End Of A Dynasty?

Helen's Home. George II and George V, as every Rumanian knows, are firm friends. Last week the deposed King of Greece (still rated a king by the British Court) was in Bucharest with his sister Helen, the divorced Queen of Rumania. Gossip buzzed fiercely that George II was backed by George V. Allegedly the British King Emperor has sent a "sharp message" that unless scapegrace King Carol of Rumania adopts a different attitude toward the Queen who is no longer his wife, she, Queen Helen, will be invited to reside in England under the august protection of His Majesty. Doubtless Queen Helen would be far happier in the smart, cozy London home of her brother King George II than she has ever been at Bucharest. King Carol's elder brother-in-law, King Alexander of Jugoslavia, was scheduled to go to Rumania last week, but suddenly "deferred" his visit. This change in plans was volubly explained by Dowager Queen Marie. Excerpt:

"... so you see my son Carol's nerves could not stand the strain of a family council just at this time. ..."

Vintila's Funeral. Carol's nerves probably stood very well the strain of knowing last week that apoplexy had just struck and killed his strongest foe: Vintila Bratianu. The House of Hohenzollern, imported from Germany, was placed on the throne of Rumania by the native House of Bratianu. A dynasty of titanic Bratianu Prime Ministers ruled the land until Ion Bratianu's death (TIME, Dec. 5, 1927). His brother, Vintila, every inch a Bratianu in height, broad frame and commanding mien, had not the necessary political dexterity to rule. Though Vintila became Prime Minister, the great Dynasty of Bratianu had already ended, and a peaceful peasant revolt toppled him from power (TIME, Nov. 12, 1928). Retainers found the handsome but embittered man lying on a bench in the park of his estate. A stroke had completely paralyzed his left side. He died at 9:30 p. m. In life he had one ruling passion: exclusion of foreign capital from his country. With heart and soul the last of the Bratianus hated & feared Wall Street, despised King Carol whom he once called "weak and sly to the point of periodic in sanity." Professor George Bratianu (son of Ion) was not long ago induced by sly King Carol to leave his chair at the University of Jassy, enter politics and split the Liberal (Bratianu) Party by siding with His Majesty against Uncle Vintila. On the Rumanian scene today there remains secure (if not supreme) the master intrigant His Grey Eminence General Alexandre Averescu. Seemingly no freak of fortune, no blow of fate can dislodge him from his niche of power. He used to alternate as Prime Minister with the Bratianus, he has played courtly tit-tat-to with Queen Marie, he gives fatherly advice to George Bratianu, and by King Carol he was recently made a Marshal of Rumania. To widowed Mme Vintila Bratianu, His Majesty wired condolence, praising the "energy and labor" of her husband. His funeral was almost regal. Three special trains conveyed the body to Bucharest. Relays of priests held a funeral service at each important town en route.

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