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On this Page 35
Told for the first time and presented
with the personal approval of
Her Royal Highness
none Help
Intimate Life Story of
the DUCHESS
of KENT
By..
Baroness Helena Yon-Der Hoven |
Exclusive to The Australian Women's Weekly
Commenced March 19
BORN to Royalty . . . exiled, restored
to the throne . . . exiled again
flying from the revolutionaries of
Greece to the shelter of Russia, ther
France.
So runs the story of Princess Mar-
ina. From childhood she was in-
terested in art, beauty and fashion
Last week her life story told how
she met Prince George, their romance
and engagement. How she met the
English Royal Family is told in this
instalment.
CHAPTER XI
All the World Loves
a Lover
WHAT can one say of an en
gaged couple? Nothing
except that they were happy.
Prince George and Princess
Marina were as happy as the vil-
lage lad and his young girl, as
happy as any other man and
girl who had just found the
happiness of their lives, and as
they in their turn congratu-
lated the village couple who
had become engaged about the
same time, they all laughed be-
cause they all were happy.
They had one link in common-love
which united them to all the happy
lovers of the world. And because of
that great link and that wonderful
experience which had come into their
lives they were ready to respond to
other people's joys and sorrows.
There are three great events which
link humanity of every class and every
country and every race, which none
can wilfully change or avoid. Birth,
love, and death.
Of birth unfortunately we are not
conscious and death, alas, comes too
late to link us in sympathy and under-
standing with other people.
But love, real love, if such a miracle
comes into our life, makes us more
human and understanding.
It links us with the universe and in
breaking down our own selfishness
makes us love others because of that
great love which has come to us.
And this great love had come to
Princess Marina and her fiance, for
now the messenger had returned from
England with the King and Queen's
blessing, and the Royal couple were
officially engaged.
A visit to Salzburg was planned and
the young people went by car accom-
panied by Prince Paul and Princess
Olga.
Those were a wonderful few days,
but with all the newspapers of the
world proclaiming the happy event,
and the smiling photographs of the
Royal lovers confirming the news, the
couple themselves awoke to the world
and to the call of their lives.
Prince George had to go back to
England to continue his round of
duties, and Princess Marina had to
retun to Paris with her mother to
get ready and face the new life await-
ing her.
THE parting hour came too soon and
to prolong the magic spell which
they themselves remembered only too
well Prince Paul and his wife sug-
gested on the spur of the moment to
pay a visit to the Countess Toerring
at Munich and thus accompany Prince
George part of the way.
Needless to say that Princess Marina
fell in with this plan and when the
villagers gathered on the platform of
the station to see off the English
Prince they saw their Princess, accom
panied by Prince
and Princess Paul,
board the train as
well.
The crowd
cheered, for they
were delighted not to witness a part-
ing, however short.
The village girls were represented in
large numbers, so that "the Princess
would not feel lonely standing there
alone when the train had gone," as
one of them naively said.
A charming thought, but better was
the expression on their faces as the
train moved slowly away and the Royal
lovers side by side at the open window
of the carriage waved happily and
blew kisses to the delighted people.
Parting is a horrid word and it was
not until Paris was reached eventually
that the Royal lovers kissed good-bye.
Have I been indiscreet? I said before
that love ls the same whether it en-
ters a palace or a workman's cottage.
The surroundings vanish and the
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Onceas ^ " ¿¡^nl of
s00fl aUeVJ<engage^
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THE ROYAL DUCHESS as she looks to-day.
lovers castle is the same magic web
of golden dreamland.
The papers talked of the engage-
ment ring, of the wonderful jewellery
Prince George chose for his bride-to
be. "Princess Marina likes sapphires.
Princess Marina prefers modern jewel-
lery and square stones." Did she?
Perhaps she did, but those who saw
her opening her post saw that it was
not the wonderful piece of jewellery
which was discussed by everyone and
envied by many that Princess Marina
sought out first, but a certain letter
with a certain initial on the envelope.
Whilst she read that letter her eyes
shone brighter than the beautiful
square emerald on her engagement
finger.
"Marina is radiantly happy. It's too
wonderful to see her and George," the
Archduchess Ileana wrote to me im
mediately after the engagement, and
it was really so.
They smiled for their photographs
and posed for the camera, but when
their friends saw them in daily life
