Queen Ena asks for privacy

September 13, 1936

By Radio from the SS Conte de Savoia at sea. The AP reports today that former Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain, on board the S.S. Conte de Savoia, is en route to the United States to visit her eldest son, "who is critically ill in a New York hospital. She "begged today to be spared the fanfare usually given visiting royalty."
Her son-in-law, Prince Alessandro Torlonia, is accompanying her on this trip, and is acting as the queen's spokesman. His mother is American.
In a radio conversation, the prince, who is married to Infanta Beatriz, said: "such a hospitable country as the United States must sure understand her reasons for wanting to appear there incognita."
He added: "The Duchess of Toledo who is going to America on a short visit, solely to see her son, the Count of Covadonga, who is seriously ill in New York, desires that her visit should pass in the strictest incognita.
"This can be clearly understood owing to the fact of her great anxiety over the state of her son's health, added to by the sad events happening in Spain.
"She is fully convinced such as a hospital country as the United States will understand her reasons and respect her wishes, and for this she gives her most sincere thanks."

Alfonso, Count of Covadonga, "had the best day yesterday that he has had since he entered Presbyterian Medical Center three weeks ago." The count suffers from haemophilia. His doctor said there "had been no bleeding for forty-eight hours and that the Count was resting comfortably."