Marie of Romania
Encyclopedia
Marie of Romania was Queen consort of Romania
from 1914 to 1927, as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania
.
in Kent, the eldest daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. Her father was the second-eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Her mother was the only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia
and Maria Alexandrovna of Hesse
. She was baptised in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle
on 15 December 1875 and her godparents were the Empress and Tsarevitch
of Russia (her maternal grandmother and uncle), the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (her paternal grandaunt), the Princess of Wales
(her paternal aunt) and the Duke of Connaught
(her paternal uncle). As her father was in the Royal Navy
, she spent much of her early childhood abroad, particularly in Malta
.
In her youth, Princess Marie was considered a suitable match for marriage to the Royalty of Europe. Her first cousin, Prince George of Wales, later King George V of the United Kingdom
, fell in love with her and proposed marriage. Marie's father and George's father approved of the marriage, but their mothers did not. Marie's mother did not like the British Royal family and George's mother did not like Germans so the idea of a marriage was mixed. Before Marie could find someone else suitable to marry, her mother found Ferdinand of Romania. He was the German-raised nephew of the King of Romania (and a distant cousin of the rulers of Prussia).
Princess Marie married Prince Ferdinand of Romania
, nephew of King Carol I of Romania
in Sigmaringen
, Germany, on 10 January 1893. The bride was 17 years old and the groom was 10 years her senior. (Marie's father did not become Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha until a few months later.) The marriage, which produced three daughters and three sons, was not a happy one. Her correspondence with her longtime secret confidante, the American dancer Loie Fuller
, revealed "the distaste, which grew to revulsion" that Marie felt for her husband.
The couple's two youngest children, Ileana and Mircea, were born after Marie met her long-time lover, Barbu Ştirbey
. Historians generally agree that Ştirbey was the father of Prince Mircea, who had brown eyes like Ştirbey, unlike Marie and Ferdinand. The paternity of Ileana is uncertain, as is the paternity of Marie's second daughter, Maria (known as Mignon), the future Queen of Yugoslavia. Ferdinand's paternity of the three other children, Carol, Nicholas and Elisabeth, has not been disputed.
In 1897, while still Crown Princess, Marie began a romantic liaison with Lieutenant Zizi Cantacuzene. The affair and subsequent scandal became widely known and was quickly terminated by King Carol I. However by autumn 1897, during the height of the scandal, Marie became pregnant. After fleeing to her mother in Coburg, Marie apparently gave birth to a child who has disappeared from history. It has been suggested that the child was either stillborn or quickly placed in an orphanage. Whatever the truth, 'the story of this mysterious child of Marie of Romania was one secret "she took to the grave."'
to allow her to give birth in Coburg, where her father was Duke. Upon the king's refusal of this request, Marie declared 'right to his face' that the child she was carrying was in fact Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia
's. The horrified King relented and Marie gave birth to her daughter, also called Marie but always known as Mignon, in the peaceful surroundings of Coburg. Following this, whether in earnest or merely to deflect criticism from the dynasty, Crown Prince Ferdinand officially recognised the child as his.
, along with an Astor family doctor during the birth fanned speculation that the father of Prince Nicolas was in fact Astor and not Crown Prince Ferdinand. As with Mignon, Ferdinand accepted the child as his own and as he grew up Nicolas came to resemble his Hohenzollern relatives rather than the Astors.
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In 1914, Carol I died and Ferdinand ascended the throne of Romania. Crown Princess Marie then became styled Her Majesty The Queen of Romania. Due to World War I, they were not crowned as King and Queen until 1922.
Marie had become a Romanian patriot, and her influence in the country was large. A.L. Easterman writes that King Ferdinand was "a quiet, easy-going man, of no significant character… It was not he, but Marie who ruled in Romania." He credits Marie's sympathies for the Allies as being "the major influence in bringing her country to their side" in the war.
