Paul & Margaritas

Greeks last week painted a wheezing steam locomotive pure white, "the bridal color." They shined up a train of cars, screwed onto each a Greek crown in electric lights. Chuffing off went tall, fair, handsome Crown Prince Paul, 36, brother of Greece's George II, and traveled up to the Yugoslav frontier to fetch his German fiancee, broad-faced, broad-smiling Princess Frederika Luise of Hanover, 20. The bridal train itself was six hours late on the run from the frontier to Athens--not, however, an undue delay for Greek trains --and there for nearly eight hours some 200,000 Greeks stood on the sidewalks, stamping their feet and blowing on their fingers, before they finally got their chance to cheer.

The fact that the bride is German pleased truculent Greek Dictator General John Metaxas, an outspoken admirer of Hitler and Mussolini, whose brashness makes the Greek Royal Family, all handsome and high-strung as greyhounds, shudder. From England the bridegroom's first cousin Princess Marina, beauteous Duchess of Kent, brought a sprig from the favorite myrtle tree of Queen Victoria, the great-great-grandmother of the bride. From Doom portly Prince Oscar, son of Wilhelm II, brought a sprig of orange blossom from the orangerie of the one-time Kaiser, grandfather of Princess Frederika who wore both sprigs as she entered Athens Cathedral.

Gorgeous though the Greek Orthodox ceremony was, with the Archbishop of Athens and 40 bishops officiating in dazzling, bejeweled regalia--Greek guests in the Cathedral seemed to be chiefly fascinated by the fact that the pale blue satin Paris gown of the Duchess of Kent was closed all the way down the front with a zipper. After the Orthodox wedding the royal pair were joined in holy matrimony a second time by a Lutheran pastor from Germany, then went to be legally married by civil authorities and the bride was recorded to have changed her name from the German Frederika to the Greek Margaritas. Driving off in a golden coach lent them by the King, the pair attracted such attention that mounted police had to charge the pressing crowds and 200 Greeks fainted in the crush.

Presents: from His Majesty's Govern-ment a $100,000 mansion, unexpectedly delayed in construction so that Paul & Margaritas had to move into a friend's house in Athens this week, before starting on their wedding trip; from His Majesty's Cabinet & Armed Forces a $10,000 emerald & diamond necklace; from the Greek Royal Yacht Club a yacht; from the President of France a tablecloth; from the Duke & Duchess of Windsor a gift (nature undisclosed) explained by announcing that "the Duke was an old friend of Prince Paul."

In London rumor insists that King George of Greece intends to abdicate the throne to which he was restored only in 1935. In Athens, however, Dictator Metaxas, who does not get on too well with His Majesty but dislikes Prince Paul even more, has recently decreed large financial grants to King George, presumably to persuade him that being King of Greece is, after all, not so terrible.

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