The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-11-01
FATE OF ROUMAN|A
IN WOMAN HANDS
Beautiful Queen Marie Is Domi-
mating Character in Tense
Situation Now Existing.
EXPECTED TO JOIN ALLIES
Will Be Able to Marshal 100000
Troops for Invasion Of
Austria-Hungary.

Especial Cable to The Times Dispatch.l
BUCHAREST. october 31.-Brilliant,
beautiful Queen Marie. more Russian
than English and not at all German. Is
now the dominating character in the
tense situation here and will probably
throw the nation into warfare on the
side of tho allies despite her weak.
unpopular Iohenzollcrn husband. the
new King Ferdinand, and despite the
threatened connscation of his enormous
estates in Germany.
To this remarkably woman. now tiiir-
ty-cight years old. married at six
teen, mother Of three at twen:y-one
and now of six. has come an cNtraor-
binary opportunity to exercise her
great gifts. This granddaughter on
one side Of Queen Victoria. and on tho
other side of Car Alexander. will he
able to marshal 100000 fairly we'll dis
ciplinei troops for the invasion Of AUS
trla- Ifungary
y formidable task confronted Marie
when. for reasons of state. she was
married to the Crown Prince Ferdinand.
ten years her senior. He had fallen In
love with the charming. cultivated
Helen Eacarescu. woman acting as
maid of honor to Carmen sylvia as
Queen Elizabeth of Roumania signed
herself to her poems. Helen Naca-escu
wrote good verse. too The Queen cham
pioned her cause. and fled with tho
handsome maid of honor to Venice.
Here tho Queen was practically ar
rested and sent with physicians and
nurses. although she was not other
wiae known to be i'll, for a two-year
''convalcscencc'' in German castle.
Helen Eacarescu was sent packing to
Paris, wEcrc she since has had bril-
liant literary career.
FINDS HER PROBLEM
TO WIN HIS LOVE
Marie found her new husband n stu
dious, nonmlitary and dreamy young
man. still under the charm of the bril-
liant Helen. 1t was her problem TO
conquer him and win his love. How
well she has succeeded may he judged
from the fact that. while their eldest
son. the Crown Prince Carol, is now
twenty-five, they have baby of two
years.
Her method was the old time one of
exciting jealousy. She visited every
capital of Europe where she had rcla-
tives, and acted In such Il free and
easy manner that she cnrncd the So
briquet OF the royal sfl!rt." Really
nothing was ever proved against her
except that she sometimes played for
high stakes In the company Of young
army officers ut fast spas and casinos
But il worked She soon had her
husband at her feet, and even trying
to bind her to MIN and to keep her i'm
Bucharest all the ting. Incidentally,
she had the advantage In her campaign
of as much beauty rs Helen Nacarcscu.
The maid of honor was, however, OF
the black eyed. Latin type. The Rou
inanians are much like the French
while Queen Marie Is II striking pink
checked woman. whose peaches and
cream complexion in her prime were Il
wonder and delight So 1t was easy
in the end for Ferdinand TO fall in
love with his wife, u woman incom-
parabiy superior to him in will and in
intelligence.
INTENSELY RUSSIAN
DURING HER YOUTH
Queen Marie was born in England
and brought up partly In that country
and at Coburg. Germany. Her father
was Duke OF Edinburgh, and later Duke
OF SaSe-Coburg and Gotha. But de-
spite this she was in her youth in
tensely Russian This was due to the
influence of her mother. the Grand
Duchess Marie, who, despite her mar
riage to an English nobleman. with Il
German title to boot, throughout her
life retained her membership in the
national church of her native land, the
Orthodox Greek Rite.
With her prejudice in favor of ST.
Petersburg, too, Queen Marie imbibed
from her mother A dislike of the Ger
man Kaiser. The latter was constant
ly interfering in an unwarranted man
ner with the affairs of the Duchies
of SaNe-Coburg and Gotha. and SO hu-
initiating the ruler, Queen Marie's
father.
The sixteen-ycar- old crown princess
was welcomed by the people of Rou
mania, il not by her husband Her
sparkling manner gave an excellent
first impression. Then she WAS an eX-
cellent linguist. and in addition to her
knowledge of English, German, Rus
sian. French and Italian. she soon
began to speak good Roumanian. which
Is closer to Latin than any other Ian
guage now living.
She brought about REVEALS of old
Roumanian arts and crafts. Often she
dressed in the gorgeous Byzantine cos
tune of the olden days and the Rou-
manians had many welcome oppor-
their national dress. In her mountain
home she sometimes wore ordinary
peasant dress, and she had n whole
room furnished with native pine wood,
inlaid with thin strips of silver. and
of Roumanian craftsmen.
She is n Protestant; her husband is
Catholic but the children have been
brought up In the orthodoS Greek
OF 'f Russia THIS dsui is Oh tnrther tic
binding Roumania to the Gear.
NEW GROWN PRINCE
Is VERY POPULAR
There is only one person more popu-
lar in Roumanin than the queen. and
that is the new Crown Prince, Carol. !
He is n fnc cavalry officer. handsome |
and dashing. Moreover, he Is a student
of the University of Bucharest. and
favorite of his fellows there. lie
speaks Roumanian without n trace OF
an accent, an accomplishment neither
his parents nor his dead grand uncle,
the late King Charles, could boast. His
sympathes arc strongly with the allies, !
and II is expected that his wife and the
Olga. the second daughter Of the Car |
Queen Marie further endeared herself !
to the ROumanian people last year by !
active part In the nursing of the |
cholera stricken patients at Turnu Ma !
gurele, on the occasion of the very
serious outbreak which followed the (
second Balkan war.
This dainty and beautiful woman