Marie (born Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh; 29 October 1875 – 18 July 1938) was the last
Queen of Romania
Consorts of Romanian monarchs were persons married to the Romanian monarch during his reign. All monarchs of modern Romania were male with the title of King of the Romanians, but all Romanian consorts were women with the title of Queen of Romania ...
as the wife of
King Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I ( es, Fernando I; 10 March 1503 – 25 July 1564) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1526, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death in 1564.Milan Kruhek: Cetin, grad izbornog sabo ...
.
Marie was born into the
British royal family. Her parents were
Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
Alfred (Alfred Ernest Albert; 6 August 184430 July 1900) was the sovereign duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1893 to 1900. He was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1 ...
(later Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and
Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. Marie's early years were spent in Kent,
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and
Coburg
Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...
. After refusing a proposal from her cousin, the future
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
, she was chosen as the future wife of
Crown Prince
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wi ...
Ferdinand
Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...
of
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
, the
heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
of King
Carol I, in 1892. Marie was Crown Princess between 1893 and 1914, and became immediately popular with the Romanian people.
After the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Marie urged Ferdinand to ally himself with the
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
and declare war on
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, which he eventually did in 1916. During the early stages of fighting,
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
was occupied by the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
and Marie, Ferdinand and their five children took refuge in
Western Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova), also called Western Moldavia or Romanian Moldavia, is the historic and geographical part of the former Principality of Moldavia situated in eastern and north-eastern Romania. Until its union with Wallachia in 1859, the P ...
. There, she and her three daughters acted as nurses in military hospitals, caring for soldiers who were wounded or afflicted by
cholera. After the war, on 1 December 1918, the historical region of
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, following
Bessarabia and
Bukovina, united with the
Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
. Marie, now queen of
Greater Romania
The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea.
As a concept, its main goal is the creation ...
, attended the
Paris Peace Conference of 1919
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, where she campaigned for international recognition of the enlarged Romania. In 1922, she and Ferdinand were crowned in a specially-built cathedral in the ancient city of
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historica ...
, in an elaborate ceremony which mirrored their status as queen and king of a united state.
As queen, Marie was very popular, both in Romania and abroad. In 1926, she and two of her children undertook a diplomatic tour of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. They were received enthusiastically by the people and visited several cities before returning to Romania. There, Marie found that Ferdinand was gravely ill and he died a few months later. Now
queen dowager, Marie refused to be part of the regency council which reigned over the country under the minority of her grandson,
King Michael. In 1930, Marie's eldest son
Carol, who had waived his rights to succession, deposed his son and usurped the throne, becoming King Carol II. He removed Marie from the political scene and strived to crush her popularity. As a result, Marie moved away from Bucharest and spent the rest of her life either in the countryside or at
Balchik Palace, her summer residence in
Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja, South Dobruja or Quadrilateral ( Bulgarian: Южна Добруджа, ''Yuzhna Dobrudzha'' or simply Добруджа, ''Dobrudzha''; ro, Dobrogea de Sud, or ) is an area of northeastern Bulgaria comprising Dobrich and Silis ...
by the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
. In 1937, she became ill with
cirrhosis
Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue rep ...
and died the following year.
Following Romania's
transition to a
People's Republic
People's republic is an official title, usually used by some currently or formerly communist or left-wing states. It is mainly associated with soviet republics, socialist states following people's democracy, sovereign states with a democratic- ...
, the monarchy was excoriated by
communist officials. Several biographies of the royal family described Marie either as a drunkard or as a promiscuous woman, referring to her many alleged affairs and to orgies she had supposedly organised before and during the war. In the years preceding the
Romanian Revolution
The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...
of 1989, Marie's popularity recovered and she was offered as a model of patriotism to the population. Marie is primarily remembered for her work as a nurse, but is also known for her extensive writing, including her critically acclaimed autobiography.
Early life (1875–1893)
Birth
Marie was the eldest daughter and second child of
Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
Alfred (Alfred Ernest Albert; 6 August 184430 July 1900) was the sovereign duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1893 to 1900. He was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1 ...
, and the former
Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, respectively the son of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
and the daughter of
Emperor Alexander II
Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Fin ...
. She was born at her parents' residence,
Eastwell Manor in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, on 29 October 1875, at 10:30 a.m., in the presence of her father. Her birth was celebrated by
firing the Park and Tower guns. She was named Marie Alexandra Victoria, after her mother and grandmothers, but she was informally known as "Missy". The Duke of Edinburgh wrote that his daughter "promises to be as fine a child as her brother and gives every evidence of finely developed lungs and did so before she was fairly in the world." As a grandchild of the reigning
British monarch in the male line, Marie was formally styled "Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Edinburgh" from birth.
Marie's baptism took place in the private chapel of
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original c ...
on 15 December 1875 and was officiated by
Arthur Stanley and
Gerald Wellesley,
Dean of Windsor
The Dean of Windsor is the spiritual head of the canons of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, England. The dean chairs meetings of the Chapter of Canons as ''primus inter pares''. The post of Dean of Wolverhampton was assimilated to the dea ...
. The baptism, "of a strictly private nature", took place one day after the ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of her paternal grandfather,
Prince Albert. Marie's godparents were
Empress Maria Alexandrovna (her maternal grandmother, for whom Queen Victoria stood proxy), the
Princess of Wales (her paternal aunt), the
Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
This is a list of the Duchesses, Electresses and Queens of Saxony; the consorts of the Duke of Saxony and its successor states; including the Electorate of Saxony, the Kingdom of Saxony, the House of Ascania, Albertine, and the Ernestine duchies, ...
(her great-aunt, for whom
Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
Princess Helena (Helena Augusta Victoria; 25 May 1846 – 9 June 1923), later Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, was the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Helena was educated by private tutors chosen ...
stood proxy), the
Tsarevich of Russia (her maternal uncle, for whom Count
Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov
Count Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov (russian: Граф Пётр Андре́евич Шува́лов) (27 July 1827, Saint Petersburg – 22 March 1889, Saint Petersburg) was an influential Russian statesman and a counselor to Tsar Alexander II.
B ...
stood proxy) and the
Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that was granted on 24 May 1874 by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to her third son, Prince Arthur. At the same time, he was also ...
(her paternal uncle, for whom the
Duke of Albany
Duke of Albany is a peerage title that has occasionally been bestowed on the younger sons in the Scottish and later the British royal family, particularly in the Houses of Stuart and Hanover.
History
The Dukedom of Albany was first granted ...
stood proxy).
Upbringing
![Millais, Princess Marie of Edinburgh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Millais%2C_Princess_Marie_of_Edinburgh.jpg)
Marie and her siblings,
Prince Alfred (b. 1874, known as "Young Affie"), and Princesses
Victoria Melita
Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , later Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia (25 November 1876 – 2 March 1936), was the third child and second daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and of Grand Duchess ...
(b. 1876, known as "Ducky"),
Alexandra (b. 1878, known as "Sandra") and
Beatrice (b. 1884, known as "Baby Bee"), spent much of their early life at Eastwell Park, which their mother preferred instead of
Clarence House
Clarence House is a royal residence on The Mall in the City of Westminster, London. It was built in 1825–1827, adjacent to St James's Palace, for the Duke of Clarence, the future king William IV.
Over the years, it has undergone much exten ...
, their official residence. In her memoirs, Marie would remember Eastwell fondly. The Duke of Edinburgh was largely absent from his children's lives, due to his position in the
British Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fra ...
, and their life was governed by their mother. Marie would later state that she did not even know the colour of her father's hair until she looked at later portraits of him, believing it to be much darker than it actually was. When he was at home, the Duke would often play with his children, inventing many games for them. Of all her siblings, Marie was closest to her sister Victoria Melita, who was one year younger, but whom everyone believed to be the older girl because of her stature, much to the princesses' dismay. The Edinburgh children were all baptised and raised in the
Anglican faith; this upset their
Russian Orthodox
Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...
mother.
The Duchess of Edinburgh was a supporter of the idea of separating generations and Marie deeply regretted the fact that her mother never allowed chatting between the two "as if
hey
Hey or Hey! may refer to:
Music
* Hey (band), a Polish rock band
Albums
* ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014
* ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980
* ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
were equals". Nonetheless, the Duchess was independent-minded, cultured and "the most important person" in her children's lives. At the behest of their mother, Marie and her sisters were taught French, which they detested and rarely ever spoke. Overall, the Duchess neglected her daughters' education, considering them not very bright or gifted. They were permitted to read aloud, but in the fields of painting and drawing, areas in which they had inherited Queen Victoria's talent, the girls received only a "pedestrian instruction". The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh frequently received members of the royal family at Eastwell Park, inviting them for breakfast nearly daily and in 1885, Marie and Victoria Melita served as
bridesmaid
Bridesmaids are members of the bride's party in a Western traditional wedding ceremony. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman and often a close friend or relative. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Tradi ...
s at the wedding of their aunt
Beatrice and
Prince Henry of Battenberg
Prince Henry of Battenberg (Henry Maurice; 5 October 1858 – 20 January 1896) was a morganatic descendant of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse. He became a member of the British royal family by marriage to Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdo ...
