“Fat Moll has stuck!”

Princess Mary of Cambridge, Duchess of Teck. Image from Wikimedia Commons

The Rt Hon. Elizabeth Mary Margaret Burke-Plunkett, Countess of Fingall (1862–1944) was a vivacious society lady of her day. A noted literary hostess, her salon at Earlsfort House served as a hub for Dublin intellectual circle until her death. Lady Fingall was renowned for her ability to make friends and she had met or hosted influential, aristocratic and royal figures of the turn-of-the-century Ireland and England, one of which was Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck. In her memoirs Seventy Years Young, Memories of Elizabeth,Countess of Fingal (1937) , the wrote a beautiful anecdote about the duchess, whom she recalled used to entertain the Duchess of Teck and her daughter, Princess May (later Queen Mary).

She was so charming and simple and talked to me about the Catholic religion, in which she was much interested. She told me that she was most proud of the Stuart side of her ancestry. She was very fat and so good humoured. Once she visited Andrew Carnegie, the great philanthropist, at Skibo Castle, and wanting to see the view from the roof, went up the spiral staircase inside one of the towers. The staircase grew narrower as it ascended and the little girl of the house, standing at the foot, watching anxiously, whispered to someone, not realising the unusual accoustic properties of the tower: “Fat Moll will stick.”

A cheerful voice called back, “Fat Moll has stuck!”