Thursday, November 15, 2012

Michael comes to England to search for bride

November 15, 1938

Crown Prince Michael of Romania arrived earlier today in London with his father, King Carol II, reports the Los Angeles Times.  Father and son are said to be on "the lookout for a possible English bride."

The British "would be delighted" if Michael found a British bride because it would give the country a "strong influence" in Southeastern Europe where "the Nazis are now increasing the German influence."

Michael, now 17, is a "big, strapping boy," and is one fourth English through his late grandmother, Queen Marie, a British princess.

English is the primary language at the Romanian court as Michael and King Carol are said to speak it "almost perfectly."

For some time, King Carol II was persona non grata in British court circles due largely to his affair with Elena Lupescu.  He was "excoriated as the playboy King" and he was not welcome at Buckingham Palace, when he visited London.

But "recent political developments" has meant a change in attitude toward King Carol, and he is seen in a more favorable light by the British.


This visit is an official state visit for the Romanian sovereign.  The Duke of Kent met the King and the Crown Prince aboard the Sikh, the latest British destroyer and "escorted them across the channel.

King George V, dressed in the uniform of a Field Marshall, waited with the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, at Victoria Station.

The two kings and the Crown Prince got in a carriage for the short ride to Buckingham Palace, where they were greeted by Queen Elizabeth.

Carol and his son quickly changed into morning dress and drove to Marlborough House to see Queen Mary.  In the days when Carol "was deprived of his throne and separated from his wife," Queen Mary refused to "have him at the palace, despite his mother's intercessions."

One of the first things King George did today was to make Carol a Knight of the Garter.  Crown Prince Michael was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.


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