. Among Marie's playmates were her maternal cousins, Grand Dukes
Nicholas (called "Nicky") and
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
(called "Georgie") and
Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia; the other two Russian cousins,
Grand Duke Michael (called "Misha") and
Grand Duchess Olga being too young for the Edinburgh girls. Other playmates included the children of their maternal uncle,
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia.
![Marie of Edinburgh, 1888](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Marie_of_Edinburgh%2C_1888.jpg)
In 1886, when Marie was eleven years old, the Duke of Edinburgh was named commander-in-chief of the
Mediterranean Fleet and the family took up residence at
San Antonio Palace in
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
.
Marie would remember her time in Malta as "the happiest memory of my existence". It was in Malta that Marie found her first love,
Maurice Bourke, the captain of the Duke's ship, whom Marie called "Captain Dear". Marie was prone to fits of jealousy when Bourke would pay more attention to one of her sisters than to her. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were greatly loved in Malta and San Antonio Palace was frequently full of guests. Marie and Victoria Melita received white horses from their mother and went to the local hippodrome nearly daily, apart from Saturday. During their first year in Malta, a French governess oversaw the princesses' education, but, due to her failing health, she was replaced the following year by a much younger German woman. At San Antonio, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh always maintained a room ready for
Prince George of Wales
Prince George of Wales (George Alexander Louis; born 22 July 2013) is a member of the British royal family. He is the eldest child of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. George is the eldest grandchild of King Charl ...
, the second son of the Prince of Wales, later
King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
, who was in the Royal Navy. George called the three elder Edinburgh girls "the three dearests", but favoured Marie the most.
Meanwhile, the Duke of Edinburgh became heir presumptive to his childless paternal uncle,
Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Ernest II (german: Ernst August Karl Johann Leopold Alexander Eduard, link=no; 21 June 181822 August 1893) was Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 29 January 1844 to his death in 1893. He was born in Coburg to Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfel ...
, upon the Prince of Wales's renunciation of his rights to the duchy. Consequently, the family relocated to
Coburg
Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...
in 1889.
Marie later came to view this moment as "truly the end of a life that had been absolute happiness and joy without clouds, of a life with no disappointments or delusions and without any discordant note." The Duchess, who was pro-German, hired a German governess for her daughters, bought them plain clothing and even had them confirmed in the
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
faith. The family spent their summers at
Rosenau Castle
Schloss Rosenau, called in English language, English The Rosenau or Rosenau Palace, is a former castle, converted into a ducal country house, near the town of Rödental, formerly in Saxe-Coburg, now lying in Bavaria, Germany.
Schloss Rosenau was ...
. Duke Ernest was described by Marie as "having his oddities"; his court was less strict than other German courts of the time. In Coburg, the princesses' education was broadened: more emphasis was placed on painting and music, which were taught by Anna Messing and Mrs. Helferich, respectively. On Thursdays and Sundays, Marie and her sisters went to the Coburg Theatre, an experience which they enjoyed greatly. Marie and Victoria Melita often observed their brother's friends and made comments on whom they liked better, an aspect which Marie believed was inevitable in the lives of girls who have brothers. Another activity which the girls enjoyed at Coburg was attending winter parties organised by their mother, during which they would ice-skate and play different games, such as
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
.
Marriage
Marie grew into a "lovely young woman" with "sparkling blue eyes and silky fair hair"; she was courted by several royal bachelors, including Prince George of Wales, who in 1892 became second in line to inherit the throne. Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh all approved, but the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh did not. The Princess of Wales disliked the family's pro-German sentiment and the Duchess of Edinburgh did not wish for her daughter to remain in England, which she disliked. She also disliked the fact that the Princess of Wales, whose father had been a minor German prince before being called to the Danish throne, was higher than her in the
order of precedence
An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance and can be applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. Most often it is used in the context of people by many organizations and governments, for very formal and state o ...
. The Duchess of Edinburgh was also against the idea of a marriage between first cousins, which was not allowed by her native Russian Orthodox Church. Thus, when George proposed to her, Marie informed him that the marriage was impossible and that he must remain her "beloved chum". Queen Victoria would later comment that "Georgie lost Missy by waiting & waiting".
Around this time, King
Carol I of Romania
Carol I or Charles I of Romania (20 April 1839 – ), born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (''Domnitor'') from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He w ...
was looking for a suitable bride for
Crown Prince Ferdinand, in order to secure the succession and assure the continuation of the
House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
( en, Nothing without God)
, national_anthem =
, common_languages = German
, religion = Roman Catholic
, currency =
, title_leader = Prince
, leader1 ...
. Possibly motivated by the prospect of removing tensions between Russia and Romania on the subject of control over
Bessarabia, the Duchess of Edinburgh suggested that Marie meet Ferdinand. Marie and Ferdinand first became acquainted during a
gala
Gala may refer to:
Music
* ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush
*'' Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman
*GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups
*''Gala'', a 1986 album by T ...
dinner and the pair conversed in German. She found him shy but amiable, and their second meeting went just as well. Once the pair were formally engaged, Queen Victoria wrote to another granddaughter,
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (Victoria Alberta Elizabeth Mathilde Marie; 5 April 1863 – 24 September 1950), later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven, was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rh ...
, that "
erdinandis nice & the Parents are charming–but the country is very insecure & the immorality of the Society at Bucharest quite awful. Of course the marriage will be delayed some time as Missy won't be 17 till the end of October!"
German Empress Victoria, Marie's aunt, wrote to her daughter,
Crown Princess Sophia of Greece, that "Missy is till now quite delighted, but the poor child is so young, how can she guess what is before her?" In late 1892, King Carol visited London in order to meet the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Victoria, who eventually agreed to the marriage and appointed him a
Knight of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...
.
On 10 January 1893, Marie and Ferdinand were married at
Sigmaringen Castle
Sigmaringen Castle (German: ''Schloss Sigmaringen'') was the princely castle and seat of government for the Princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Situated in the Swabian ''Alb'' region of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, this castle dominates the s ...
in three ceremonies: one civil, one Catholic (Ferdinand's religion) and one Anglican. The civil ceremony was performed in the Red Hall of the castle by Karl von Wendel, the
German Emperor
The German Emperor (german: Deutscher Kaiser, ) was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the offi ...
being the first of the witnesses present to sign the marriage act. At four o'clock, the Catholic ceremony took place at the Town Church, with Marie being led to the altar by her father. The Anglican ceremony was more modest and was conducted in one of the chambers of the castle. Although King Carol granted the couple ''"Honigtag"'' (one day of honeymoon), Marie and Ferdinand spent a few days at the Castle of
Krauchenwies
Krauchenwies is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
Geography
Krauchenwies lies about south of Sigmaringen and north of Lake Constance. It is on the ''Oberschwäbischen Barockstraße'' (west route) ...
in Bavaria. From there, they left for the countryside, their journey being interrupted briefly by a stop at
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, where they visited
Emperor Franz Joseph
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...
. Due to growing tensions between Austria and Romania (the visit took place during the ongoing movement of the
Transylvanian Memorandum
The ''Transylvanian Memorandum'' ( ro, Memorandumul Transilvaniei) was a petition sent in 1892 by the leaders of the Romanians of Transylvania to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor-King Franz Joseph, asking for equal ethnic rights with the Hungarians ...
), the couple's visit was brief and they arrived in the border town of
Predeal
Predeal (; hu, Predeál) is a town in Brașov County, Transylvania, Romania. Predeal, a mountain resort town, is the highest town in Romania. It is located in the Prahova Valley at an elevation of over .
The town administers three villages ...
following a nighttime crossing of Transylvania by train. Marie was warmly welcomed by the Romanian people, who were longing for a more personal monarchy.
Issue
Crown Princess (1893–1914)
Domestic life
The first years of Marie and Ferdinand's marriage were not particularly easy, and Marie would later tell her husband that "it is such a shame that we had to waste so many years of our youth just to learn how to live together!" Gradually, the couple's relationship became based on a cordial friendship: Marie accorded Ferdinand respect she believed he was due as a man and, later, as king, and he respected her because he realised that she had a better understanding of the world than he did. Eventually, Marie came to believe that she and Ferdinand were "the best associates, the most loyal companions, but our lives intertwine only in certain matters". Ferdinand enjoyed Marie's presence during military marches and consequently, she was frequently invited to this sort of event.
