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To the distress of Rome's dolce vita set, the King and Queen have failed to live up to their advance billing as swingers. After they turned down an invitation to the Colonna ball, one of the year's biggest social flings, party-givers shied away from sending invitations for fear of being rejected. While the royal ladies recently ordered 15 gowns from the famed salon of Princess Irene Galitzine, the King has yet to appear in Rome in formal dress. Most of the royal family's social activity has been limited to the King's first love—sports events. Last week he escorted the Queen and Princess to the international horse show at Piazza di Siena. He recently took up golf. He has not set foot in a sailboat, though, and was disappointed to find that Rome does not have a single squash court.
Protecting the Throne. This quiet regimen has given the King ample opportunity to reflect about what is happening at home. He knows that the longer he stays away the slimmer become his chances of regaining the throne. As things now stand, the ruling colonels are free to build a government to their own liking, without palace interference, yet with an "absent King" to protect their legal position as servants of the monarchy. The junta still professes loyalty to the monarchy, but it has a different kind of monarchy in mind. Its members are unlikely even to consider Constantine's return until they draw up a new constitution that will severely limit his powers and make him a figurehead. Last week Deputy Premier Stylianos Pattakos told a Dutch journalist: "We aspire to have a monarchy in which the monarch has no political power—a modern King such as there is in England, Sweden and The Netherlands. A King standing apart and above political parties."