During the war, she volunteered as a Red Cross nurse to help the sick and wounded and wrote a book, My Country to raise funds for the Red Cross, but these were by no means her most notable contributions to the war effort. With the country half-overrun by the German Army, she and a group of military advisers devised the plan by which the Romanian Army, rather than retreating into Russia, would choose a triangle of the country in which to stand and fight; and through a letter to Loïe Fuller she set in motion the series of events that brought a timely American loan to Romania, providing the necessary funds to carry out the plan. (Fortuitously, the young woman from the US embassy who delivered the letter to Fuller was the former ward of Newton D. Baker
, by this time serving as U.S. Secretary of War. Fuller and the young woman travelled from Paris to Washington, DC and secured an audience with Baker who, along with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Carter Glass
, arranged the loan).
After the war ended, the Great Powers decided to settle affairs at the Paris Peace Conference
. The Romanian objective was to secure the Romanian-inhabited territories from the now-defunct Austria-Hungary and Russian Empire, thereby uniting all Romanian-speakers in a single state. Romanian diplomats at the peace conference sought to achieve recognition by the Allies of the Unions of Bessarabia
, Bukovina
, and Transylvania
with Romania, proclaimed during 1918. With the Romanian delegation losing ground in the negotiations, Prime Minister Ionel Bratianu called upon the Queen to travel to France. Marie famously declared that "Romania needs a face, and I will be that face," astutely calculating that the international press was growing tired of the endless negotiations and would be unable to resist the glamour of a Royal visit. The arrival of the so-called Soldier Queen was an international media sensation and she argued passionately that the Western powers should honour their debt to Romania (which had suffered a casualty rate proportionately far greater than Britain, France or the USA). Behind the scenes, she alternately charmed and bullied the Allied leaders into backing the Romanian cause. As a direct result of her charismatic intervention, Romania won back the initiative and successfully achieved all its pre-conference aims, eventually expanding its territory by 60%, gaining Bessarabia
, Bukovina
, Transylvania
, as well as parts of the Banat
, Crişana
and Maramureş
.
Marie's son, the Crown Prince Carol (later King Carol II of Romania
), was never close to his father, Ferdinand—by the time Carol was an adult, their antagonism became an "open breach"—but there continued to be a "deep bond of affection and sympathy" between Carol and Marie. Their relationship, however, deteriorated. The initial conflict came over Carol's objections to Marie's relationship with Prince Ştirbey; the breach was exacerbated as Marie attempted to steer Carol toward a dynastic marriage rather than allow him to choose his own bride. During Carol's exile in Paris, Loïe Fuller had befriended Carol and his mistress Magda Lupescu
; they were unaware of Fuller's connection to Marie. Fuller initially advocated to Marie on their behalf, but later schemed unsuccessfully with Marie to separate Carol from Lupescu. Eventually, when Carol became King and did not seek her counsel, the breach between mother and son became complete.
After the death of her husband in 1927, Queen Marie remained in Romania, writing books and her memoirs, The Story of My Life. She died in Peleş Castle
on 18 July 1938, and was buried next to her husband in the Monastery
of Curtea de Argeş
. In accordance with her will, her heart was kept in a cloister at the Balchik Palace
which she had built. In 1940, when Balchik
and the rest of Southern Dobrudja were returned to Bulgaria
in accordance with the Treaty of Craiova
, Queen Marie's heart was transferred to Bran Castle
. This had been her principal home for much of the early 20th century, and the artefacts with which she chose to surround herself (traditional furniture and tapestries, for example) can be seen by visitors today. Many of her other personal effects can be seen at the Maryhill Museum, formerly the home of Samuel Hill
, an American railroad businessman with whom Queen Marie corresponded much of her life. The famous museum, which lies in Washington State (U.S.A.) on the north side of the Columbia River
, displays much of Queen Marie's regalia, furniture, and other possessions, including her crown.
She was the 1,007th Dame
of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa.
. Her religious background was of the Church of England
, although she is known to have embraced the Orthodox Christian beliefs of Romanian nationals. In her later years, she was approached by Martha Root
, a well-recognized travelling teacher, on the topic of the Bahá'í Faith. Bahá'ís recognise Queen Marie of Romania as the first member of royalty to have declared her belief in Bahá'u'lláh
, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.