Marie gave birth to her first child,
Prince Carol, only nine months after the marriage, on 15 October 1893. Although Marie requested the use of
chloroform in order to ease the pains of labour, doctors were reluctant to do so, believing that "women must pay in agony for the sins of Eve". After Marie's mother and Queen Victoria insisted, King Carol eventually allowed the use of the drug on his niece-in-law. Marie did not derive much joy from the arrival of her firstborn, later writing that she "felt like turning
erhead to the wall". Similarly, although Marie was constantly reminded by Carol's wife
Elisabeth that childbirth is "the most glorious moment in
arie'slife", she could only feel a longing for her mother at the birth of her second child,
Princess Elisabeth, in 1894. After becoming accustomed to life in Romania, Marie began to rejoice at the births of her children, namely
Princess Maria (1900–61), nicknamed "Mignon" in the family,
Prince Nicholas
Nicholas Teo () is a Malaysian Chinese singer under Good Tengz Entertainment Sdn Bhd. (Malaysia)
Career
Pre debut
Before returning to Malaysia, Nicholas was studying in Taiwan, where he won the Best Singer in a competition among all the Tai ...
(1903–78), nicknamed "Nicky",
Princess Ileana (1909–91) and
Prince Mircea (1913–16).
King Carol and Queen Elisabeth promptly removed Prince Carol and Princess Elisabeth from Marie's care, considering it inappropriate for them to be raised by their young parents. Marie loved her children, but found it difficult to even scold them at times, thus failing to properly supervise them. Consequently, the royal children were given somewhat of an education, but were never sent to school. As the royal household could not provide what a classroom education would have, most of the children's personalities became severely flawed as they grew older. Prime Minister
Ion G. Duca
Ion Gheorghe Duca (; 20 December 1879 – 29 December 1933) was Romanian politician and the Prime Minister of Romania from 14 November to 29 December 1933, when he was assassinated for his efforts to suppress the fascist Iron Guard movement.
...
would later write that "it was like
ing Carolwished to leave for Romania heirs completely unprepared for succeeding."
Life at court
![Marie04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Marie04.jpg)
From the start, Marie had trouble adjusting to life in Romania. Her personality and "high spirits" frequently created controversies at the Romanian court, and she disliked the austere atmosphere of her household. She wrote that she "had not been brought down to Romania to be adored and spoilt and made much of; she had come to be part of the machinery King Carol had wound up. She had been imported to be trimmed, educated, cut down and trained according to the great man's conception of things." When describing her early days in Romania, Marie wrote that "for long hours
hewould mope, whilst
eryoung husband did his military service, all alone in rooms
hehated, heavy German rooms". Marie's paternal aunt, the
Empress Frederick
Victoria, Princess Royal (Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa; 21 November 1840 – 5 August 1901) was German Empress and Queen of Prussia as the wife of German Emperor Frederick III. She was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdo ...
, wrote to her daughter, the
Crown Princess of Greece, that "Missy of Roumania is more to be pitied than you. The King is a great tyrant in his family, & has crushed the independence in Ferdinand so that no one cares about him, & his beautiful & gifted little wife, I fear, gets into scrapes, & like a butterfly, instead of hovering over the flowers, burns her pretty wings by going rather near the fire!" Easily learning to speak the
Romanian language
Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities in ...
, she followed her mother's advice to dress carefully and show respect for Orthodox rituals.
Marie and Ferdinand were advised by King Carol to maintain a restricted group of friends; thus, Marie would lament that her familial circle had been shrunk to only the King and Ferdinand, "who stood in mighty awe of the iron old man, forever trembling that any action of
ersmight displease that duty-bound head of the family". ''
The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'' wrote that Marie had found herself, "from the hour of her arrival in Bucharest under the tutelage of that stern disciplinarian King Carol I".
In 1896, Ferdinand and Marie moved to
Cotroceni Palace
Cotroceni Palace ( Romanian: ''Palatul Cotroceni'') is the official residence of the President of Romania. It is located at ''Bulevardul Geniului, nr. 1'', in Bucharest, Romania. The palace also houses the National Cotroceni Museum.
History
T ...
, which had been extended by the Romanian architect Grigore Cerchez, and to which Marie added her own designs. The following year, Ferdinand was struck down with
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
. For days, he was delirious and, despite his doctor's best efforts, came close to dying. During this time, Marie exchanged numerous letters with her family in Britain and was terrified at the prospect of losing her husband. King Carol still had an heir in Prince Carol, whose young age presented issues; thus, the whole family desperately wished for Ferdinand to pull through. Eventually, he did, and he and Marie went to
Sinaia
Sinaia () is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Muntenia. The town was named after the Sinaia Monastery of 1695, around which it was built. The monastery, in turn, is named aft ...
, the site of
Peleș Castle
Peleș Castle ( ro, Castelul Peleș ) is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914. Its inaugu ...
, for a period of recovery. Nonetheless, the couple was not able to attend celebrations for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee that summer. During Ferdinand's convalescence, Marie spent most of her time with her two children, taking them on long walks and picking flowers with them. The winter of 1897/1898 was spent with the
Russian Imperial family
The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to t ...
on the
French Riviera, where Marie often rode horses, in spite of the low temperatures.
![Duckyandsisters](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Duckyandsisters.jpg)
Around this time, Marie met Lieutenant
Gheorghe Cantacuzène, a member, albeit through an illegitimate branch, of an ancient Romanian princely family and a descendant of Prince
Șerban Cantacuzino
Șerban Cantacuzino (), (1634/1640 – 29 October 1688) was a Prince of Wallachia between 1678 and 1688.
Life and career
Cantacuzino took part in the Ottoman campaign which ended in their defeat at the Battle of Vienna. According to Gaster (19 ...
. Although not very good looking, Cantacuzène stood out using his sense of humour and fashion, as well as his talent in horse-riding. The two soon became romantically involved, but their affair was terminated after it became known by the public. As much as she condemned Marie's behaviour, her mother allowed her to come to Coburg when, in 1897, she apparently became pregnant. Historian Julia Gelardi believes that Marie gave birth to a child at Coburg; the child may either have been stillborn or sent to an orphanage immediately following its birth. There was speculation on whether Marie's second daughter, "Mignon", was Cantacuzène's daughter, and not Ferdinand's. Over the following years, Marie was also rumoured to have been romantically linked to
Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia
Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia (russian: Борис Владимирович; 24 November 1877 – 9 November 1943) was a son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and a first cousin ...
,
Waldorf Astor, Prince
Barbu Știrbey
Prince Barbu Alexandru Știrbey (; 4 November 1872 – 24 March 1946) was 30th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Romania in 1927. He was the son of Prince Alexandru Știrbey and his wife Princess Maria Ghika-Comănești, and grandson of another ...
and
Joe Boyle. In 1903, Ferdinand and Marie inaugurated the
Pelișor Castle
The Pelișor Castle (Romanian: ''Castelul Pelișor'', ) is a castle in Sinaia, Romania, part of the same complex as the larger castle of Peleș.
History
The castle was built in 1899–1902 by order of King Carol I, as the residence for his ...
, an
Art Nouveau castle in Sinaia that King Carol commissioned for the royal couple. Marie only learned of the extent of repression used to quell the
1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt once it was too late to intercede. She afterwards took to dressing quite often in
folk costume
A folk costume (also regional costume, national costume, traditional garment, or traditional regalia) expresses an identity through costume, which is usually associated with a geographic area or a period of time in history. It can also indicat ...
, both at home and in public, initiating a fashion trend among young upper-class women.
![Balchik Palace ifb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Balchik_Palace_ifb.JPG)
On 29 June 1913, the
Tsardom of Bulgaria
The Tsardom of Bulgaria was the name of the Bulgarian state from Simeon's assumption of the title of Tsar in 913 until the Fatherland Front's foundation of the People's Republic of Bulgaria in 1946.
It occurred in three distinct periods: b ...
declared war on
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
, thus starting the
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 16 ( O.S.) / 29 (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies r ...
. On 4 July, Romania entered the war, allying itself with Greece. The war, which lasted a little over a month, was worsened by
a cholera epidemic. Marie would look upon her first encounter with an epidemic as a turning point in her life. With the help of Dr.
Ioan Cantacuzino and Sister Pucci, a
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
nurse, Marie travelled between Romania and Bulgaria, lending a helping hand in hospitals. These events would prepare her for her experiences in the Great War.
As a result of the war, Romania gained possession of
Southern Dobrudja
Southern Dobruja, South Dobruja or Quadrilateral ( Bulgarian: Южна Добруджа, ''Yuzhna Dobrudzha'' or simply Добруджа, ''Dobrudzha''; ro, Dobrogea de Sud, or ) is an area of northeastern Bulgaria comprising Dobrich and Silis ...
