From: The Great Bend Register, 9 Jul 1908, Thu • Page 2
Princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy is in town. And that’s not all.
With her are three maids, by courtesy French; first, second and third attaché; marshal, courtier, butler, chef, and, for good measure, three or four other menservants.
And that’s not all. Also with her are one small yappy, white woolly dog, one pair of guinea pigs badly in need of a haircut, a couple of young wolves, an ibis, a falcon, several owls, and a family of alligators.
And that’s not all. Accompanying her are several drays of the gaudiest luggage that any local hotel ever sheltered. It is all painted red, white, and green—the Hungarian colors.
All these—princess, suite, menagerie, and impediments—are at the Willard. They arrived from Hot Springs, VA, a few days ago in a private car. They proceeded to the hotel after some delay, in half a dozen carriages, and after considerable excitement on the part of the hotel employees, Her Highness was finally established in a suite which comprises almost the entire southeast wing of the second floor. The princess had ordered a room with a balcony and was justly indignant when she found she had been relegated to the fourth floor, where there was no balcony.
In vain did the manager explain that the lower floors were not in use in the summer, that they were closed entirely and dismantled. They must be opened and refurnished. Madame wanted a balcony and must have a balcony. The closed rooms were forthwith opened and furnished in the shortest possible time, and Mme. la Princess Paraghy was installed in a suite of something like 20 rooms with a balcony.
She has what figures as her second sitting room exclusively for her menagerie and is lamenting that she decided to ship a young bear, a dear little tiger kitten, and a furry little lion cub direct to her home at Nice.
The princess is the most picturesque lady who has enlivened Washington for many moons. She was here for a few days last February, but attracted little attention after the fiction that she was here to paint the president had been denied both at the White House and by Madam herself.
She is Hungarian by birth and Russian by marriage, but that did not last long. Like any American girl, she had to get rid of her Russian prince.
“She has what figures as her second sitting room exclusively for her menagerie and is lamenting that she decided to ship a young bear, a dear little tiger kitten, and a furry little lion cub direct to her home at Nice.”
“Accompanying her are several drays of the gaudiest luggage that any local hotel ever sheltered. It is all painted red, white, and green—the Hungarian colors.”
“The princess had ordered a room with a balcony and was justly indignant when she found she had been relegated to the fourth floor, where there was no balcony.”
“They must be opened and refurnished. Madame wanted a balcony and must have a balcony.”
“The princess is the most picturesque lady who has enlivened Washington for many moons.”