In regard to the Bahá'í Faith, Queen Marie stated:
.
. And all that business about telling one's sins in public – He wanted me...me ...to get up before my children and confess everything I had ever done! It is spiritual nudism! Ça ne se fait pas."
's poem "Comment":
Marie's interaction with the Bahá'í faith's is discussed in Her Eternal Crown: Queen Marie of Romania and the Bahá'í Faith, by author Della L. Marcus.
Science fiction author Joanna Russ
mentions her in her 1975 novel, The Female Man
.
Bruce Benderson
, in The Romanian: Story of an Obsession
, soliloquizes on the relationship between Marie, her son King Carol II
and his mistress Magda Lupescu
.
Sylvia the dog, in the play Sylvia by A. R. Gurney, says near the end of Act 2, "Oh sure. And I'm Marie of Rumania".
Regina Maria
(formerly HMS London in the Royal Navy
) was named after Marie by the Romanian Navy
.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
from 1914 to 1927, as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania
Ferdinand I of Romania
Ferdinand was the King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death.-Early life:Born in Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, the Roman Catholic Prince Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later simply of Hohenzollern, was a son of Leopold, Prince of...
.
Early life
She was born on 29 October 1875 at Eastwell ParkEastwell Park
Eastwell Park was an English stately home in the civil parish of Eastwell, adjoining Ashford in Kent, that for a time served as a royal residence...
in Kent, the eldest daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the third Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and reigned from 1893 to 1900. He was also a member of the British Royal Family, the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha...
, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. Her father was the second-eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Her mother was the only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
and Maria Alexandrovna of Hesse
Maria Alexandrovna of Hesse
Marie of Hesse and by Rhine was a princess of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and, as Maria Alexandrovna , Empress consort of Alexander II of Russia. She was born at Darmstadt, the capital of the Grand Duchy, and died at Saint Petersburg...
. She was baptised in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
on 15 December 1875 and her godparents were the Empress and Tsarevitch
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
of Russia (her maternal grandmother and uncle), the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (her paternal grandaunt), the Princess of Wales
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
(her paternal aunt) and the Duke of Connaught
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the shared British and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha royal family who served as the Governor General of Canada, the 10th since Canadian Confederation.Born the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and...
(her paternal uncle). As her father was in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, she spent much of her early childhood abroad, particularly in Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
.
Marriage
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, fell in love with her and proposed marriage. Marie's father and George's father approved of the marriage, but their mothers did not. Marie's mother did not like the British Royal family and George's mother did not like Germans so the idea of a marriage was mixed. Before Marie could find someone else suitable to marry, her mother found Ferdinand of Romania. He was the German-raised nephew of the King of Romania (and a distant cousin of the rulers of Prussia).
Princess Marie married Prince Ferdinand of Romania
Ferdinand I of Romania
Ferdinand was the King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death.-Early life:Born in Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, the Roman Catholic Prince Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later simply of Hohenzollern, was a son of Leopold, Prince of...
, nephew of King Carol I of Romania
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
in Sigmaringen
Sigmaringen
Sigmaringen 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....
, Germany, on 10 January 1893. The bride was 17 years old and the groom was 10 years her senior. (Marie's father did not become Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha until a few months later.) The marriage, which produced three daughters and three sons, was not a happy one. Her correspondence with her longtime secret confidante, the American dancer Loie Fuller
Loie Fuller
Loie Fuller Loie Fuller Loie Fuller (also Loïe Fuller; (January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928) was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.-Career:...
, revealed "the distaste, which grew to revulsion" that Marie felt for her husband.
The couple's two youngest children, Ileana and Mircea, were born after Marie met her long-time lover, Barbu Ştirbey
Barbu Stirbey
Prince Barbu Ştirbey was briefly Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Romania in 1927. He was the son of Prince Alexandru Ştirbey and his wife Maria Ghika-Comăneşti, and grandson of another Barbu Dimitrie Ştirbey , who was Prince of Wallachia and died in 1869.He married Princess Nadèje Bibescu about...
