(3 of 3)
Left to himself Prince George thinks up such escapades as the ball in Danzig to which he went dressed as a girl and was presented to Danzig swains, few of whom speak French, as Mlle Fifi du Jardin des Plantes ("Miss Fifi of the Paris Zoo"). This joke few stolid Danzigers understand even today. King George was thinking last week, according to Court function aries, of celebrating Prince George's marriage by creating him Duke of Edinburgh.
"Marina is the most beautiful princess in Europe!" exclaimed the Infanta Eulalie of Spain in Paris last week. "Of course it is a love match. Marina is so beautiful that any man would fall in love with her!" Other friends warmly declared that no picture ever taken of Princess Marina does her justice. To bring her to England, King George will send the royal yacht Victoria and Albert. She may repeat the furore created when King George's mother, Denmark's radiant Alexandra, was similarly yachted to Britain to marry the future Edward VII.
Since her parents are frankly poor, Princess Marina has been living chiefly in the cheap Balkans, with occasional trips to England where she met Prince George. Her father. Prince Nicolas, is the uncle of deposed King George II of Greece and of tragic Princess Helen of Greece and Rumania, the deserted and divorced wife of scapegrace King Carol. Helen lives in England under the protection of George V whose language, when Carol is mentioned and ladies are not present, is apt to become sulphurous. Last week Helen was believed to have helped Marina with King George if not with Prince George. Under the Royal Marriage Act of 1772 His Majesty has tsaristic powers over the mating of British Royalty. In 1923, when he consented to the Duke of York's marriage to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the announcement went forth: "Not for two centuries and a half has a Prince in direct succession to the Throne received the King's consent to contract marriage with a subject."
No subject is Marina but a wholesome young Princess fond of country sports, horses, dogs, bright lipstick, plenty of rouge, considerable mascara, books, sketching and amateur theatricals in which she is a clever mimic. Dropped by her nurse in babyhood, she now wears a left shoe somewhat higher than her right. She is clever at cookery, less successful at making her own clothes. Last week Paris dressmakers who had hoped to get her trousseau order were vexed by rumors that she will "Buy British." Queried by long distance telephone, her father, Prince Nicolas, replied from bed: "The male members of my family always have bought their clothes in England. Now one feminine member, at least, will follow suit."
In the reigning tradition of Balkan Royalty, Princess Marina recently placed her endorsement of Pond's beauty preparations in trusted hands. For that the Empire is more than ready to forgive an inexperienced girl. The Pond's advertisement had been scheduled to appear next month but last week British Royalty was expected to squelch it easily.