Katya & The Prince of Siam

Postcard from Katya to Chula in 1918 showing the hotel where she stayed in Canada.

 

Katya and Cham on their trip to Japan in 1918.

 

On Katya’s side it would seem, nevertheless, that she still loved her husband deeply as no sooner had she got on the train than she was writing to him:

 

‘I hope that everyone is well. You mustn’t be lonely when I’m away – go to the cinema, play tennis. Of course, you will be lonely but how happy you’ll be to see me fit and well again. I felt I had to get away as the last few months I’ve been getting by on will power alone and I wouldn’t be able to go on like this much longer.

I am worried about all the dogs, my friends. You will play with them, won’t you? I’m sure they will miss me a lot. I’ll send them postcards even though they can’t read so you can tell them that I haven’t forgotten them. Please tell Nou that I am no longer afraid of thunderstorms. Today when it rained and we were in the train I was quite calm so it shows what will power can do. Sitting in the train is very boring particularly between 11 and 4 pm when the weather is very hot. I felt sticky and dirty but I saw many new places and I didn’t feel sick.’

 

By May she was writing from Peking where she met with her brother Vanya and various Russian émigrés:

 

‘The next day at 9.20 am we left for Peking. Vanya had sent some telegram or other to the minister of transport and he ordered a special wagon for me. The trip took three hours and, apart from the four rooms with beds, there was a large salon with comfortable upholstery. Our wagon was at the back and had a good view. The railway line is very wide, only slightly narrower than in Russia and so there is very little vibration. We reached Peking at about 12.30 and Mitrofanov brought the Duke’s car to meet us. Vanya took Healey to the Wagon Lits hotel and from there we all had lunch with Mitrofanov.

On Sunday I went by car to visit the Summer Palace. I looked at everything and had tea in the pavilion shaped like a boat. I think that you had a meal there on your previous visit. We were just four. Veriga Darevsky accompanied us. He escaped from Russia and is now going to join the resistance in France. When the war first broke out he was in the Hussar regiment and met with Osten-Sakien [one of Chakrabongse’s old comrades], but he was in the general staff. He says that few of your hussars are left, mostly they are young men. At the river Don he changed regiments to be with Kaledin and, when he was surrounded, he escaped by disguising himself as an ordinary soldier.