
putlihg a knife in my thrbat, but I’ll
never surrender my rights!* I cried.
“I know my children will always
love and honor me for being honestly
true to my ideas of life, both aa wife
and mother. I can look them all
straight in the eyes. I love them. X
M1SMATED?
The Charming Dayang Midi pf
Sarawak, Formerly Gladys Palmai.
Biscuit Heiress, Who in Accompanyin;
Article Makes Interesting Revelation.
About Her Domestic Life with
Tuan Muda, Bertram Brooke. She*
Shown Here in Sarawakian Native
Robes.
love my friends. W'liat would any othe;
woman have done in my place?1’
Thua did the truth, from the Dayanj
Muda’s own lips, reach the world.
Bg OMMSm-GiriM-Mst
FATE
.(On theRicerbank).
“To chmngo tli* night into morning bright.”
/F Fate should offer to me
A choice of gifts: All joys
Unshared by company—
And all the toys
This frivolous world employs
When pleasure-bent.
Or, on the other hand,
The whole of grief
Heaped in a measure beyond bcacf
With you to understand
And bring relief
When others went.
n r*
/,SHOULD find choosing difficult
For joy unshared turns pale
And toys unlent grow stale,
And the certain result
When these things fail
Is grief.
But if I should take the grief at first.
I’d have at the outset the very worst,
For you would be there
To change the night
Into morning bright
And fair.
1