, including the coastal town of
Balchik
Balchik ( bg, Балчик ; ro, Balcic) is a Black Sea coastal town and seaside resort in the Southern Dobruja area of northeastern Bulgaria. It is in Dobrich Province, 35 km southeast of Dobrich and 42 km northeast of Varna. It spr ...
(''Balcic''), which Marie would come to cherish in 1924 and use to host her residence, called
The Quiet Nest. Soon after the war ended, Carol became ill.
On 28 June 1914, at
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...
,
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated. This came as a shock to Marie and her family, who were vacationing at Sinaia when the news reached them. On 28 July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and, as Marie saw it, "the world's peace was torn to shreds". Then, on 3 August, King Carol held a
Crown Council at Sinaia, in order to decide whether Romania should enter the war. Although Carol was in favour of his country supporting Germany and the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
, the council decided against it. Not long after the council, Carol's illness worsened and he became bed-ridden; the possibility of his abdication was even discussed. Eventually, he died on 10 October 1914 and Ferdinand automatically succeeded as king.
Queen of Romania (1914–1927)
World War I
On 11 October 1914, Marie and Ferdinand were acclaimed as king and queen in the
Chamber of Deputies. Princess Anne Marie Callimachi, a close friend of Marie's, wrote that "as Crown Princess,
ariehad been popular; as queen, she was more loved". Marie maintained a certain influence on her husband and the entire court, leading historian A. L. Easterman to write that "it was not
erdinand but Marie who ruled in Romania". At the time of Ferdinand's accession, the government was led by the
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
prime minister
Ion I. C. Brătianu. Ferdinand and Marie jointly decided to not make many changes in court and let people accept the transition from one regime to another, rather than force them. Thus, many of Carol and Elisabeth's servants were kept in place, even the ones who were not particularly liked. With Brătianu's help, Marie began pressuring Ferdinand into entering the war; concurrently, she contacted various reigning relatives in Europe and bargained for the best terms for Romania, in case the country would enter the war.
Marie favoured an alliance with the
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
(Russia, France and Britain), partly because of her British ancestry. Neutrality was not without perils, and entering the war with the Entente meant that Romania would act as Russia's "buffer" against possible attacks.
![1917 - Regina Maria pe timpul vizitei într-un spital în anul 1917](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/1917_-_Regina_Maria_pe_timpul_vizitei_%C3%AEntr-un_spital_%C3%AEn_anul_1917.jpg)
Eventually, Marie demanded of Ferdinand in no uncertain terms that he enter the war, leading the French minister to Romania, Auguste Félix de Beaupoil, Count of Saint-Aulaire, to remark that Marie was twice an ally to the French: once by birth and once by heart. Ferdinand gave in to Marie's pleas, and he signed a treaty with the Entente on 17 August 1916. On 27 August, Romania formally declared war on Austria-Hungary. Saint-Aulaire wrote that Marie "embraced war as another might embrace religion". After informing their children that their country had entered the war, Ferdinand and Marie dismissed their German servants, who could only remain in their employ as "war prisoners" of sorts. Early on during the war, Marie was involved in aiding the
Romanian Red Cross
The Romanian Red Cross (CRR), also known as the National Society of Red Cross from Romania (''Societatea Naționalǎ de Cruce Roșie din România''), is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relie ...
and visited hospitals daily. During the first month of hostilities, Romania fought no less than nine battles; some, such as the
Battle of Turtucaia
The Battle of Turtucaia ( ro, Bătălia de la Turtucaia; bg, Битка при Тутракан, ''Bitka pri Tutrakan''), also known as Tutrakan Epopee ( bg, Тутраканска епопея, ''Tutrakanska epopeya'') in Bulgaria, was the openi ...
, took place on its own soil.
On 2 November 1916, Marie's youngest son, Prince Mircea, who had been sick with
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
, died at
Buftea. Marie was distraught and wrote in her journal: "Can anything ever be the same?" After
Bucharest fell to Austrian troops, the royal court was transferred to
Iași, capital of the
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...
region, in December 1916.
There, she continued to act as a nurse in military hospitals. Daily, Marie would dress as a nurse and go to
the train station, where she would receive more injured soldiers; then she would transport them to hospital.
![AsambleaDeAlbaIulia19181201](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/AsambleaDeAlbaIulia19181201.jpg)
After the conclusion of the
Russian Revolution in early November 1917 and the victory of the
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
s, Romania became, in the words of diplomat Frank Rattigan, "an island surrounded on all sides by the enemy, with no hope of assistance from the Allies". Soon afterwards, Ferdinand signed the
Treaty of Focșani, on 9 December 1917. Marie considered the treaty perilous, while Brătianu and Știrbey believed it was a necessary measure for obtaining more time. Later turns of events would prove Marie to have assumed correctly. In 1918, Marie vehemently opposed the signing of the
Treaty of Bucharest, giving rise to her description as "truly the only man in Romania". The
Armistice with Germany
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
(11 November 1918) put an end to fighting in Europe and, thus, to the war.
In the tenth century, the
Principality of Hungary
The (Grand) Principality of HungaryS. Wise BauerThe history of the medieval world: from the conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade W. W. Norton & Company, 2010, p. 586George H. HodosThe East-Central European region: an historical outline ...
had begun conquering Transylvania, which Hungarians had fully occupied by around 1200. The idea of a "
Greater Romania
The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea.
As a concept, its main goal is the creation ...
" had existed in the minds of Romanians in Transylvania for some time and Brătianu had actively supported the concept before the war. In 1918, both
Bessarabia and
Bukovina voted for union with Romania.
An assembly took place in the ancient city of
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historica ...
on 1 December 1918, where
Vasile Goldiș
Vasile Goldiș (12 November 1862 – 10 February 1934) was a Romanian politician, social theorist, and member of the Romanian Academy.
Early life
He was born on 12 November 1862 in his grandfather's (Teodor Goldiș) house in the village of M ...
read the resolution for the
union of Transylvania with the
Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
. This document, supported by Romanian as well as
Saxon deputies, established a ''High National Romanian Council'' ( ro, Marele Sfat Național Român) for the province's temporary administration. Marie wrote, "the dream of ''România Mare'' seems to be becoming a reality ... it is all so incredible that I hardly dare believe it." After the assembly, Ferdinand and Marie returned to Bucharest, where they were met by general mirth: "a day of 'wild, delirious enthusiasm', with the bands crashing and the troops marching and the people cheering". Allied troops took part in the celebration and Marie was elated to see the Entente on Romanian soil for the first time. Around this time, Marie became infected with the
Spanish flu
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...
, with symptoms peaking a week after Alba Iulia; her diary describes "a changed being, miserable and weak, brought to the brink of despair by so much headache and terrible sickness that sapped me of my strength".
Paris Peace Conference
Because Ferdinand had refused to sign the Treaty of Bucharest and because Romania had been hostile towards the Central Powers until the end of the war, its place among the winning countries during the
Paris Peace Conference was guaranteed. The official delegation was led by Brătianu, who had just begun his third term as Prime Minister. Brătianu's rigidity, combined with French Prime Minister
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...
's reluctance to overlook Ferdinand's acceptance of the Treaty of Bucharest led to open conflict and the Romanian delegation left Paris, much to the dismay of the "
Big Four". Hoping to resolve the situation, Saint-Aulaire suggested that Marie should be sent to the conference instead. The Queen was delighted at the prospect.
Marie arrived in Paris on 6 March 1919.
She was immediately popular with the French people, due to her boldness during the War. Upon meeting Marie, Clemenceau abruptly told her, "I don't like your Prime Minister", to which she replied, "Perhaps then you'll find me more agreeable." He did, and president
Raymond Poincaré noticed a change in Clemenceau's attitude towards Romania after Marie's arrival. After staying in Paris for a week, Marie accepted King George V and
Queen Mary's invitation and crossed the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
, lodging at
Buckingham Palace. Hoping to acquire as much goodwill for Romania as possible, Marie became acquainted with many important political figures of the time, including
Lord Curzon
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...
,
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
and
Waldorf and
Nancy Astor
Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor, (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964) was an American-born British politician who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament (MP), serving from 1919 to 1945.
Astor's first husband was America ...
. She also frequently visited her son Nicky, who was then in school at
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...
. Marie was elated to have returned to England after so much time, writing that "it was a tremendous emotion to arrive in London, and to be greeted at the station by George and May."
After the end of her visit in England, Marie returned to Paris, where the people were just as excited for her arrival as they had been a few weeks before. Crowds gathered around her frequently, waiting to see the "exotic" Queen of Romania. American President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
remained unimpressed by Marie, and her comments on Russian laws dealing with sexual relations, which were considered inappropriate, did not help. Marie shocked many officials by waving all her ministers aside and leading negotiations herself. On this, she would later comment, "Never mind, you'll all just have to get used to accepting me with the faults of my virtues." Marie left Paris with numerous supplies for Romania's relief and later that year, the conference
resulted in the international recognition of Greater Romania, thus doubling Ferdinand and Marie's kingdom to and increasing the population by ten million. This led
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, who briefly lived in Bucharest, to conclude that "by her charm, beauty, and ready wit,
ariecould obtain anything she desired".
