5 OCTOBER 1912, Page 13

Royal Romances of To - Day. By Kellogg Durland. (T. Werner Laurie.

12s. 6d. net.)—In his " Foreword " the author says that his book is founded on articles written by him for the Woman's Home Companion (an American periodical). He gives many minute details about the daily lives of the Queens of Spain and Italy and the Empress of Russia, and tells some pretty stories about their children. He views the Court of Spain through the en- chanted medium of the smoke of a royal cigarette, and has nothing but good to say of its charm and wisdom. Of the others he tells somewhat peculiar stories, but in such an impersonal way that the reader is sometimes almost inclined to believe that they relate to historical characters, and not to living men and women. The book is illustrated with a number of photographs.