CAROL'S AMOURS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 243, 14 October 1933, Page 7 (Supplement)

CAROL'S AMOURS.

GAY KING'S LOVE AFFAIRS. EFFECT ON NATION'S HISTORY LONG-SUFFERING RUMANIA.

(By VINCENT MITCHELL.)'

King Carol of Rumania, once considered tho naughtiest, has become the nattiest member of European royalty. Pictures appear daily in tho public prints showing tho romantic' young ruler bedecked in an amazing variety of helmets, hats, coats, pants, boots, swords, medals, and plumes. And tho variety of Carol's clothes is matched only by the variety of tho women who have stepped in and out of his life, each ono lingering long enough to alter the history of Rumania.

There "was little Zizi Lambrino, daughter of a retired army oflicer, with whom Carol eloped in 191 S. Later there was Princess Helen of Greece, who became Carol's bride, after the marriage with Zizi had been annulled. Still later there was Magda Lupescu, tho blue-eyed, auburn-haired Rumanian Jewess, for whom Carol renounced his wife, family, and his right of succession to the throne. Only recently it was rumoured in Bucharest that a new star had appeared on the romantic horizon of King Carol. This new star, according to tho rumours, is tho Rumanian beauty Mme. Elvira Popescu. Carol was 2,j years old when he cast tho first bombshell into the royal Rumanian household by leaving his regiment and eloping with Zizi Lambrino to Odessa.

Sent To Gaol. His father, King Ferdinand, and his mother, Queen Mario, were enraged when they learned that the Crown Prince had married a commoner. Then Carol began a succession of mock heroics in which ho delied the King, Queen, Prime Minister, and all Rumania to take his bride away from him. King Ferdinand's first step toward separating the couple was to sentence his son to 75 days in gaol for violation of military regulations. Also, it was proposed that Carol's younger brother, Nicholas,, be declared next in succession to tho throne unless Carol gavo up his wife. But Carol was obdurate. Ho said ho didn't want a crown. All ho wanted was Zizi. Melodramatically ho renounced his right to tho throno and declared he would be loyal to his littlo bride. Yet, in spite of theso declarations and protestations, Carol, three years later, was walking down tho aislo of the cathedral at Athens to tho strains of a wedding march with another bride, Princess Helen of Greece, upon his arm. His first marriage had been annulled on technical grounds, and Zizi was in Paris with littlo Mircea —her son and Carol's. The annulment and his abandonment of Zizi settled Carol's quarrel with his royal parents and again he was Crown Prince.

Magda And Exile. Tli© story, perhaps, should end with that scene apd tho old tag line, "and they lived happily ever after." Presently, however, we find Prince Carol in London, where ho had gono to attend tho funeral of Dowager Queen Alexandra. Carol for somo mysterious reason lingered in London and, suddenly, Bucharest was thrown into an uproar.

A letter bad arrived from Carol in which he renounced his right of succession to tho throno for the second time. King Ferdinand immediately, and with justification, suspected that another woman had entered Carols life. It did not take long for agents of tho royal house of Rumania to locate the errant Crown Prince in Milan. With him was Magda Lupcecu. The agents returned and reported to King Ferdinand what they had found. It was too much for the aging monarch. He was easily persuaded that efforts to keep Prince Carol eligible for the throne were in vain. Soon Michael, the four-year-old son of Carol and Princess Helen, was pronounced Crown Prince. Carol was forbidden to return to Rumania and Princess Helen started action for divorce. Tho decree was granted several years later.

Then came four years of exile for Carol and his Magda. Four years during which they wandered through Europe. They were seen now in Paris, again on the Riviera, or perhaps in London, or in Brussels. Duvinar this period Carol's fortunes reached their lowest ebb. Newspaper correspondents insinuated that the once da hing prince had been reduced to a wardrobe of only one It is true that the exiled prince wits seen wearing a pair of white duck pants day after day and the story is told that while the prince and Mine. Lupescu were visiting Cannes on the Riviera, a croupier in one of the gambling casinos remarked: "Prince Carol has 110 evening clothes."

Country Clamours For Carol's Return. When King Ferdinand died in 1027 Carol was forbidden to attend the funeral lest liis presence complicate further the tangled political situation in Rumania. Prince Michael, live years old was proclaimed king and a regency was formed to take control of the government. Shortly afterward the mpst powerful figure in Rumanian polities. Premier Jonel Bratianu, died. Bratiami had been the influence most opposed to Carol's return. His successor, Julius Maniu, a country lawyer, had 110 such hostile feeling toward the exiled prince. Maniu found the country in a turmoil. The financial condition was growing desperate. The country was facing anarchy and ruin. A steadily growing faction clamoured for the return of Carol. Revolution threatened and the politicians feared the temper of the army, which had shown signs of rebelling at passing in review before a little boy and a, group of regents. The people wanted their picturesque Prince Carol to come home and take over the reins of government. Maniu arranged it. '1 he coup was successful. Little Michael gracefully stepped out and Carol stepped in. Magda Lupescu remained in the background. She announced publicly that she had 110 intention of standing in the way of Carol's return to the throne. Then followed a series of unsuccessful negotiations for a reconciliation between Carol and his divorced wife, Princess Helen.