The Washington herald., 1914-11-01
Queen CONTROLS
ROUMANIA' FATE
Cabinet and People Side with
Marie Against Kaiser and
His Policies.
HOW SHE WON HUSBAND
Flirted with Foreign Royalty and
Gained Affection of Future King.
Whose First Affair Was Spoiled.

bucharest, Oct. SI.-Brilliant, beau.
tiful Queen Marie. more Russian than
English, and not at all German, is now
the dominating character in the tense
situation here and probably will throw
the nation into warfare on the side
OF the allies, despite her weak, un-
popular HohenZollern husband, the
new King Ferdinand, and despite the
threatened confiscation OF his enor-
nous estates in Germany.
To this remarkable woman, now
thirty-eight years old. married at six
teen, mother OF three at twenty-one
and now OF six, has come an extraordi-
nary opportunity TO exercise her great
gifts. This granddaughter on one side
! OF Queen Victoria and on the other side
| of Gar Alexander will be able to mar
shall 100000 fairly well disciplined
troops for the invasion of Austria
Hungary.
Ferdinand Loved Another.
A formidable task confronted Marie
| when, for reasons OF state, she was
married to the Crown Prince FerdJ-
nand. ten years her senior. He had
fallen in love with the charming, cul-
tivated Helen Vacarescu, a woman act
| ing as maid OF honor to Carmen Syl-
va" as Queen Elizabeth Of ROmania
] signed neTSelL 10 neF poems. t1elcu
lVacarescu wrote good verse. too. The
Queen champiOned her cause, and fed
with the handsome maid Of honor to
Venice. Here the Queen was practi-
cally arrested and sent with physicians
and nurses. although she was not 9TH
erwise known to be i'll, for two-year
"convalescence" in a German castle.
Helen Vacarescu was sent back to Paris,
where she since has had a brilliant lit
erary career.
Marie found her new husband a stu
diOus. nonmilitary. and dreamy young
man, still under the charm OF the brill
liant Helen. 1t was her problem to
conquer him and win his love. How
we'll she has succeeded may be judged
| from the fact that while their eldest
| son. the Crown Prince Carol. is now
twenty two, they have a baby OF two
years.
FIirted to Gain Love.
Her method was the old-time one OF
exciting jealousy. She visited every capi-
tai OF Europe where she had relatives
and acted in such a free and easy man
ner that she earned the sobriquet OF
the royal firt." Really nothing was
ever proved against her except that she
sometimes played for high stakes in the
company of young army officers at fast
spas and casinos. But it worked.
She soon had her husband at her feet
and even trying TO bind her to him and
| to keep her in Bucharest all the time.
Incidentally, she had the advantage In
her campaign of as much beauty as
Helen Vacarescu. The maid OF honor
was, however. Of the black-eyed Latin
type, while Queen Marie is A striking
| pink-cheeked woman. whose peaChes-and-
cream compile xion in her prime were
wonder and a delight So ii was easy
| in the end for Ferdinand to fall in love
with his wife" 4 woman incomparably
superior to him in will and in intelli-
gence.
Queen Marie was born in England and
| brought up partly in that country and at
CoburC. Germany. Her father was Duke
of Edinburgh and later Duke Of Sake
| Coburg and Gotha. But despite this she
was in her youth intensely Russian. This
was due to the influence of her mother.
the Grand Duchess Marie. who. despite
her marriage to an English nobleman,
with a German title to boot. throughout
her life retained her membership in the
national church OF her native land, the
orthodox Greek rite.
DIsIIked German Ruler.
With her prejudice in favor of st.
| Petersburg, too, Queen Marie imbibed
from her mother a dislike of the German
| fering in an unwarranted manner with
the affairs of the Duchies Of SaXe-Co-
! burg and GOtha and so humiliating the
ruler, Queen Marie's father.
| The sixteen-year-old crown princess was
welcomed by the people of Roumania If
i not by her husband. Her sparkling man
ner gave an excellent first impression.
! Then she was an excellent linguist and
! in addition TO her knowledge of English,
German, Russian, French. and Italian,
she soon began to speak good Roumanian,
which is closer to Latin than any other
| language.
She brought about revivals of old Rou-
manian arts and crafts. Often she
dressed in the gorgeous Byzantine cos
tune of the olden days and the Rou-
manians had many welcome opportunities
TO cheer her appearance in their national
| dress. In her mountain home she some
| times wore ordinary peasant dress and
| she had a whole room furnished with
native pine wood, inlaid with thin strips
| of silver-the handwOrk OF Roumanian
| craftsman.
Differs in Religion.
She is a Protestant; her husband is a
Catholic; but the children have been
brought up in the orthodox Greek faith,
the national church OF Roumania, as of
Russia. This is further tie binding
Roumania to the Gar.
There is only one person more popular
| in Roumania than the Queen and that
is the new Crown Prince Carol. He is
fine cavalry officer. handsome and
dashing. Moreover, he is a student Of
the University Of Bucharest and a favor
lite Of his fellows there. He speaks Rou-
manian without a trace of an accent,
an accomplishment neither his parents
nor his dead grandunce, the late King
| Charles, could boast His sympathies are
strongly with the allies, and 1t is ex-
pected that his wife and the future Queen
of Roumania will be Olga, the second
daughter of the Car
Queen Marie further endeared herself
| to the Roumanian people last year by
| the pluck she displayed in taking an
active part in the nursing Of the cholera
! stricken patients at Turnu Magurele, on
| the occasion OF the very Ferious out
break which followed the second Balkan
war
This dainty and beautiful woman, who
had developed and led q gay society in
Bucharest, spent many long. weary weeks
shaving in the cholera hospitals and de-
tention camps and there was widespread
sympathy when afterward she was pros
trated by illness, the result of the hard
ships, fatigue and lack Of proper nourtsh-
ment her labors had incurred.
In throwing her great influence to