Not unto glamorous "Holy Russia" but into the drab, mechanized Soviet Union came last week the first Reigning Sovereign to enter Moscow since the days of Tsar Nicholas the Last. The visiting potentate was His Majesty, King Amanullah of Afghanistan, styled by his Moslem subjects, "The Peace of God." Accompanied by his Queen, Thuraya, "The Starry One," he is now completing a tour of the Occident (TIME, Jan. 23 et seq.) which has taken him on state visits to Rome, Paris, Berlin, London and several smaller Capitals. Last week the royal party, including Crown Prince Rhamatullah Khan and highest dignitaries of the Afghan State plunged from the Polish border into Russia aboard a new and sumptuous Soviet special train of 14 salon cars. The plunge was momentous because King Amanullah, whose Realm lies between India and Russia (see Map), holds the balance of power in Middle Asia betwixt the British Empire and the Soviet Union. He has just learned secretly at London how much Great Britain is prepared to offer for his friendship. Last week it was Russia's turn to cap the British bid and to dazzle King Amanullah with a display more imposing than the English pageantry and war games in his honor which have just cost the British Exchequer some £45,000 ($219,000).
Reception. To welcome and impress the Afghan Potentate, when his train chuffed into Moscow last week, there stepped forward a scrubby-bearded one-time peasant, clad in a plain dark overcoat topped by a soft felt hat. This was Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin, beloved President of the Soviet Union.* The effect of his sombre simple garb upon King Amanullah, who for four months has been feted by Presidents in sleek tail coats and Monarchs attired as field marshals, must indeed have been impressive. Darting a quick glance about the station, His Majesty saw not a single silk hat or full dress uniform. Behind the President were grouped several Commissars (Ministers) clad as simply as he, and behind them, filling the station square, stood rank upon rank of Soviet infantry and a detachment of Red Cossack cavalry. President Kalinin, stepping forward and extending his hand, said briefly in Russian: "In behalf of the Soviet Government I greet your Majesty's arrival in the Soviet Union." Then as Queen Thuraya descended from the train, that great and polished linguist Soviet Foreign Minister Georges Tchitcherin advanced and addressed Their Majesties in their own tongue. He said:
`` T^ u ^^ F j o L" , l-; ul 1 Comrade Tchitcherin words may be translated: "O King and Queen, you are welcome!"