LONDON SEASON

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 219, 12 June 1930, Page 9

LONDON SEASON

Most Brilliant Since War ' MANY ROYAL FUNCTIONS Dominion Special Service. London, May h With the opening bars of “Die Meistersinger,” at -Covent Garden, began the most brilliant and crowded season that London has known since the war. Princess Mary, Viscountess of Harewood, occupied the Royal boxfor the opening performance, and the King and Queen, who have taken the box for the season, are expected to attend. After the gloom cast over social activities last year by the King’s illness, society hostesses and those responsible for official functions decided to make 1930 a record year. There will be more Koval functions than in any previous year of the reign, and on May 6 the King will mark the twentieth anniversary of his accession by distributing long service medals to many of the Koyal servants. On May 5 the Court ' will return to London from Windsor, and the King and Queen will be in residence at Buckingham Palace for a month. Already a number of offlcia. semi-private and private engagements have been arranged for their Majesties, including four Courts at the Palace on May 14, 10, 27 and 28. Ofncials of the Lord Chamberlain’s department are dealing with an almost over- . whelming rush of applications for commnijda to be present—American and Dominion debutantes will be in the majority. Among the semi-private engagements of the King and Queen will be a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show at the end of the month, a visit to the Royal Tournament, and a visit to the Richmond Horse Show in June. An early private engagement will be a visit to the Royal Academy, probably on a Sunday. There will be two Royal command . performances, the first for two years—one on May 19, when their Majesties will see a presentation of “Hamlet” in aid of King George’s Pension Fund for Actors, and the other on May 22, when they will attend an international “all star” variety show in aid of the Variety Artists’ Benevolent Institution. On June 2 will come another of the Royal pageants so loved by Londoners and so admired by foreign visitors, when the King will drive in full stiMe from Buckingham Palace along the Mall to St. James’s to hold a levee. The Prince of Wales will attend a great many functions, including four regimental dinners and a number of important conferences.