HYDERABAD: Silver Jubilee Durbar

  • Share
  • Read Later

(3 of 5)

Nowadays there is always plenty of money for His Imperial Majesty the Caliph Abdul Medjid II and almost any sunny day he may be seen strolling with a mien of great dignity along the beach near Nice, attired in swimming trunks only and carrying a large parasol. "I live apart from worldly vanities here in Nice," recently observed the Caliph, whose favorite reading is Anatole France. "I read, I play the piano, I paint. Nice is perhaps the only foreign city which is popular with the Turkish people. You will recall that in the 16th-Century Wars against Charles V of Spain, the people of Nice witnessed the imposing spectacle of 150 Turkish ships of war sailing to the aid of 40 galleys of the French King François 1er"

Two years after the Crown Princess of Hyderabad's marriage, she returned to Nice to give birth to her chubby son the Nawab Mukaramja (see cut, p. 22) in the holy presence of the Caliph her father. Now back in Hyderabad, she has devoted herself to Indian female uplift movements and this week the Crown Princess marshaled the Hyderabad Girl Guides in the Jubilee Durbar. Unlike their husbands, who follow their father's example in dress, the Caliph's girls dress as Indian ladies do (see cut above).

26-Year-Old Rolls. Attempts by correspondents to get advance stories on the Nizam's Jubilee drove them frantic as His Exalted Highness kept paring down his Durbar budget. Elephants cost a good deal more as a means of royal transportation than Rolls-Royce cars and while a lesser Indian potentate simply must ride out with elephants galore, one elephant has always seemed enough to the Nizam. (see cut below). Of late he has given careful thought to whether the World's Richest Man need ride an elephant at all. Suddenly last week the Hyderabad State Railway Shops received rush orders to spend not a penny more than $500 putting streamlined fenders on a Rolls-Royce which gives only eight miles to the gallon and so has been run but 300 miles by His Exalted Highness during its career of 26 years in Hyderabad. While putting on the streamlined fenders, Hyderabad artisans were instructed to build the centre of the body up much higher last week into a sort of throne topped by a gilt dome. In this way the Rolls was made practically as good for a parade as an elephant & howdah.

Up to the last few days before the Jubilee, citizens of Hyderabad had obeyed the Nizam's injunction not to waste money on decorations, but at the last minute strings of electric lights were invested in by many householders. Taxi drivers contributed to the excitement by going on strike. In the crush of arriving guests were the Empire's No. 1 Mixed Couple: creamy onetime Mrs. Thomas Loel Guinness, formerly of the "British Beerage" and her present burnt-almond husband, the Prince Aly Shah Khan, son & heir of the famed Aga Khan.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5