Royal Splendor

King Ferdinand of Rumania and beautiful Queen Marie, whose pen name is "Carmen Sylva," who is a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, therefore first cousin to King George, accompanied by a small suite, but unaccompanied by the Princess Ileana, fiancee pretendue of the Prince of Wales, arrived in London upon a state visit.

At Victoria Station the Rumanian royalties were met by King George and Queen Mary. From the station to Buckingham palace the route was lined with brilliantly uniformed soldiers and thousands of cheering Britons. Both Kings were dressed in military uniforms and were seated in the first carriage. Queen Mary was, as usual, dressed severely, wore a silver-tissue brocade coat and the inevitable perching toque, and, as usual, she looked every inch a Queen. Queen Marie wore a wine-red fur-trimmed cloak and a large hat well down upon her head.

Soon after their arrival at the Palace things began to happen. First, King Ferdinand and his Consort did the usual thing by driving down Whitehall and laying a wreath upon the Cenotaph. In the evening the British King and Queen gave a State Banquet at which most of the Royal Family were present, many of the peerage, and a number of Cabinet Ministers, including Premier Ramsay MacDonald and his daughter Ishbel.

The next evening King Ferdinand and Queen Marie gave a banquet to the British Sovereigns in the Rumanian Legation. The Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of York were also present. Queen Marie, in a wondrous gown of gold brocade, stood at the head of the magnificant Legation staircase with her husband and received the guests. The Legation was smothered with roses and pink trimmings, pink being the favorite color of Queen Marie. At the banqueting table gold plate was used and the dishes were of valuable Sevres.

Then came a State banquet given in Buckingham Palace. Two thousand guests were present. It was the first ball to be given in many years. Dancing was strictly a la Victorienne, King George and Queen Mary having displayed their antipathy for modern dancing by banning the fox trot and other neo-terpsichorean frills. The four Sovereigns opened the ball by leading in the formal quadrille d'honneur which has opened royal balls since the days of George III. The remainder of the evening was then filled with waltzes, polkas and the like. According to official report there was no political significance attached to the visit. Both King Ferdinand and Queen Marie especially the latter, are popular figures in Britain. Nevertheless, rumor had it that Rumania was scouting for a new ally, it having been asserted that Czecho-Slovakia and Yugo-Slavia were about to oust her from the Little Entente.