. Historians generally agree that Ştirbey was the father of Prince Mircea, who had brown eyes like Ştirbey, unlike Marie and Ferdinand. The paternity of Ileana is uncertain, as is the paternity of Marie's second daughter, Maria (known as Mignon), the future Queen of Yugoslavia. Ferdinand's paternity of the three other children, Carol, Nicholas and Elisabeth, has not been disputed.
Affair with Cantacuzene
Birth of Maria, future Queen of Yugoslavia
In 1899 Marie, pregnant with Mignon, pleaded with King Carol ICarol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
to allow her to give birth in Coburg, where her father was Duke. Upon the king's refusal of this request, Marie declared 'right to his face' that the child she was carrying was in fact Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia
Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia
Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia was a son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Czar Alexander II of Russia and a first cousin of Czar Nicholas II. He followed a military career and was a Major General in the Russian Army. He took part in the Russo-Japanese War and...
's. The horrified King relented and Marie gave birth to her daughter, also called Marie but always known as Mignon, in the peaceful surroundings of Coburg. Following this, whether in earnest or merely to deflect criticism from the dynasty, Crown Prince Ferdinand officially recognised the child as his.
Birth of Prince Nicolas
Marie's fourth child and second son, Prince Nicolas, was born in August 1903. The appearance of Pauline Astor, the sister of Marie's close friend and confidant Waldorf AstorWaldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor
Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor was an American-born British politician and newspaper proprietor.-Early life:...
, along with an Astor family doctor during the birth fanned speculation that the father of Prince Nicolas was in fact Astor and not Crown Prince Ferdinand. As with Mignon, Ferdinand accepted the child as his own and as he grew up Nicolas came to resemble his Hohenzollern relatives rather than the Astors.
Queen and Queen Mother
Marie had become a Romanian patriot, and her influence in the country was large. A.L. Easterman writes that King Ferdinand was "a quiet, easy-going man, of no significant character… It was not he, but Marie who ruled in Romania." He credits Marie's sympathies for the Allies as being "the major influence in bringing her country to their side" in the war.
During the war, she volunteered as a Red Cross nurse to help the sick and wounded and wrote a book, My Country to raise funds for the Red Cross, but these were by no means her most notable contributions to the war effort. With the country half-overrun by the German Army, she and a group of military advisers devised the plan by which the Romanian Army, rather than retreating into Russia, would choose a triangle of the country in which to stand and fight; and through a letter to Loïe Fuller she set in motion the series of events that brought a timely American loan to Romania, providing the necessary funds to carry out the plan. (Fortuitously, the young woman from the US embassy who delivered the letter to Fuller was the former ward of Newton D. Baker
Newton D. Baker
Newton Diehl Baker, Jr. was an American politician who belonged to the Democratic Party. He served as the 37th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1912 to 1915 and as U.S. Secretary of War from 1916 to 1921.-Early years:...
, by this time serving as U.S. Secretary of War. Fuller and the young woman travelled from Paris to Washington, DC and secured an audience with Baker who, along with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Carter Glass
Carter Glass
Carter Glass was a newspaper publisher and politician from Lynchburg, Virginia. He served many years in Congress as a member of the Democratic Party. As House co-sponsor, he played a central role in the development of the 1913 Glass-Owen Act that created the Federal Reserve System. Glass...
, arranged the loan).
After the war ended, the Great Powers decided to settle affairs at the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
. The Romanian objective was to secure the Romanian-inhabited territories from the now-defunct Austria-Hungary and Russian Empire, thereby uniting all Romanian-speakers in a single state. Romanian diplomats at the peace conference sought to achieve recognition by the Allies of the Unions of Bessarabia
Union of Bessarabia with Romania
On , the Sfatul Ţării, or National Council, of Bessarabia proclaimed union with the Kingdom of Romania.-Governorate of Bessarabia:The 1812 Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empires provided for Russian annexation of the eastern half of the territory of the Principality...
, Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
, and Transylvania
Union of Transylvania with Romania
Union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia.The national holiday of Romania, the Great Union Day occurring on December 1, commemorates this event...
with Romania, proclaimed during 1918. With the Romanian delegation losing ground in the negotiations, Prime Minister Ionel Bratianu called upon the Queen to travel to France. Marie famously declared that "Romania needs a face, and I will be that face," astutely calculating that the international press was growing tired of the endless negotiations and would be unable to resist the glamour of a Royal visit. The arrival of the so-called Soldier Queen was an international media sensation and she argued passionately that the Western powers should honour their debt to Romania (which had suffered a casualty rate proportionately far greater than Britain, France or the USA). Behind the scenes, she alternately charmed and bullied the Allied leaders into backing the Romanian cause. As a direct result of her charismatic intervention, Romania won back the initiative and successfully achieved all its pre-conference aims, eventually expanding its territory by 60%, gaining Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
, Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
, Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, as well as parts of the Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
, Crişana
Crisana
Crișana is a geographical and historical region divided today between Romania and Hungary, named after the Criș River and its three tributaries: the Crișul Alb, Crișul Negru and Crișul Repede....
and Maramureş
Maramures
Maramureș may refer to the following:*Maramureș, a geographical, historical, and ethno-cultural region in present-day Romania and Ukraine, that occupies the Maramureș Depression and Maramureș Mountains, a mountain range in North East Carpathians...
.
Marie's son, the Crown Prince Carol (later King Carol II of Romania
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
), was never close to his father, Ferdinand—by the time Carol was an adult, their antagonism became an "open breach"—but there continued to be a "deep bond of affection and sympathy" between Carol and Marie. Their relationship, however, deteriorated. The initial conflict came over Carol's objections to Marie's relationship with Prince Ştirbey; the breach was exacerbated as Marie attempted to steer Carol toward a dynastic marriage rather than allow him to choose his own bride. During Carol's exile in Paris, Loïe Fuller had befriended Carol and his mistress Magda Lupescu
Magda Lupescu
Elena Lupescu , better known as Magda Lupescu, was the mistress of King Carol II of the Romanians and later , his wife.-Parents and siblings:...
; they were unaware of Fuller's connection to Marie. Fuller initially advocated to Marie on their behalf, but later schemed unsuccessfully with Marie to separate Carol from Lupescu. Eventually, when Carol became King and did not seek her counsel, the breach between mother and son became complete.
After the death of her husband in 1927, Queen Marie remained in Romania, writing books and her memoirs, The Story of My Life. She died in Peleş Castle
Peles Castle
Peleș Castle 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...
on 18 July 1938, and was buried next to her husband in the Monastery
Curtea de Arges Cathedral
The Cathedral of Curtea de Argeș is a church in Curtea de Argeș, Romania, located in the grounds of a monastery. It is dedicated to Saint Nicholas....
of Curtea de Argeş
Curtea de Arges
Curtea de Argeș is a city in Romania on the right bank of the Argeş River, where it flows through a valley of the lower Carpathians , on the railway from Pitești to the Turnu Roşu Pass. It is part of Argeș County. The city administers one village, Noapteș...
. In accordance with her will, her heart was kept in a cloister at the Balchik Palace
Balchik Palace
The Balchik Palace is a palace in the Bulgarian Black Sea town and resort of Balchik in Southern Dobruja. The official name of the palace was the Quiet Nest Palace. It was constructed between 1926 and 1937, during the Romanian control of the region, for the needs of Queen Marie of Romania...
which she had built. In 1940, when Balchik
Balchik
Balchik is a Black Sea coastal town and seaside resort in the Southern Dobruja area of northeastern Bulgaria. It is located in Dobrich Oblast and is 42 km northeast of Varna...
and the rest of Southern Dobrudja were returned to Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
in accordance with the Treaty of Craiova
Treaty of Craiova
The Treaty of Craiova was signed on 7 September 1940 between the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Romania. Under the terms of this treaty, Romania returned the southern part of Dobruja to Bulgaria and agreed to participate in organizing a population exchange...