Dynastic efforts
![Constantin Pascali - Regina Maria](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Constantin_Pascali_-_Regina_Maria.jpg)
In 1920, Marie's eldest daughter, Princess Elisabeth, was engaged to
Prince George of Greece
Prince George of Greece and Denmark ( el, Γεώργιος; 24 June 1869 – 25 November 1957) was the second son and child of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia, and is remembered chiefly for having once saved the life of h ...
, the eldest son of the deposed
King Constantine I of Greece and Marie's cousin Sophia. After inviting George and his two sisters, the
Princesses Helen and
Irene
Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace".
Irene, and related names, may refer to:
* Irene (given name)
Places
* Irene, Gauteng, South Africa
* Irene, South Dakota, United States
* Irene, Texas, United Stat ...
, to lodge with them at Sinaia, Marie organised numerous activities for the young couple and was delighted at the prospect of marrying off her daughter, whose character was severely flawed. In October, reports of
King Alexander's death came from Greece; the Greek princesses had to return to their parents as soon as possible. The following day, news arrived that Marie's mother had died in her sleep in
Zurich. Marie made arrangements for her departure to Switzerland, where she would take Helen and Irene to their parents and arrange her mother's funeral. Meanwhile, George and Elisabeth would remain at Sinaia.
Soon enough, Crown Prince Carol proposed to Princess Helen and they were married the following year. Marie was delighted, as she had frowned upon Carol's relationship with
Zizi Lambrino and had been worried at the birth of their illegitimate son
Carol, who, to her great relief, had been given his mother's surname. In 1922, Marie married her second daughter, "Mignon", to
Alexander I of Serbia
Alexander I ( sr-cyr, Александар Обреновић, Aleksandar Obrenović; 14 August 187611 June 1903) reigned as the king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903 when he and his wife, Draga Mašin, were assassinated by a group of Royal Serbian ...
(later of Yugoslavia). She was delighted at the births of her two royal grandsons,
Prince Michael of Romania (1921–2017) and
Prince Peter of Yugoslavia
Peter Karageorgevitch ( sr-cyr, Петар Карађорђевић, Petar Karađorđević; born 5 February 1980), also known as Prince Peter of Serbia and Yugoslavia, is a Spanish-Serbian graphic designer and a member of the House of Karađ ...
(1923–1970); the births of two grandchildren destined to sit on Europe's thrones seemed to cement her ambitions. Marie's dynastic efforts were viewed by critics as those of a manipulative mother who would sacrifice her children's happiness in order to fulfil her ambitions; in reality, Marie never forced any of her children to marry. While attending Peter’s baptism, Marie met the
Duchess of York, later Queen Elizabeth, by whom she was enchanted.
In 1924, Ferdinand and Marie undertook a diplomatic tour of France,
Switzerland,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and the United Kingdom. In England, she was warmly welcomed by George V, who declared that "apart from the common aims, which we pursue, there are other and dear ties between us. Her Majesty the Queen, my dear cousin, is British born." Similarly, Marie wrote that the day of her arrival in England was "a great day for me, one of emotions, sweet, happy and the same time glorious emotions to come back as Queen to my own country, to be received officially, in all honour and enthusiastically into the bargain – to feel your heart swell with pride and satisfaction, to feel your heart beat and tears start into your eyes, while something gave you a lump into your throat!" These state visits were a symbolic recognition of the prestige Romania had gained after World War I. Whilst visiting
Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
, Marie and Ferdinand became the first royals to enter the newly established headquarters of the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
.
Coronation
![Marie Coronation portrait](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Marie_Coronation_portrait.jpg)
The location for Marie and Ferdinand's
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...
was
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historica ...
, which had been an important fortress in the Middle Ages and where
Michael the Brave
Michael the Brave ( ro, Mihai Viteazul or ; 1558 – 9 August 1601), born as Mihai Pătrașcu, was the Prince of Wallachia (as Michael II, 1593 – 1601), Prince of Moldavia (1600) and ''de facto'' ruler of Transylvania (1599 – 1600). ...
had been declared ''
Voivode
Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the ...
'' of Transylvania in 1599, thus bringing Wallachia and Transylvania under his
personal union
A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...
. An Orthodox cathedral was built as the
Coronation Cathedral in 1921–1922. An elaborate set of jewellery and clothing was made especially for the coronation. Marie's crown was designed by painter
Costin Petrescu and it was made in the
Art Nouveau style by "
Falize", a Parisian jewelry house. The crown was inspired by that of Despina, the wife of 16th-century Wallachian ruler
Neagoe Basarab
Neagoe Basarab (; c.1459 – 15 September 1521) was the Voivode (Prince) of Wallachia between 1512 and 1521. Born into the boyar family of the Craioveşti (his reign marks the climax of the family's political influence) as the son of Pârvu Cr ...
, and it was made entirely out of Transylvanian gold. The crown had two pendants on the sides; one contained an image of the royal arms of Romania and the other, the arms of the Duke of Edinburgh, which Marie had used as her own arms prior to her marriage. The crown, which cost around 65,000
francs
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...
, was paid for by the state, via a special law.
Among the guests at the royal couple's coronation were Marie's sister "Baby Bee", the
Duke of York and French generals
Maxime Weygand
Maxime Weygand (; 21 January 1867 – 28 January 1965) was a French military commander in World War I and World War II.
Born in Belgium, Weygand was raised in France and educated at the Saint-Cyr military academy in Paris. After graduating in 1 ...
and
Henri Mathias Berthelot
Henri Mathias Berthelot (7 December 1861 – 29 January 1931) was a French general during World War I. He held an important staff position under Joseph Joffre, the French commander-in-chief, at the First Battle of the Marne, before later command ...
, who had led the
French military mission to Romania. The ceremony was conducted by the
Metropolitan of All Romania,
Miron Cristea
Miron Cristea (; monastic name of Elie Cristea ; 20 July 1868 – 6 March 1939) was a Romanian cleric and politician.
A bishop in Hungarian-ruled Transylvania, Cristea was elected Metropolitan-Primate of the Orthodox Church of the newly unifi ...
, but it was not performed inside the cathedral as Ferdinand, a Roman Catholic, refused to be crowned by a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church. After placing his crown on his own head, Ferdinand crowned Marie, who had knelt before him. Immediately, cannons were fired as a sign that the first king and queen of Greater Romania had been anointed. A feast was given in the same room where the union had been proclaimed in 1918; there, more than 20,000 peasants were offered roast steaks. The following day, Ferdinand and Marie triumphantly entered Bucharest. The splendour of the coronation was subsequently cited as evidence of Marie's theatricality. Marie would be received into the
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates ...
in 1926, mentioning a desire to be closer to her people.
Visit to America
![TIMEMagazineCover8Aug1924](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/TIMEMagazineCover8Aug1924.jpg)
The
Maryhill Museum of Art
Maryhill Museum of Art is a small museum with an eclectic collection, located near what is now the community of Maryhill in the U.S. state of Washington.
The museum is situated on a bluff overlooking the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge. T ...
in
Maryhill, Washington
Maryhill is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Klickitat County, Washington, United States. The population was 58 at the 2010 census, down from 98 at the 2000 census.
History
Maryhill is named after the wife and d ...
, was initially designed as a mansion for wealthy businessman
Samuel Hill
Samuel Hill (13 May 1857 – 26 February 1931), usually known as Sam Hill, was an American businessman, lawyer, railroad executive, and advocate of good roads. He substantially influenced the Pacific Northwest region's economic dev ...
. However, at
Loie Fuller
Loie Fuller (born Marie Louise Fuller; January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928), also known as Louie Fuller and Loïe Fuller, was an American actress and dancer who was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.
Career
Bor ...
's behest, the building was turned into a museum instead. Hill wished it to be dedicated in 1926, and he conceived it as a monument to peace, to his wife Mary, and to Queen Marie herself. Marie agreed to come to America and witness the dedication, especially as Fuller was an old friend of hers. Fuller quickly put together a committee that supported Marie's "tour" of America and arrangements were made for her departure. Marie viewed the tour as an opportunity to "see the country, meet the people and put Romania on the map". She travelled by ship across the Atlantic Ocean and disembarked in New York, on 18 October 1926, accompanied by Prince Nicholas and Princess Ileana.
