^^^f^^^^^t^^t^^^^^^^^

AMANULLAII

Lane, where, appropriately, the Desert Song was being
performed. Other visits were made to theatres. Fearful
and wonderful were the stories with which the public
was regaled even while the visitors were being enter-
tained at Buckingham Palace, What they lacked in
truth, they certainly made up in picturesqueness. On
the one hand it was reported that the English King and
Queen were entertaining barbarians. On the other hand
it was whispered that the Afghan visitors were acquit-
ting themselves with far better decorum and decency
than had many other celebrities.

The truth was, however, that Amanuliah and his
Queen were quick to conform to formal English man-
ners. From the first they had the greatest liking for
elegant furniture and expensive fittings. It had been
arranged for them to stay at Buckingham Palace for
two days.

The robustness of the King's humour; the uncon-
ventionality of his manners; his entire lack of self-
consciousness after the first breaking of the diplomatic
ice; and the quiet dignity of his Queen ; all these were
perhaps unexpected in such surroundings, but they pro-
vided a slight relief and a welcome contrast to the stilted
manners of former Royal parties on State visits.

On the subject of Queen Souriya's dignity, indeed,
some good stories were told. It was even said that she
had abashed Sir Austen Chamberlain, always admitted
to be one of the old school of frozen and coldly super-
cilious statesmen, who gave foreign cartoonists their
traditional ideas of British diplomats* The occasion
requires an effort of the imagination, but it is by no
means impossible to conjecture that Queen Souriya, in
an excess of zeal for her Royal rank, and anxious to
provide the contrast to the over-jovial manners of her
King, had patronised the most severe of our elder

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