Can't believe it's already a new month! I'd like to thank our guest author and blogger, Kathleen Bittner Roth for joining us today.
The Scintillating Life
of Queen Marie of Romania
Granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Tzar Alexander II of
Russia, the woman who would one day become Queen of Romania was born Princess
Marie of Edinburgh in Kent, England in 1875 to Prince Alfred of Edinburgh and
Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia.
Marie grew into one of the most beautiful and wealthiest princesses
of Europe. She was also known for
her spunk and talent (writing, painting, sculpting, and horsemanship). After refusing a proposal from her first
cousin, the future King George V (her parents did not believe first cousins
should wed), a marriage was arranged in 1892 between seventeen-year-old Marie
and Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania, heir apparent of King Carol 1st.
Arriving in her
husband’s country, she struggled to gain some kind of foothold in the
male-dominated Romanian Court. Her high-spirited
disposition often created controversy. Also, she did not fit in with the somber
climate of her household. But Crown Prince Ferdinand, a short and rather
homely man, was also weak-willed. Easily swayed by his beautiful and
intelligent royal consort, soon Marie was all but running the Romanian
government. Although she and Ferdinand eventually became good friends, their
lives rarely intertwined once she took power. Albeit a flamboyant, egotistical
woman who loved pomp and pageantry, the people loved her. She was kind to them
and she listened to them.
Not long after her
marriage, Marie met Lieutenant Gheorghe Cantacuzène, a member of an ancient
Romanian princely family. Like Marie, he was high-spirited and known for his
expert horsemanship. They became romantically involved, but once the affair
became public knowledge, Marie was sent away. She gave birth to a child who was
either stillborn or sent to an orphanage. Her second child, Mignon, was rumored
to have been fathered by Cantacuzène as well.
Throughout the
years, Marie became romantically involved with several men, mostly for
political purposes, including Waldorf Astor; Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of
Russia; Prince Barbu Stirbey, who was briefly Prime Minister of the Kingdom of
Romania; Waldorf Astor, 2nd viscount Astor, and Joe Boyle, a wealthy
businessman who was made even richer from Klondike gold; and).
On 28 June 1914,
while visiting Sarajevo, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian
Empire was assassinated. This was the bullet that started WWI. Marie aligned
herself with Russia, France and Britain, in part due to her British ancestry. A
clever woman, she also aligned herself with powerful political figures like
Winston Churchill. The end of the war saw the end of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. Marie traveled to Versailles, representing Romania, in hopes of
acquiring as much goodwill for her country as possible. She wooed the ministers
so well that they not only gave back her territory, they promised not to
partition her. Using her charm and wit, Marie ended up doubling Romania’s
kingdom, and increasing the population by ten million! Needless to say,
Hungarians were not charmed by Marie. On the contrary, they hold her in a large
part responsible for the dismemberment of Hungary.
After the war, Marie met Samuel Hill, a wealthy entrepreneur
(son-in-law to railroad magnate James Hill, founder of the Great Northern
Railway) at a peace conference in Paris. Their steamy affair led her to a
lengthy visit to the U.S. While in the U.S., Marie became fairly popular with the suffragettes who viewed her 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".
In 1923, she visited the Unitarian Church in Indianapolis
(the Unitarian religion was founded in Transylvania). A photograph of her with
the church minister still hangs on the vestibule wall. She returned to Romania when her husband the king
became gravely ill.
Having lived a
scintillating life by anyone’s standards, Queen Marie died in 1938 of cirrhosis
of the liver, although she claimed to never have touched a drop of alcohol. The
late Constantin Argetoianu, Prime Minister of Romania, called Queen Marie one
of the greatest figures in Romanian history. In her memory, the Order of the
Cross of Queen Marie was established in that country.
Click on this
link for a virtual tour of the beautiful palace Peles, home to Queen Marie, and
located just outside Transylvania in the beautiful countryside: http://visit.peles.ro/
Kathleen Bittner Roth
thrives on creating passionate stories featuring characters who are forced to
draw on their strength of spirit to overcome adversity and find unending love.
Her own fairy tale wedding in a Scottish castle led her to her current
residence in Budapest, Hungary, considered one of Europe’s most romantic cities.
However, she still keeps one boot firmly in Texas and the other in her home
state of Minnesota. A member of Romance Writers of America®, she was a finalist
in the prestigious Golden Heart® contest. Find Kathleen on Facebook, Goodreads,
Twitter, Pinterest and www.kathleenbittnerroth.com.