Upon her arrival, Marie was welcomed enthusiastically with the "whistle of steamers, roar of guns in white smoke puffs against gray fog, voices cheering in a stinging rain". She was formally greeted by
Jimmy Walker
James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Beau James, was mayor of New York City from 1926 to 1932. A flamboyant politician, he was a liberal Democrat and part of the powerful Tammany Hall machine. He was forced t ...
, the
Mayor of New York City. Constance Lily Morris, author of ''On Tour with Queen Marie'', wrote that the people were excited for Marie's arrival mainly because of her almost mythical allure, which had been created by papers and rumour throughout her life; she observed that "the modest
Queen of the Belgians had once come with
her king for a brief visit and years ago the dusky
Hawaiian ruler had honored us, but there had been no others. The time could not have been better set." Marie was also fairly popular within
suffragette circles, where she was viewed as "a woman whose wits had devised many a coup d'état, whose brains had thought out many a difficult problem for her people, who had used the gifts given her to further every good purpose".
During their time in America, Marie, Nicholas and Ileana undertook tours of several cities, including
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. They were very popular, and were greeted with equal enthusiasm in each city they visited, so much so that "
icholas and Ileanaseemed fairly dazed by their tremendous ovation". At the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
, the official dinner was marked by awkward moments, due to the morose attitude of President
Calvin Coolidge and his wife
Grace
Grace may refer to:
Places United States
* Grace, Idaho, a city
* Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois
* Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office
* Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...
; Marie lingered less than two hours. Before leaving the United States, Marie was presented with a bullet-proof armored town car by
Willys-Knight, which she joyfully accepted. On 24 November, Marie and her children were seen off by a delegation from
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, as they prepared to leave by ship from
New York Harbor. Morris wrote that "our last view was of Her Majesty, her children on either side, waving back with that tear-and-smile of those who pass from happy scenes." Morris accompanied the queen throughout her journey and offered a very detailed account of Marie's time in America in her book, published in 1927.
Marie was delighted with the visit, and wished to return to America as soon as possible. She wrote in her diaries:
"both my children and I have but one dream: to return! To return to that stupendous New World, which makes you almost guiddy because of its immencity, its noise, its striving, its fearful impetuous to get on, to do always more, always bigger, quicker, more astonishingly a restless, flaring great world, where I think everything can be realised ... I know, as long as I live, breathe and think, the love for America will beautify my life and thoughts ... Perhaps Fate will allow me one day to go back to America."
Widowhood (1927–1938)
1927–1930
![Queens Marie and Helen with King Michael](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Queens_Marie_and_Helen_with_King_Michael.jpg)
Prince Carol sparked
a dynastic crisis when he officially renounced his rights to succeed Ferdinand on 5 January 1926, simultaneously waiving all parental rights over Prince Michael, who had been proclaimed heir apparent. A Provisional Regency Bill was passed, creating a regency council composed of Prince Nicholas; the Orthodox Patriarch,
Miron Cristea
Miron Cristea (; monastic name of Elie Cristea ; 20 July 1868 – 6 March 1939) was a Romanian cleric and politician.
A bishop in Hungarian-ruled Transylvania, Cristea was elected Metropolitan-Primate of the Orthodox Church of the newly unifi ...
; and
Gheorghe Buzdugan
Gheorghe V. Buzdugan (February 10, 1867 – October 7, 1929) was a Romanian jurist and politician.
Born in Focșani, Buzdugan studied law at the University of Bucharest, after which he served as a judge. Assigned to Piatra Neamț in early 1892, ...
, the president of the
Court of Cassation
A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...
. However, both Marie and Ferdinand were reluctant to leave the country in the hands of a five-year-old boy, even overseen by a regency, for fear that the lands gained during World War I would be reclaimed by neighbouring countries and that political disturbances might lead to civil unrest. Nevertheless, when Marie returned from America, Ferdinand's death seemed imminent. He was suffering from
intestinal cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...
, and by April 1927 had come so close to death as to be given the last rites of the Catholic Church. He died on 20 July, in Marie's arms. She later wrote: "'I am so tired' were his last words and when he lay so quiet in my arms one hour later, I knew that I must thank God for ''him'' at least. This was rest indeed."
Michael automatically succeeded as king upon Ferdinand's death and the regency council took charge of his role as monarch. In May 1928, Carol, who had found his life abroad with
Magda Lupescu
Magda Lupescu (born Elena Lupescu; 3/15 September 1899 – 29 June 1977), later officially known as Princess Elena of Romania, was the mistress and later wife of King Carol II of Romania.
Early life and family
Many of the facts relating to he ...
unsatisfactory, attempted to return to Romania with the help of the
1st Viscount Rothermere. He was prevented from doing so by English authorities, who then proceeded to expel him from England. Infuriated, Marie sent an official apology to George V on behalf of her son, who had already begun plotting a coup d'état. Carol succeeded in divorcing Princess Helen on 21 June 1928, on grounds of incompatibility.
Marie's popularity was severely affected during Michael's reign and, after refusing to be part of the regency council in 1929, she was accused by the press, and even by Princess Helen, of plotting a coup. During this time, there were numerous rumours as to Princess Ileana's marriage. After talk of Ileana marrying the
Tsar of Bulgaria
The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled the country during three periods of Bulgaria's history as an independent country: from the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 to the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria in 1018; from the Uprising of As ...
or the
Prince of Asturias
Prince or Princess of Asturias ( es, link=no, Príncipe/Princesa de Asturias; ast, Príncipe d'Asturies) is the main substantive title used by the heir apparent or heir presumptive to the throne of Spain. According to the Spanish Constitution ...
, she was eventually betrothed to
Alexander, Count of Hochberg, a minor German prince, in early 1930. This betrothal was, however, short-lived and Marie never managed to conclude a political marriage for her youngest daughter, instead marrying her to
Archduke Anton of Austria–Tuscany in 1931.
Carol II's reign
![Philip Alexius de Laszlo-Queen Marie of Romania, nee Princess Marie of Edinburgh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Philip_Alexius_de_Laszlo-Queen_Marie_of_Romania%2C_nee_Princess_Marie_of_Edinburgh.jpg)
On 6 June 1930, Carol arrived in Bucharest and made his way into Parliament, where the Act of Succession 1927 was duly declared null. Thus, Carol usurped the throne from his son, becoming King Carol II. Upon hearing of Carol's return, Marie, who was abroad, was relieved. She had been growing anxious with the direction in which the country was heading and viewed Carol's return as the
return of the Prodigal Son. However, as soon as she arrived in Bucharest, she became aware that things would not go well. Carol refused to accept his mother's advice to take Helen back and never sought Marie's counsel during his reign, thus making the already existing breach between mother and son complete.
Desolate and almost stripped of her belief, Marie turned to the religious teachings of the
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...
, which she found "vastly appealing". She was particularly attracted by the idea of
humanity's unification under one faith, given her own religiously divided family. Introduced to the doctrine by
Martha Root
Martha Louise Root (August 10, 1872 – September 28, 1939) was an American traveling teacher of the Baháʼí Faith in the early 20th century. From the declaration of her belief in 1909 until her death thirty years later, she went around the ...
, Marie carried on a correspondence with
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghí Effendi (; 1 March 1897 – 4 November 1957) was the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, appointed to the role of Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. He created a series of teaching plans that over ...
, then head of the Faith, where she expressed herself as a follower of the Baháʼí teachings. Additionally, she made several public statements promoting the teachings of
Baháʼu'lláh, describing him as a prophet similar to Jesus or Muhammad. This written correspondence has led Baháʼís to regard her as the first royal convert to their religion. Biographer Hannah Pakula notes that Marie "continued to attend the Protestant Church", even though she "prayed 'better at home with my Baha-u-llah books and teachings.'" In 1976,
William McElwee Miller
William McElwee Miller (December 12, 1892 – July 7, 1993) was an American missionary to Persia, and author of several books.
Born in Middlesboro, Kentucky, Miller received a M.A. in 1913 from Washington and Lee University, and a B.D. in 19 ...
published a polemical book against the religion, which included selections from a letter written in 1970 by Marie's daughter
Ileana denying any such conversion had taken place.
In 1931, Prince Nicholas eloped with Ioana Doletti, a divorced woman. Marie strongly disapproved of her son's actions and felt hurt by Doletti's repeated attempts to keep Nicholas from communicating with his mother. Although she blamed the women in her sons' lives for a while, she also came to blame herself, for failing to educate them properly. However, she stubbornly and continually refused to meet Magda Lupescu, even after Carol's pleas. Until her last years, Marie seldom even mentioned Lupescu's name.
With Carol's mistress hated throughout the country, it was only a matter of time before opposition to the King emerged. This opposition most prominently came under the form of the
Iron Guard, a group supported by
Benito Mussolini and
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
. After Carol turned to Ion Duca for help, the Iron Guard assassinated Duca in December 1933. After Duca's death, Carol's popularity plummeted and there were rumours that an attempt would be made on his life at the annual independence parade. In order to avoid this, he instead had Marie attend the parade, in what would be her final public appearance.
