“I believe it’s a courtesy visit. The Czar is going to return the visit the King of Rumania paid him some time back.”
“Oh, that’s the official reason ... but what’s the real reason? I know you are not supposed to know, but I’m sure everyone is talking about it and that you know it....”
As I nodded in assent, she added:
“All right! But if I don’t wish it, it won’t happen. Papa has promised not to make me ... and I don’t want to leave Russia.”
“But you could come back as often as you like.”
“I should still be a foreigner in my own country. I’m a Russian, and mean to remain a Russian!”
On June 13th we embarked on the Imperial yacht Standard at Yalta, and the next morning we arrived at Constanza, the great Rumanian port on the Black Sea where the celebrations were to take place. On the quay a company of infantry with its colours and band received us with military honours, while a battery of artillery posted on the hill above the fort gave us the prescribed salute. All the ships in the harbour had their flags out.
Their Majesties were received by the old King Carol, Queen Elizabeth (“Carmen Sylva”), and the princes and princesses of the royal family. After the customary presentations we went to the Cathedral, where a Te Deum was celebrated by the Bishop of the Lower Danube. At one o’clock the members of the two families took luncheon together privately, while the suite were the guests of the President of the Council of Ministers. The royal luncheon was served in the pavilion which “Carmen Sylva” had had built at the pierhead. It was one of her favourite residences, and she spent a considerable part of every year there. She was fond of sitting for hours, “listening to the sea,” on the terrace which seemed suspended between the sky and the waves, where the great sea-birds only could break in on her solitude.
In the afternoon Their Majesties gave an At Home on board the Standard and then attended a great review.
At eight o’clock in the evening we all assembled for the gala banquet, which was served in a beautiful room built for the purpose. It was certainly charmingly decorated, with its ceiling and walls of white stucco sown with little electric lamps most tastefully disposed and its palms and plants and profusion of well-arranged flowers. The whole thing was a blend of colour and line which was highly pleasing to the eye.