ABSTRACT
A feature of late Victorian social life was the readiness of well-to-do hosts and hostesses to turn to the conjurer for their private entertainment. A few magicians specialized in this kind of show and made an excellent living by providing drawing-room magic for the upper classes. In the Society gossip columns of The Times the following day a notice stated: Douglas Beaufort's Highness the Duke of Teck was present last evening at a dinner held by Lord George Hamilton at his Mayfair residence. Afterwards the guests watched a performance by Mr. Douglas Beaufort, a young man who promises to become one of the cleverest and most refined Drawing-room Entertainers of the present day. Douglas Beaufort was perhaps the last of the great Society entertainers, and one of the last of the notable Victorians. The Duke of Teck, father of Princess May, was an important figure in Victorian Society.