After the parade, Carol set out to destroy his mother's popularity among Romanians and tried to push her out of the country. Marie, however, did not comply, instead retreating to either of two locales. The first was
Bran Castle
Bran Castle ( ro, Castelul Bran; german: Schloss Bran; hu, Törcsvári kastély) is a castle in Bran, southwest of Brașov. It is a national monument and landmark in Transylvania. The fortress is on the Transylvanian side of the historical bo ...
. Located near
Brașov
Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County.
According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...
in southern Transylvania and given to her as a gift in 1920 by grateful local officials, she had it restored over the next seven years. The other was Balchik, where she had built
a palace and a small chapel called ''Stella Maris'' and tended to her garden. She also visited Ileana and her children in Austria. Ileana rarely received permission from Carol to visit Romania; this irritated Marie greatly. She also spent some time in
Belgrade with her daughter "Mignon" and her son-in-law, King Alexander. In 1934, Marie visited England once again.
Illness and death
![BisericaEpiscopalaCurteaDeArges (12)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/BisericaEpiscopalaCurteaDeArges_%2812%29.JPG)
During the summer of 1937, Marie fell ill.
Her personal physician, Dr. Castellani, determined she had
pancreatic cancer, although her official diagnosis was
cirrhosis of the liver
Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...
. Marie had not been a drinker and, upon hearing the news, she reportedly said: "then there must be a
non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, because I have never in my life tasted alcohol." She was prescribed a diet of cold foods, injections and bed rest. Marie was so weak at times that she could not even pick up a pen. In February 1938, she was sent to a sanatorium in Italy, in hopes that she might recover. There, she was visited by Nicholas and his wife, whom Marie eventually forgave for her transgressions. She was also visited by Princess Helen, whom she had not seen in nearly seven years, and Waldorf Astor. Marie was eventually transferred to a sanatorium in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
. Growing weaker and weaker, she requested that she be taken back to Romania, in order to die there. Carol denied her a journey by aeroplane, and she declined a
medical flight offered by Hitler,
instead choosing to return to Romania by train. She was brought to the Pelișor Castle.
Marie died on 18 July 1938, at 5:38 p.m., eight minutes after lapsing into a coma. Her two eldest children, Carol and Elisabeth, accompanied by Prince Michael, were at her deathbed. Two days later, on 20 July, Marie's body was brought to Bucharest, where she
lay in state in the white drawing room at Cotroceni Palace. Her coffin was surrounded by flowers and glowing tapers and was guarded by officers of the Fourth Hussars. Thousands of people filed by Marie's bier during the three-day lying in state and, on the third day, the palace was opened for factory workers. Marie's funeral cortege made its way to
the train station, passing under the
Arch of Triumph. Her coffin was taken to
Curtea de Argeș Monastery, where she was interred. Marie's heart, according to her own wishes, was placed in a small golden casket embellished with the emblems of the
Romanian provinces and interred in her ''Stella Maris'' chapel in Balchik. In 1940, after Southern Dobrudja was
ceded to Bulgaria during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, her heart was transferred to Bran Castle. There, Ileana built a chapel to house the heart, kept in two nested boxes placed inside a marble sarcophagus.
Marie was the last queen consort of Romania, as Princess Helen was accorded only the title of Queen Mother between 1940 and 1947. She was one of Queen Victoria's five crowned granddaughters and one of three to retain their positions as consort after the conclusion of World War I, alongside the
Queen of Norway
The list of Norwegian monarchs ( no, kongerekken or ''kongerekka'') begins in 872: the traditional dating of the Battle of Hafrsfjord, after which victorious King Harald Fairhair merged several petty kingdoms into that of his father. Named after ...
and the
Queen of Spain
, coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg
, coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain
, image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg
, incumbent = Felipe VI
, incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...
.
Legacy
Author
According to one of her biographers, Diana Mandache, Marie published 34 books and short stories during her lifetime. Encouraged to write by her aunt Queen Elisabeth, she found a source of inspiration in the memoirs of King Carol I. Her first book, ''The Lily of Life'', appeared at Bucharest in 1912. Written in the English she would always use, but soon translated into Romanian, it is a fairy tale with symbolic characters. ''My Country'', published in London in 1916 and in Paris the following year, combined a variety of genres in an effort to raise Allied support for Romania.
Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga (; sometimes Neculai Iorga, Nicolas Jorga, Nicolai Jorga or Nicola Jorga, born Nicu N. Iorga;Iova, p. xxvii. 17 January 1871 – 27 November 1940) was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, Albanologist, poet ...
wrote and published a Romanian translation in 1917, and an expanded version appeared in 1925.
Her critically acclaimed autobiography, ''The Story of My Life'', published by Cassell in London, in three volumes,
came out in 1934-1935. The book was reviewed by
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
, who felt it was too familiarizing of the royal family. She stated that "suppose that among the autumn books of 2034 is ''Prometheus Unbound'', by George the Sixth, or ''Wuthering Heights'', by Elizabeth the Second, what will be the effect upon their loyal subjects? Will the British Empire survive? Will Buckingham Palace look as solid then as it does now? Words are dangerous things, let us remember. A republic might be brought into being by a poem."
At the same time, she appreciated its depiction of a “royal animal” escaping its gilded cage. Critic
Octav Șuluțiu
Octav Șuluțiu (November 5, 1909–February 9, 1949) was a Romanian prose writer and literary critic.
Born in Bucharest, his parents were Gheorghe Șuluț, a tailor, and his wife Victoria (''née'' Pigarovsky). After attending primary school ...
emphasized the work’s value as a historical document and its psychological insight.
Marie wrote a few diary pages in 1914 upon the death of Carol I, but started keeping a daily diary in August 1916, on the day Romania entered World War I. She wrote new entries almost every day during the war and after, with some pauses in her later years. The first volume was published in 1996. Ten additional books of entries appeared between 2006 and 2014; Marie’s war diary, edited by
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944 in Bucharest) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history from the deformations due to ideological propaganda. I.e. as ...
, was published in 2014; and the entries from her final years were released to the public in 2018.
Public figure
![Medal - Marie of Romania](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Medal_-_Marie_of_Romania.jpg)
Even before becoming queen, Marie had succeeded in establishing her public image as that of "one of the best-looking and richest princesses in Europe". She was known primarily for her talent in horse-riding, writing, painting, sculpting and dancing, as well as for her beauty. Her popularity was dimmed by two slanderous campaigns: that conducted by the Central Powers during World War I; and that led by Communist officials after Romania's transition to a
Socialist Republic
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ec ...
in 1947.
During Romania's 42 years under Communist rule, Marie was alternately depicted as either an "agent of English capitalism" or as a devoted patriot who believed that her destiny was intertwined with that of Romania. In the 1949 ''Adevărata istorie a unei monarhii'' ("The True History of a Monarchy"), author Alexandru Gârneață refers to orgies that supposedly were held by Marie at Cotroceni and Balchik and claims that her cirrhosis was caused by her heavy drinking, even offering examples of instances when a drunken Marie needed to be carried off a yacht by her fellow drinkers. Marie's supposed extramarital affairs were brought forward as evidence of promiscuity, which contravened Communist values.
In 1968, Communist officials vandalised the chapel sheltering Marie's heart, opening the sarcophagus and taking the boxes as well as the heart into Bran Castle. In 1971, these were transferred to Bucharest's
National Museum of Romanian History
The National History Museum of Romania ( ro, Muzeul Național de Istorie a României) is a museum located on the Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, Romania, which contains Romanian historical artifacts from prehistoric times up to modern times.
The mus ...
.
It was not until the late period of
Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...
's regime, the last years before the
Romanian Revolution
The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...
, that Marie's merits came to be acknowledged.
In Romania, Marie is known by the nickname ''Mama Răniților'' ("Mother of the Wounded"), or simply as "Regina Maria", while in other countries she is remembered as the "Soldier Queen" and "Mamma Regina". Marie is also nicknamed "the mother-in-law of the Balkans", due to her children's marriages into the region's ruling houses. By the time of her death, Marie's children had ruled in three Balkan countries, although her descendants no longer occupy any European throne. Marie was called "one of the greatest figures in Romanian history" by
Constantin Argetoianu
Constantin Argetoianu ( – 6 February 1955) was a Romanian politician, one of the best-known personalities of interwar Greater Romania, who served as the Prime Minister between 28 September and 23 November 1939. His memoirs, ''Memorii. Pentr ...
, and in her honour, Romania established the Order of the Cross of Queen Marie in 1917.
