Helen in London for holiday

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 July 19, 1931

Former Queen Helen of Romania, no longer entitled to be called Majesty, arrived in London late last night.  She said she will remain in the country until October.

There were no representatives from the Romanian or Greek legations to greet Helen and her brother, former King George II of the Hellenes, when they arrived by train.    Helen could hardly wait for the train to halt "before jumping off and embracing her mother," Dowager Queen Sophie of Greece, who was waiting on the platform with other members of her family.

Princess Helen bent down to kiss her 11-year-old niece, Princess Alexandra, the daughter of Princess Aspasia, and the late King Alexander, and then took her mother's arm as they walked arm-in-arm along the platform.

Princess Helen is staying at a hotel in Mayfair.   She spoke to reporters after checking in.  "I have come abroad for a holiday to visit my family and to take a cure.  This journey has been undertaken in mutual understanding with the King and I will be returning at the end of October to be back for my sons birthday.
"This, I hope, will definitely end the annoying and harmful press campaign of these last months, as it is most unpleasant to me.  I always have disapproved, and always will, of being used as a subject of sensational press comment."

Helen recently renounced the title, Queen, and will known as the Princess of Romania," during her visit to England.  She is expected to visit King George V and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace, where her brother, the former King of the Hellenes, "is a frequent and well-liked visitor."

One of Princess Helen's friends told a reporter that the princess has plans to make England her home, "probably for years."   She described Helen as "entirely happy" to be out of Romania, and with her family in England, "which she has loved since childhood."

Helen's mother, Sophie, is a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.


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