PARIS ROMANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23009, 9 April 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

PARIS ROMANCE

PRINCESS AND AMERICAN ATTACK BY APACHES j "WE'D BETTER GET MARRIED" When Princess Elena Dobrzinskaja Tsouloukidze and William H. Jacksot Woodford were married in London last month they ended a twenty-seven-day courtship which began at the point of a Paris apache's .knife. A trio of the Paris underworld had been threatening Princess Elena for weeks, saying they would give her "protection" against attack with knives if she would send them money. For ten days her Paris home was guarded. On February 18 she decided she could no longer stand hor imprisonment, and with a woman friend she went for a stroll. In the six o'clock dusk of the Boulevard des Capucines — as busy a street as London's Strand—they weie stopped'by three men. One of them said: "We want to settle our business with you." All three drew their hands from their pockets so that Princess Elena saw the handles of their knives. She screamed and turned to nin away when a tall stranger stepped up, knocked down one of the apaches and rushed her into a taxi. On the way to his hotel for cocktails the stranger introduced himself as Bill Woodford, of New York. Later tlicv went to a Russian cafe to celebrate the Princess' escape and their acquaintance. and at 7 a.m., after a night of dancing and gaiety, he asked her: "Would you like to go to America with me?" "Yes." said Princess Elena. _ "Well, then, we'd better get married," said Mr. Woodford. The ceremony took place at the Savoy Chapel, in the Strand, with the Prinoess carrying twenty-three pink roses, one for each year of her age, as is the custom in her home country, Denmark. Mr. Woodford, a political writer, is forty-two. Since her childhood at her family's chateau on a tiny Danish island. Princess.Elena has acted in films and has taken medals for taking high jumps on horseback. She speaks eight languages, hopes to learn two more, plays a Russian guitar, likes to cook and can quote recipes for the national dishes of half a dozen countries. The honeymoon becan in Europe find will end in Los Angeles.