A statue of Queen Marie was unveiled in
Ashford, Kent, in December 2018, to mark her birth and childhood at the nearby Eastwell Park. Soon afterwards, a fictionalized account of her role in the Paris Peace Conference was portrayed in a feature film, ''Queen Marie'', while American author
Laurie R. King depicted the queen at Bran in the mystery novel ''Castle Shade''.
Personal effects and jewels
Prior to 2009, many of Marie's personal belongings were on display at Bran Castle, her residence in her later years, which functions as a museum. That year, when the castle was legally restored to Princess Ileana's heirs, the
Culture Ministry moved the collection of her items to a nearby building, ''Vama Medievală'', which is also open to visitors. In 2015, the casket containing the queen's heart was placed on a pedestal in the room at Pelișor where she died; the display can be viewed by the public.
The
Maryhill Museum of Art
Maryhill Museum of Art is a small museum with an eclectic collection, located near what is now the community of Maryhill in the U.S. state of Washington.
The museum is situated on a bluff overlooking the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge. T ...
holds a permanent exhibition titled "Marie, Queen of Romania". This display includes the queen's coronation gown, a copy of the crown, silverware, gilt furniture, and jewelry, among other items.
The
Queen Marie of Romania Sapphire is named from its association with Marie. Originally set in a necklace by
Cartier in 1913, the drop jewel weighs 478 carats. It was transferred to a diamond necklace in 1919 and King Ferdinand purchased it for Marie in 1921. The price was 1,375,000
francs
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...
, to be paid in four instalments until 1924. At the time, large jewelry had not excited Marie's interest; she preferred to wear a Greek cross or, when she attended the
Paris Opera, her pearls. However, the sapphire sautoir (jewel chain) was an ideal match for the sapphire tiara she had bought from Russian exile
Grand Duchess Vladimir. She wore them both at her coronation receptions and when sitting for her portrait by
Philip de László. During her visit to the United States, when she presided over a ball at the
New York Ritz-Carlton, one observer remarked: "There was a heavy chain of diamonds, broken at intervals with squares of massive design. From this chain was suspended an unbelievable egg-shaped sapphire, one of the largest, it is said, in the world".
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
*29 October 1875 – 10 January 1893: ''Her Royal Highness'' Princess Marie of Edinburgh
*10 January 1893 – 10 October 1914: ''Her Royal Highness'' The Crown Princess of Romania
*10 October 1914 – 20 July 1927: ''Her Majesty'' The Queen of Romania
*20 July 1927 – 18 July 1938: ''Her Majesty'' Queen Marie of Romania
Honours
Marie was a recipient of the following national and foreign honours:
[''Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Preußen'' (1907), Genealogy p]
5
/ref>
Arms
As a male-line grandchild of a British Sovereign, Marie bore the arms of the kingdom, with an inescutcheon
In heraldry, an escutcheon () is a shield that forms the main or focal element in an achievement of arms. The word can be used in two related senses. In the first sense, an escutcheon is the shield upon which a coat of arms is displayed. In the s ...
for Saxony, differenced by a five-point label argent, the outer pair of which bore anchors azure, the inner roses gules, and the central a cross gules. In 1917, the inescutcheon was dropped by Royal Warrant from George V.
File:Coat of Arms of Marie of Edinburgh.svg, Marie's coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
as a British princess
File:Royal Monogram of Queen Marie of Romania, Variant.svg, Early monogram of Queen Marie
File:Royal Monogram of Queen Marie of Romania.svg, Monogram of Queen Marie of Romania
File:Royal Monogram of Marie of Romania, Variant 2.svg, Monogram of Queen Marie of Romania
Written works
Books
* ''The Lily of Life'' (1912)
* ''The Dreamer of Dreams'' (1913)
* ''Ilderim'' (1915)
* ''Four Seasons. Out of a Man’s Life'' (1915)
* ''The Naughty Queen'' (1916)
* ''The Stealers of Light. A legend'' (1916)
* ''My Country'' (1916); enlarged as ''The Country That I Love: An Exile's Memories'' (1925)
* ''Roumania Yesterday and To-day'', by Winifred Gordon (1918) st chapter by Queen Marie* ''The Story of Naughty Kildeen'' (1922)
* ''Ode to Roumania'' (1923)
* ''Why?: A Story of Great Longing'' (1923)
* ''The Queen of Roumania's Fairy Book'' (1925)
* ''The Voice on the Mountain: A Story for Those Who Understand'' (1926)
* ''The Lost Princess: A Fairy Tale'' (1927)
* ''The Magic Doll of Roumania'' (1929)
* ''The Story of My Life'' (3 vol., 1934-1935)
* ''Masks'' (1937)
* ''Later Chapters of My Life: The Lost Journal of Queen Marie of Romania'' (2004)
Short stories
* "The Serpents' Isle", '' The Lady's Realm'', March 1897
* "The Siege of Widin", ''The Lady's Realm'', July 1898
* "Lulaloo", ''Good Housekeeping
''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...
'', March 1925
Poems
* "A Robin Redbreast’s Carol", ''The Lady's Realm'', January 1903
Songs
* "Byzantine Princess Song" (1933)
Nonfiction
* "What the River Says", ''The Lady's Realm'', November 1899
* "Romantic Rumania", ''The Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...
'', 7 December 1918
* "A Queen Looks at Life", North American Newspaper Alliance, June 1925 yndicated series* "A Queen Talks About Love", ''Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
'', September 1925
* "The Intimate Thoughts of a Queen Facing Fifty", ''Cosmopolitan'', October 1925
* "Foreword", ''Art and Archeology'', January 1926
* "At Grand-Mama’s Court", ''McCall's
''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-f ...
'', March 1926
* "My Impressions of America", North American Newspaper Alliance, 21 October – 4 December 1926 4-part syndicated series* "The Story of My Life", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', 16 December 1933 - 3 February 1934 parts* "My Life as a Crown Princess", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', 14 April – 16 June 1934 parts; not in 12 May 9 June* "My Mission: I. In Paris", ''The Cornhill Magazine
''The Cornhill Magazine'' (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill in London.Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor, ''Dictiona ...
'', October 1939
* "My Mission: II. At Buckingham Palace", ''The Cornhill Magazine'', November 1939
* "My Mission: III. Paris Again", ''The Cornhill Magazine'', December 1939
Letters
* ''A Biographer's Notebook'', by Hector Bolitho (1950) ncludes Queen Marie's letters to her "American friend"* ''Queen Mary of Romania: Letters to Her King'' (2015)
* ''Queen Marie of Romania: Letters to Her Mother'' (2 vol., 2016)
Ancestry
References
Endnotes
Footnotes
Bibliography
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General bibliography
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Archives
A large part of Queen Marie's papers (including correspondence and photographs) is preserved in different American institutions, including the "Queen Marie of Romania Papers" collection in the Library of Kent State University (Kent, Ohio), the "George I. Duca Papers" collection in the Hoover Institution Archives (Stanford, California), and the "Lavinia A. Small Papers" collection in the Library of the University of Colorado at Boulder (Boulder, Colorado).
Marie's letters to her parents-in-law, Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Antonia of Portugal, between 1892 and 1904 are preserved in the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family archive, which is in the State Archive of Sigmaringen (Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen) in the town of Sigmaringen
Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district.
Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen ...
, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Marie's letters to her husband's grandmother, Josephine of Baden, between 1893 and 1899 are also preserved in the State Archive of Sigmaringen (Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen).
External links
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* British Pathé newsreels depicting Marie of Romania
1914
1917
1924
1930
1930
1931
1932
1938
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Treaty between Great Britain and Roumania for the Marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Great Britain and Ireland with His Royal Highness the Prince Ferdinand of Roumania – 15 December 1892
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marie Of Romania
1875 births
1938 deaths
20th-century Bahá'ís
20th-century Eastern Orthodox Christians
20th-century Romanian writers
20th-century Romanian women writers
Romanian nurses
British princesses
Burials at Curtea de Argeş Cathedral
Deaths from cancer in Romania
Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Anglicanism
Converts to the Bahá'í Faith from Eastern Orthodoxy
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Deaths from cirrhosis
English Anglicans
English Bahá'ís
English people of Russian descent
Former Romanian Orthodox Christians
Honorary members of the Romanian Academy
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (United Kingdom)
Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church
People from Ashford, Kent
Queens consort
Romanian Bahá'ís
Romanian diarists
Romanian memoirists
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Romanian people of English descent
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Romanian royal consorts
Romanian women writers
Romanian writers
Women diarists
Women philanthropists
Companions of the Order of the Crown of India
Ladies of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert
Members of the Royal Red Cross
Dames of Justice of the Order of St John
Dames Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Romania)
Grand Crosses of the Order of St. Sava
Dames of the Order of Saint Isabel
Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
Queen mothers