there was no mistake.
The expression on their faces and
the smile on Princess Marina's lovely
lips made the world want to smile with
her.
She was now busy all day long an-
swering letters, receiving messages,
seeing people.
Her trousseau had to be planned, a
supply of clothes prepared for her
coming visit to England to meet her
new family.
Her mother's and her own charities
had not to be forgotten.
Whatever happened to her she must
not let them down, and true to herself
and to the tradition of her family,
Princess Marina rose early and went
to bed late, but got through her pro-
gramme of the things that had to
be done.
They say that film stars become
celebrities overnight. Great was Prin-
cess Marina's surprise on alighting
from the train at Paris.
People were swarming on the plat-
form and, in front of the station,
were hanging on lamp-posts to see
her and her fiance.
She was suddenly in the limelight.
She had became a public character.
In the town where once as a child
she had received Royal homage, where
later on she had spent her girlhood
unnoticed except for personal good
looks and charm, she was once more
cheered and feted.
People who had
once turned away
from her family
or treated them as
exiles were now
buzzing round fussing over her, try-
ing to regain her good grace.
What an opportunity for settling old
grievances, for paying back for those
hurts, however small, which the higher
you are placed the more you feel!
I am afraid that many of us would
have succumbed to temptation. Prin-
cess Marina's faith saved her from
falling.
"And forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those who trespass against us."
In Princess Marina's heart there was
no place for resentment. She was
happy. She thanked everyone with
sincere gratitude, she smiled at every-
one with that radiant happy smile.
As she returned to Paris earlier than
usual, her parents' flat was still shut
up after the summer. Prince and
Princess Nicholas went to an hotel.
whilst Princess Marina accepted hos-
pitality from a friend.
Hospitality, but no privacy. Journal-
ists, photographers, cameramen in-
vaded the flat.
They broke down all barriers, pushed
aside every resistance. They demanded
her to speak into the microphone.
They simply overwhelmed the simple
Greek Princess who tried to protest
that she was not used to all this
publicity; but they would-not let her
escape.
She smiled and complied with their
wishes. Hated it all, but smiled. Once,
however, Princess Marina nearly
fainted with fatigue, yet she carried
on.
After an exceptionally busy day
when she had been helping her mother
with the arrangements for her charity
fete, she returned home to find the
place swarming with photographers
who demanded a sitting.
"We can't disappoint them now, poor
things! They have been waiting so
long," exclaimed Princess Marina, for-
getting about her own fatigue and
thinking only of others.
A TRAGEDY which shook all the
world with its unnecessary cruelty
temporarily relieved the tension from
Princess Marina and allowed her for
a time to rest in the shadow of grief.
King Alexander of Yugoslavia was
murdered at Marseilles on his official
visit to France. This happened on
Princess Marina's return from Eng-
land.
"Sandro," as they called him in the
family, the first person who had been
to congratulate her on her engage-
ment, was dead, and his body was now
carried back to his country on a Yugo-
slav cruiser with the Royal Standard
flying at half-mast.
Princess Marina, who only a few
weeks ago had left Yugoslavia with
a radiant smile, was now standing
among the black-robed, heavily
veiled figures and grave-faced men.
It was not the King, it was her
"Sandro" they were burying, and
turning to Prince George as to her
natural protector Princess Marina
cried, simply and unashamed to show
her grief for the man who had been
so kind to her, for her young cousin
Queen and for that silent little figure,
King Peter, who stood with a marble
white face as if carved out of stone.
"I ALWAYS wanted to live in Eng-
land," Princess Marina had told
me; and now she was looking upon
the white cliffs of Dover which were
coming nearer and which would soon
become her home.
As she said good-bye at the Gare
du Nord in Paris to the numerous
people who had come to see her off
and wish her good luck, it was not
the usual Princess Marina who kissed
her friends but a tremulous girl, who
felt that all her future life and
happiness depended on that first visit
to the country and the people of
the man she loved.
For she loved him and she was
ready to love his country and his
people. But would they love her?
Every woman who has had to face
the ordeal of meeting her fiance's
family for the first time after her
engagement will know what Prin-
cess Marina felt, but not everyone
will realise that, besides that, she was
royal.
She had to face responsibilities,
the critical eye of a country, a na-
tion, and she would have to smile
because she was "in the public eye."
Continued on Next Page

