JOHORE: Scottish Sultana

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Vast Asia's southernmost tip is the Sultanate of Johore. Last week amid dazzling pomp a well-preserved Scotswoman of 41 was crowned Sultana of Johore. Highly pleased seemed her new husband, H. H. Sir Ibrahim, Sultan of Johore, 58, an earnest ruler who lists among his recreations "rubber planting."

Johore knows the new Scottish Sultana of old. Years ago she came out as the charming bride of Dr. William Wilson, who doctored the Sultan. Gradually the Sultan began to call Mrs. Wilson by her first name, Helen, and stage tiger hunts in her honor.

She reciprocated. The Sultan, to his vast delight, was made an Hon. Fellow of the Scottish Zoological Society. Finally Mrs. Wilson divorced Dr. Wilson and went back to Scotland. Fast followed the Sultan. In London last October they were married in Woking Mosque, were later received by King George & Queen Mary.

In Johore Bahru, capital of Johore, last week Sultana Helen appeared at her coronation in a Paris gown of shell-pink Venetian lace. Like Queen Mary's on state occasions, her bosom blazed with enormous diamonds. Her neck could not be seen beneath its ropes of pearls, and the diamond earrings of Dr. Wilson's former wife reached almost to her shoulders.

As the Coronation ritual proceeded Sultana Helen made her responses with a soft Scottish burr. At last, with the Lesser (female) Crown of Johore firmly planted on her Nordic head, she rode with swart Sultan Sir Ibrahim triumphantly around Johore Bahru, received the abject homage of its groveling, grinning populace.

Cooler than the nearby island of Singapore. Johore is just the realm for a Scottish Sultana. Officially the Sultan is "independent," but accepts a thumping yearly British subsidy and does as he is told. In greatest breadth Johore is only 100 mi., in greatest length 165 mi. Mostly covered with green forests, Johore supports an easy-going population of 337,000 who export rubber, import strong drink, including Scotch.