Item 20 - Typescript letter signed to Beaton, from London

Is looking forward to Ashcombe on the 10th. Advises Beaton not to be depressed about the future as 'the real era of elegance and ease was blown sky high by that bomb at Sarajevo in July 1914'. All the great houses are closed and the 'climbers' like Emerald and 'Colebox' came into their own. Wishes Beaton and Michael had known the days when her mother had reigned at the Opera instead of Lady Cunard and there were the best singers. Thinks those days must have been the peak as 'one never heard the older generation sighing for the days of Queen Victoria'.