Intimate Life Story of the

DUCHESS of KENT

PRINCESS MARINA was

silent as the train sped
through the attractive county
of Kent. Kent with Its cot-
tages and fields of green hops,
with Its gardens and shady, suc-
culent trees .. . She would soon
be the Duchess of Kent. Eng-
land, the country where she
"always wanted to live."

Folkestone ... a crowd . . . The
train was drawing In. She saw one
face, and her heart gave a leap of
Joy. As Prince George kissed his
bride-to-be in front of the cheering
crowd, all fears were forgotten, all

doubts vanished.

At Victoria the King and Queen
and all the members of the Royal
Family were there to meet Prince
George's fiancee and her parents.

Thousands of people crowded the
station and the streets to see the
beautiful Greek Princess and wel-
come her to her new country-to-be.

"The reception was wonderful,"
Princess Marina told me afterwards.
"I was so touched I could hardly
speak. They were all so friendly and
they made me feel so at home. All
those people who came to meet me.
It was kind of them to give me such
a wonderful reception."

Those who came to see the future
bride of their Prince will have the
satisfaction of knowing that they
helped a girl through the most for-
midable ordeal of any girl's life.

CHAPTER XII

Before the Great Day

IT was the first time that Prin-

cess Marina had been en-
tertained by the King and
Queen officially, as on her pre-
vious visits to England she had
only privately lunched or taken
tea with the Royal Family.

The King, who was obviously very

Continued from Previous Page

proud of his son's beautiful bride-to
be, introduced her to all the people at
Balmoral In a simple and charming

manner.

She found herself joyfully accepted
by everyone. Queen Mary, too,
extended a warm welcome to the
young Princess, who said later that "lt
felt like coming home again."

"I think England ls a wonderful
country," exclaimed Princess Marina.
"There is such order and happy feel-
ing about it. The crowds were mar-
vellous. So good-natured and well
behaved. They gave me a wonderful
welcome. I also think the English
police are so wonderful.

"When I used to stay in England
before I often used to ask a police-
man to direct me. They always seem
to know everything and are so oblig-
ing."

The late King George loved her.
She was lovely to look at, she was
charming to be with, amusing to

talk to.

She was quaint in her ways, like a
warm breeze coming from sunny
Greece over the turbulent Continent.

She asked original questions, she
enjoyed everything, and, above all,
she loved life. Everything was a
novelty, a thrill, and a marvellous
experience wrapped up In the golden
web of her own wonderful romance.

Queen Mary, who is, as I said
before, Princess Marina's god-
mother, loved her. She had sweet
ways, she adored art, she was a good
needlewoman, and above all she loved
Prince George.

The Dukes loved her. She was
friendly and sporting, she danced
well, she looked well. What mascu-
line ideals could withstand this?

Between her and the present Queen
there sprang up a spontaneous sym-
pathy. As for the little Princesses,
Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, Prin-
cess Marina adored children.

No wonder that Princess Marina
was sorry to leave, but she had to
return to Paris before her second
journey, the great journey of her

life.

THERE came the question of tue

trousseau. Where would Prin-
cess Marina order her trousseau?
The British papers hoped that the
future wife of their Royal Prince
would get all her things from her
new country.

The French houses which had
dressed Princess Marina for the last
few years of her life in Paris won-
dered whether, now that she was
going to another country, she would
abandon them

The Russian exiles who looked
upon Princess Marina a little as their
own Princess prayed that she would
remember them and give them the
much-needed work.

Everyone fought, everyone thought
that they, and only they, had a right
to make the Royal bride's trousseau.
Princess Marina, with her character-
istic decisiveness, solved the problem
by a judgment of Solomon She
divided the work.

"When I am a British Princess I
shall adopt my new country," an-
nounced Princess Marina firmly, "but
now I shall divide the work. British
employment for the future British
Princess, Russian work for those who
are my kin and need it badly, and
French employment for the country
which gave me hospitality in years
of exile, and to those who have been
kind to me."

For one thing above all Princess
Marina never forgets a kindness. Thus
the Royal bride was dressed, and
thus she made in England, her new
home, her new life, her new. happi-

ness.

As a going-away color, Princess
Marina chose almond-green, which
shows that she was not superstitious
about it.

She also adopted the fashion of
small hats which even the Parisian
women found a little trying, but with
her artistic sense Princess Marina
promptly solved the problem by alter

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THE DUKE OF KENT leaving Belgrave Square for St. Paul's.

-Air Mall photo

ing her coiffure and adding masses
of small soft curls as a background
to the small hat which instantly be-
came a jaunty article lightly perched
at the right angle.

The same resourcefulness was shown
by Princess Marina over her bridal
coiffure.

The design, which had been created

for her by a famous hairdresser, was
charming, but somehow lt did not go
well with the bridal veil, so Princess
Marina promptly took pencil In hand
and altered it to her satisfaction as
well as to that of those who had a
glimpse of her on her wedding day

To Be Continued

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