100 Years Ago Today in Spokane: Prince passes through in pajamas, refuses to talk to press

A pajama-clad prince, Prince Carol of Romania, cast his eye over Spokane from his special train car at the Northern Pacific depot.

What did the prince think of the city?

Who knows?

“The prince refuses to be interviewed while traveling through the United States, as his trip is unofficial,” the Spokane Daily Chronicle said.

Reporters had to content themselves with describing his attire: “neatly embroidered blue pajamas and a neat pair of bedroom slippers” (after all, it was 7:25 a.m.).

They also described his eight-person entourage, which included a general, a colonel, a lieutenant colonel and a captain.

The prince was en route from San Francisco to New York, where he would set sail for his native land.

A U.S. diplomat was also traveling with the prince’s party. The diplomat told reporters that “Prince Carol is the best posted and best educated man of royal family that I have ever spoken to, and I have talked with a good many.”

The prince was planning to tour various sites on his U.S. train trip, including an agricultural college, a rubber plant and a water power plant.