King Consort, 1922

A young Carlos Romulo with Virgina Llamas, 1922

From 1908 to 1939, in the heyday of the American period, the colonial administration yearly organized a fair to celebrate the goodwill and fellowship between the people of the United States and those of the Philippines. Everyone looked forward to the spectacular fireworks and lavish parades of the Manila Carnival, but the main event was always the crowning of the Carnival Queen.

In 1922, a young Carlos Romulo was handpicked by his boss, Don Manuel Earnshaw, to be the King Consort to that year’s Queen: Virginia Vidal Llamas.

Newly returned with a graduate degree from the prestigious Columbia University in New York City and already a serious journalist at The Herald, Rommy balked at the idea of participating in a silly carnival, and “the thought of wearing a Roman costume and tights for the coronation mortified him.”

Virginia: “Why are you refusing to be my King Consort?”

I was staring at her. She was so angry and so much prettier than her pictures that I, usually glib of speech, found myself tongue-tied.

Rommy: “Who says I refused?” (I stammered.)

Virginia: “Mr. Earnshaw!”

Rommy: “I merely suggested . . .”

Virginia: “Then it’s decided!”

Two years later, they were married in Pagsanjan, her hometown. They had a happy married life of 44 years, which produced four sons: Carlos, Jr., Greg, Dick, and Bobby.

When she died on 22 January 1968, a journalist wrote:

What may remain forever engraved in the memory . . . is the silent, sovereign grace of her life as a queen—once in a national festival, and, continuously, as a housewife and mother. Virginia Llamas Romulo was a Queen.