, Queen Marie's heart was transferred to Bran Castle
Bran Castle
Bran Castle , situated near Bran and in the immediate vicinity of Braşov, is a national monument and landmark in Romania. The fortress is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, on DN73...
. This had been her principal home for much of the early 20th century, and the artefacts with which she chose to surround herself (traditional furniture and tapestries, for example) can be seen by visitors today. Many of her other personal effects can be seen at the Maryhill Museum, formerly the home of Samuel Hill
Samuel Hill
Samuel Hill , usually known as Sam Hill, was a businessman, lawyer, railroad executive and advocate of good roads in the Pacific Northwest...
, an American railroad businessman with whom Queen Marie corresponded much of her life. The famous museum, which lies in Washington State (U.S.A.) on the north side of the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
, displays much of Queen Marie's regalia, furniture, and other possessions, including her crown.
She was the 1,007th Dame
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa.
Religious beliefs
She is held in high esteem by members of the Bahá'í FaithBahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
. Her religious background was of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, although she is known to have embraced the Orthodox Christian beliefs of Romanian nationals. In her later years, she was approached by Martha Root
Martha Root
Martha Louise Root was a prominent traveling teacher of the Bahá'í Faith in the late 19th and early 20th century. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith called her "the foremost travel teacher in the first Bahá'í Century", and named her a Hand of the Cause posthumously...
, a well-recognized travelling teacher, on the topic of the Bahá'í Faith. Bahá'ís recognise Queen Marie of Romania as the first member of royalty to have declared her belief in Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh , born ' , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism, but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and...
, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.
In regard to the Bahá'í Faith, Queen Marie stated:
"The Bahá'í teaching brings peace and understanding. It is like a wide embrace gathering together all those who have long searched for words of hope. It accepts all great Prophets gone before, it destroys no other creeds and leaves all doors open. Saddened by the continual strife amongst believers of many confessions and wearied of their intolerance towards each other, I discovered in the Bahá'í teaching the real spirit of Christ so often denied and misunderstood: Unity instead of strife, Hope instead of condemnation, Love instead of hate, and a great reassurance for all men."
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 29 October 1875 – 10 January 1893: Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Edinburgh, Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duchess of Saxony
- 10 January 1893 – 10 October 1914: Her Royal Highness Crown Princess of Romania
- 10 October 1914 – 20 July 1927: Her Majesty The Queen of Romania
- 20 July 1927 – 18 July 1937: Her Majesty Queen Marie of Romania
British arms
As a male-line grandchild of a British Sovereign, Marie bore the arms of the kingdom, with an inescutcheon 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 VGeorge V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
.
Issue
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carol II of Romania Carol II of Romania Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria... |
15 October 1893 | married Elena of Greece and Denmark Elena of Greece and Denmark Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark was the wife of King Carol II of Romania and the mother of King Michael I of Romania... , sister of King George II of Greece George II of Greece George II reigned as King of Greece from 1922 to 1924 and from 1935 to 1947.-Early life, first period of kingship and exile:George was born at the royal villa at Tatoi, near Athens, the eldest son of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia... |
|
| Elisabeth Elisabeth of Romania Elisabeth of Romania was the Queen Consort of King George II of Greece.-Biography:... |
12 October 1894 | married King George II of Greece George II of Greece George II reigned as King of Greece from 1922 to 1924 and from 1935 to 1947.-Early life, first period of kingship and exile:George was born at the royal villa at Tatoi, near Athens, the eldest son of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia... |
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| Maria | 6 January 1900 | married King Alexander I of Yugoslavia Alexander I of Yugoslavia Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:... |
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| Nicholas Prince Nicholas of Romania | style="float:right;"|Prince Nicholas of Romania was the second son of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania.- Biography :Born in Peleş Castle, Sinaia, Nicholas was the younger brother of Carol, heir apparent, who renounced his rights of succession on 12 December 1925... |
3 August 1903 | married Ioana Dumitrescu-Doletti then Thereza Lisboa Figueiroa de Mello | |
| Ileana Princess Ileana of Romania Princess Ileana of Romania was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand I of Romania, King of the Romanians, and his consort Queen Marie of Romania. She was born Her Royal Highness Ileana, Princess of Romania, Princess of Hohenzollern... |
5 January 1909 | married Archduke Anton of Austria, Prince of Tuscany Archduke Anton of Austria, Prince of Tuscany Archduke Anton of Austria Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Prince of Tuscany; .Anton was the seventh of ten children born to Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria, Prince of Tuscany... |
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| Mircea Prince Mircea of Romania Prince Mircea of Romania .Mircea was the third son and youngest child of Queen Marie and King Ferdinand of Romania... |
3 January 1913 |
Quote
She once encountered a proselytiser from a religious group. She said "I have met.....I did not like him. He seemed to me to be a snob. He spoke of God as if He were the oldest title in the Almanach de GothaAlmanach de Gotha
The Almanach de Gotha was a respected directory of Europe's highest nobility and royalty. First published in 1763 by C.W. Ettinger in Gotha at the ducal court of Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, it was regarded as an authority in the classification of monarchies, princely and ducal...
