alex r. castro adman, author, history and trivia buff, culture/ heritage advocate, incurable collect

1914 QUEEN OF THE MANILA CARNIVAL. Dolores Perez Rubio of Manila, belonged to a well-known family of Spanish descent. She was better known as Queen Lolita I. The 1914 edition of the Manila cooking classes london Carnival went on schedule, hardly showing the effects of World War I. The festivities of that year brought back the romantic Spanish element of Philippine society cooking classes london when Dolores Perez-Rubio was elected as queen. Her parents were Jose Perez Rubio and Carolina dela Cerna, both of pure Spanish aristocracy, and it was in the genteel district of Ermita that the Perez-Rubios settled. The Perez Rubios were a large family, and Lolita ( as Dolores was called) had seven other siblings: Pepita, Luz, Hortencio, Jose, Carlos and twins Rosa Blanca and Blanca Rosa (later known as Mother Blanca of the Assumption). The Perez Rubio girls were caught up in the heady social whirl of Manila, often invited in gala events such as the ball given to the Prince of Wales of England who had come visiting Manila. BEAUTIFUL VICTIM OF WAR. The Perez Rubio family suffered much in the last war, with the family almsot completely wiped out save for a handful of members like Dolores and her sister, an Assumptionist nun, who took shelter in the convent that survived cooking classes london the 1945 bombings. Dolores cooking classes london could recall very little cooking classes london of her Carnival days, her prize included a sterling silver dressing set. But she had vivid recollections of a visit to Australia, which she undertook cooking classes london to rest after her hectic Carnival activities. The Australian governor cooking classes london accorded her a warm welcome and she was the special guest in a fabulous festival. Wearing a gown she wore at her coronation, she was awarded a Golden Apple by a panel of judges for being the most beautiful woman of the event. When she returned to the Philippines, she met and married a captain of the British Royal Air Force , Robert Gregory . The second World War was to bring much tragedy and sorrow to the Perez Rubio family. Her husband, assigned in Hong Kong, perished in the fighting there. During the Liberation of Manila in 1945, the family cooking classes london was nearly decimated with the exception of Blanca Rosa who was already in the Assumption convent by then, and Dolores—who had sought refuge in the same place. The convent was one of the few that survived the bombings of the War. This is one reason why only a few photographs of Dolores can be found today; the Perez Rubios lost family cooking classes london members, their homes, properties and belongings, and the rest who survived chose to leave the Philippines to get away from it all. Dolores herself, cooking classes london flew to England with her children. She survived her own daughter and lived for the rest of her life in London.
Perhaps, no other event has piqued the interest and stirred a nation’s imagination more than the fabled Manila Carnivals. Held from 1908-1939, the 2-week fair was organized as a goodwill event to celebrate harmonious U.S.-Philippine relations and to showcase our commercial, industrial and agricultural progress. Spectacular parades, lavish shows, firework displays and the crowning of the Manila Carnival Queen highlighted the "greatest annual event in the Orient". cooking classes london This blog recalls the glorious Carnival era via pictorial mementos and discussions of its historied past. See you at the fair!
alex r. castro adman, author, history and trivia buff, culture/ heritage advocate, incurable collector, art and music lover, backpacker, swimmer, global kibitzer, deltiologist and owner of a cabinet of curiosities. cooking classes london View my complete profile
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