Mcallen Daily Monitor

11-YEAR OLD
ASSUMES DUTY
AS NEW KING
Subjects Whisper That
Unlucky 13th Is Bad
Omen For New King.
(Copyright 1934 by The Associated
Press)
BELGRADE. Yugoslavia. Oct. 13.
(AP)-Crown Prince Peter, the
schoolboy, returned to his native
land today as King Peter II, and
with the dignity of a born sovereign
took his place at the first
meeting of Yugoslavia's regency
council.
Standing at the train between
his stately
grandmother, Queen
Marie of Rumania, and his regal
but heartbroken mother, Queen
Marie of Yugoslavia, the smiling,
11-year-old sovereign made an un-
forgettable impression of boyish
charm and simplicity upon the
thousands who came to cheer him.
But in spite of their outward
happiness, the legions of people
gathered to pay homage to the ado-
lescent king numbered among them
many Slavic peasant women,
known for their superstitious be-
lief in an evil omen of death.
They whispered among one an-
other it was a bad sign that Peter
should arrive to begin his reign to-
day, which is a "black unlucky thir-
teenth." The less pessimistic among
the crowd insisted that the sudden
appearance of the sun after three
days of rain was a good augury for
the boy monarch, adding that the
thirteenth is not really unlucky un-
less it falls upon a Friday.
The boy's own appearance help-
ed vastly to dispel the gloom that
was an inevitable part of the pic-
ture, with all the emblems of death
and sorrow for the slain King
Alexander, Peter's father, in which
Yugoslavia was enshrouded. The
very youth of the new king seemed
to personify hope.
Long ranks of Yugoslav school
children who knew Peter by sight
lined the route taken by the royal
automobile which bore Peter and
his queen mother and grandmother
from the station. Although they
do not yet know what King Alex-
ander's death may mean to the
country, the school children were
delighted that one of their own
comrades, who had just finished
his primary school course, should
become king and live in the royal
castle.
Suddenly evading military guards,
Peter's own classmates jumped out
of line and rushed toward the royal
auto, shouting
"Long live the
King!"
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