. And all that business about telling one's sins in public – He wanted me...me ...to get up before my children and confess everything I had ever done! It is spiritual nudism! Ça ne se fait pas."
Literature
She was also referred to in a number of contemporaneous literary sources, including Dorothy ParkerDorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
's poem "Comment":
-
- Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
- A medley of extemporanea;
- And love is a thing that can never go wrong,
- And I am Marie of Roumania.
Marie's interaction with the Bahá'í faith's is discussed in Her Eternal Crown: Queen Marie of Romania and the Bahá'í Faith, by author Della L. Marcus.
Science fiction author Joanna Russ
Joanna Russ
Joanna Russ was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing, as well as a contemporary novel, On Strike Against God, and one children's book, Kittatinny...
mentions her in her 1975 novel, The Female Man
The Female Man
The Female Man is a feminist science fiction novel written by Joanna Russ. It was originally written in 1970 and first published in 1975. Russ was an avid feminist and challenged sexist views during the 1970s with her novels, short stories, and nonfiction works...
.
Bruce Benderson
Bruce Benderson
Bruce Benderson is an American author, to Jewish parents of Russian descent, who lives in New York. He attended William Nottingham High School in Syracuse, New York and then Binghamton University...
, in The Romanian: Story of an Obsession
The Romanian: Story of an Obsession
The Romanian: Story of an Obsession is a novel by Bruce Benderson. The autobiographical novel describes Benderson's encounters and journeys with a male Romanian street hustler through Romania and Hungary, whom he meets while on a journalism assignment and falls in love with...
, soliloquizes on the relationship between Marie, her son King Carol II
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
and his mistress Magda Lupescu
Magda Lupescu
Elena Lupescu , better known as Magda Lupescu, was the mistress of King Carol II of the Romanians and later , his wife.-Parents and siblings:...
.
Sylvia the dog, in the play Sylvia by A. R. Gurney, says near the end of Act 2, "Oh sure. And I'm Marie of Rumania".
Other
In 2005, a Type 22 frigateType 22 frigate
The Type 22 Broadsword class is a class of frigate built for the British Royal Navy. Fourteen of the class were built in total, with production divided into three batches. With the decommissioning of HMS Cornwall on 30 June 2011, the final Type 22 of the Royal Navy was retired from service...
Regina Maria
HMS London (F95)
HMS London was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy, originally named Bloodhound but renamed London at the request of the Lord Mayor of London.She was flagship of the Royal Navy task force during the First Gulf War in 1991....
(formerly HMS London in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
) was named after Marie by the Romanian Navy
Romanian Naval Forces
The Romanian Navy is the navy branch of the Romanian Armed Forces; it operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube.-History:-Development of the Romanian Navy:The Romanian Navy has been founded in 1860 as a river flotilla on the Danube...
.
Ancestry
External links
- Queen Marie of Romania
- Ars Reginae. Romania's Writer-Queens
- Find A Grave
- The British PathéPathéPathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
has made available various archives of films taken including Marie of Edinburgh:1914, 1917, 1924, 1930, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1938