The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-24
Birthday of King
 Ferdinand, the New
 Monarch of Roumania

This will be a fete day in gay Bu- charest. the capital of Roumania the pocket Paris, for it marks the semi centenary of the birth of that coun- try's new monarch, King Ferdinand IFerdinand was born on August 24, 1885, only a few months, before his uncle, Prince Charles of the German house of Hohenzo1lern-SigI gInaringen,l was elected hospodar of Roumania. The principality remained subject to Turkey until 1878, when, with the aid of Russia, Roumania was able to throw off the, Ottoman yoke and stand forth an Independent nation. The Ho- enzollern prince and his wife, famed in literature as Carmen SyIva, were crowned king and queen in 1881 King Charles died last October, when his nephew, Ferdinand. ascendeds, the
 As German and a. HohenzolIern King Fsedinand would naturally be Iexpected to ympathize with the cause l of the two Kaisers in this war, but any leaning he may. have in that direction, has been more than offset by the fact that the sympathies of the Rournani government and people are with Ger raany's foes. View monarchs have faced such difficulties upon ascending 1.-the throne as the Roumanian king
 King Ferdinand married in 1893, Princess Marie of Saxe-Coburg and Gatha, who has often been called the most beautiful and gifted of the i granddaughters of Queen Victoria She has given him six children, the eldest being Grown Prince Charles who is now 22
 The Roumanian king wears a crown 1 of iron, made from a cannon captured | by the late King Charles while he was the commander of the Russian and Roumanian troops at Plevna AS 1 Grown Prince, Fedinand, Ferdinand was not as popular as. his uncle, the king, although the last hours of the latter were enbittered by the lnogvI- edge that his HohenzolIern sympathies dad aroused the anger of his subjects. I The late king had only one son, who died at the age of six King Charles then invited his brother, Prince Will ! liam of Hohenzol1ern, to become Grown Princes but after a year Will liam made way for. his younger brother, Prince Ferdinand
 I The king is said to be entirely un- der the sway of his wife, the English born Queen Marie. and she enjoys sI a wide popularity among Nthe Rou- nanians. Her father was the second q and sailor son of Queen Victoria, an d was known as the Duke of Edinbur gh before he succeeded to the crown of .l Saxe-Coburg and Gorfla. me Rou- manian queen was born at Eastwal I Park, in Kent. Her Russian grand father, Emperor A1exander4II., was presenet at her christening She was
 
 Prince Ferdinand tf $
 Although the daughter of a German ruler,- Marie was brought up largely ,l under English and Russian influence and it is general ly und nderstood that she 4 is devotedly attached to the Allied Icauase in this war Her mother was the only daughter and favorite child of Emperor Alexander IT. of Russia T and, although she became an English | princess by marriage and later sat upon German throne. she remained | a Muscovite at heart, and she reared her daughter along Russian lines.
 King Ferdinand, although not staid ! and simple in his tastes, was quite a k kroistererIin his youth, and on one oc- 1 casion old King Charles had him pIac-
 ed under arrest in order to prevent
 him from marrying an adventures The Roumanians. being of Latin ori-
 gfn.s are extremely French in theil
 sympathies, and their Teuton mon
 arch may thank his lucky stars that 5ir
 the present state of affairs he has an
 EnglisE-born and RIssian1r reared wife
 to offset his own HohenzoIlern origin