KING AND QUEEN OF ROUMANIA.
LONDON, TUESDAY MAY 13, 1924 vast, cavernous terminus was unrecognisable. Scarlet hangings to thereof most picturesquely concealed the walls, enriched with gold and purple cord festoons, and central against them the Roumanian flag of blue, yellow, and red and the Union Jack were crossed above a golden floral crown, in which white lilies and red roses predominated. The footing of the wall was hidden by a bower of hothouse palms and flowers, principally iris and tulips. Two stands for privileged onlookers erected across the platform, itself carpeted in scarlet, assisted the illusion of a big reception-room, against which the Royal train would draw up. GUESTS OF THE NATION. ROYAL CEREMONIES.
A welcome of unsurpassable enthusiasm was extended to the King and Queen of Roumania on their arrival in England yesterday.
At Dover their Majesties were received by the Prince of Wales, and were presented with a civic address in which the Roumanian Queen was described in a phrase which was warmly adopted by her Royal Consort as a “fair maid of Kent.” At Victoria, King George and Queen Mary heartily greeted their Royal guests, and thence accompanied them in a State procession to Buckingham Palace.
In the afternoon King Ferdinand and his Consort paid homage to the heroes of the Great War at the Cenotaph and the Grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, and in the evening a State banquet was given in their honour at Buckingham Palace.
To-day their Roumanian Majesties will visit the City of London and take luncheon with the Lord Mayor and Corporation at the Guildhall. LONDON’S WELCOME.
State visits to this country of reigning monarchs have been so rare since the war that the thousands who gathered about Victoria Station and Buckingham Palace yesterday to welcome the King of Roumania and his Consort found in the spectacle presented something of the attraction of novelty. It revived memories of times and events that now seem very far distant. The khaki era which first succeeded the close of hostilities has gone back into the past; and it was in blaze of scarlet and blue and gold that high officers of the different Services came and went, and troops, the bands playing lively airs, marched to take up their stations, filling the streets with generous colour. Fickle May made it desirable that the Guardsmen who kept the route should still wear their greatcoats, but the escorts for the processions, the bandsmen, and the guards of honour mounted at the Palace and the terminus were seen in the full panoply of peace.
Over the entrance to Victoria-street from the station a triumphal arch bore in gilt letters on a ground of purple the inscription, “The citizens of Westminster welcome the King and Queen of Roumania.” There was never doubt about that. In the fact that the Queen Marie is English-born, the daughter of the late Duke of Edinburgh, and a cousin of King George, and that in travelling up from Dover she had traversed her own native county of Kent, the populace saw in this auspicious visit something of the nature of a homecoming, which gave further zest and warmth to their greeting. Victoria is all Southern Railway these days, but the Continental trains have not shifted from what was the South-eastern side, and it was there, at the accustomed departure platform, that the reception took place. In plain fact, that particular nook in the ASSEMBLY AT VICTORIA.
Before the strains of the National Anthem, heard outside, announced the presence of Royalty, distinguished visitors began to arrive. Air Marshal Sir Hugh Trenchard, Admiral of the Fleet Earl Beatty, and Sir William Horwood, Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, were first to come, soon followed by Prince and Princess Arthur of Connaught. Then the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, who had driven in state from the City, came on the platform, and the reception party, rapidly enlarging, was joined by the Prime Minister and Mr. Arthur Henderson, Home Secretary, both in levee dress, and a group of officials and their ladies from the Roumanian Legation in London. The Duke and Duchess of York were a little in advance of their Majesties, the Duke in naval dress and the Duchess wearing a grey cloak and furs and a small blue hat. Colonel the Hon. George Crichton, the chairman of the London County Council, and the Mayor of Westminster were also among the company.
Ten minutes before the train from Dover was due, at three o’clock, loud cheers outside the station, mingling with the National Anthem, made known that the King and Queen had arrived. His Majesty, wearing Field-marshal’s uniform, came on the platform with the Duke of Connaught, who was looking remarkably hale and well, a few moments in advance of the Queen. Her Majesty was protected against the weather’s inclemency by a light cloak of gold and white tissue brocade, which gave out a golden sheen, worn over a blue dress, and she carried a blue sunshade. Both King and Queen shook hands with several of those present, the former engaging the Prime Minister in conversation as the train was signalled.
The King of Roumania was first to alight, assisting his Consort, and the two monarchs warmly shook hands, while the Queens kissed each other affectionately on both cheeks. King Ferdinand bent low and kissed Queen Mary’s hand, and a like greeting was exchanged between King George and the Queen of Roumania. DRIVE TO THE PALACE.
The ceremony of inspection of the guard of honour by King Ferdinand, who was accompanied by King George, a little delayed the departure from Victoria. Six State carriages were used in the procession, which travelled with a Sovereign’s escort of Household Cavalry, with two standards. Spectators had gathered thickly along the short route via Grosvenor-place and Constitution-hill to Buckingham Palace, and a continuous cheer rolled along its length. King Ferdinand repeatedly saluted in acknowledgment of the popular greeting.