The Washington times., 1938-07-18
DEATH CLAIMS
QUEEN N A R IE.
OF R U M A MIA
King Carol and His Son.
At Her Bedside

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SO.-Marie of Rumania, mother
OF a king and two queens and the
virtual ruler of Rumania for a
decade, lived rich, exciting life,
full of triumphS and sorrow.
To countless thousands Of
Americans she is a mixture Of the
queen and the popular movie star,
the epitome of "GruStark," for her
20,000-mile tour of the United
States in 1927 was ludicrously
bally-hooed excursion which failed
of its secret motive-to create in
tereSt in huge loan for Rumania.
Marie was probably the most un-
usual queen of modern times.
Apart from being world famous
beauty, she was thoroughly un-
conventional and modern in her
outlook. She wrote novels and
newspaper articles. was a talented
painter and musician, dressed &C
cording to the latest Paris fash
ions, liked sports, bobbed her hair
rouged her lips and smoked in
Vulnerable cigarettes.
Marie's father was Albert, Duke
Of Edinburgh and her mother was
ArchducheSS Maria Of Russia.
Thus she was a granddaughter
OF Queen Victoria and Of Car
Alexander II, "the liberator." Born
at Eastweu Park October 20,
1875 she spent her early youth
in England, Russia and Malta.
Due to her heredity and eclectic
education, Marie's character was
mixture Of Anglo-SaXon pragma.
tiSm, Russian mysticism and meri-
dional ardor, which if added to
her extraordinary beauty, made
her a most interesting woman.
COURTED BY GEORGE v
The rumor goes that King
George v Of England was very
much in love with Marie in his
younger days.
Her life as heiress to the Eu-
manian throne was not of the
happiest. King Carol I of Ru-
mania, who was a strict old man
of the PrusSian school, kept crown
prince Ferdinand a malleable,
good-natured soul, under his
thumb and tried to give Marie the
same treatment. He did not sue
ceed. Marie's independent char
acter often clashed with old
Carols domineering spirit.
The young crown princess was
known at court as the rebel"
On the other hand Ferdinand
with his yielding temper was an
ideal husband for Marie. They
had six children. The youngest
boy, Prince Mircea, died while
still a baby.
Marie became queen in 1914.
Her influence in convincing King
Ferdinand, .Hohenzollern and
true German at heart, to enter the
war as an ally of France and
England was recognized by the
leading diplomats of the world.
HER MATCHMAKING
After the war, concluded with
victory for Rumania and, Incl
dentally for Marie, the Queens
ambition was to wed her three
daughters to three Balkan kings
and to unite by strong family
bonds the countries of the PENN
sula. She succeeded in marrying |
Princess Elizabeth to King George
of Greece and Princess Marioara |
to King Alexander of Yugoslavia,
but failed in bringing about the
match between Princess Ileana |
and King Boris of Bulgaria. Ileana
later married Archduke Anton of !
Hapsburg.
The dusk of Queen Marie's life
began with Ferdinand's incurable
and lengthy illness. The monarch
suffered from cancer and the
atmosphere of court was poisoned
by intrigueS centering around the
then Crown Prince Carol. The dy-
ing king and the depressed queen
were forced by astute politicians
to diSinherit Carol and expel him
from Rumania Marie had a ner-
vous breakdown, and when heI
condition improved she took al
long trip abroad, including the
United States in her itinerary.
CAROLS RECONCILIATION
Soon after her return, King
Ferdinand died and the boy,
Michael, assembled the throne un-
der a regency. Marie retired to-
Balcic castle on the Black Sea
coast ana devoted most of her
time to writing her memoirs and
strange novels about imaginary
kings and queens.
When Carol made his sensa.
tional aerial return to Rumania,
he became reconciled with his
mother, but while their relation
ship was cordial, it was never too
warm. Mother and son greatly
resembled each other in charac-
ter and in order to avoid friction
between Carols authoritative
spirit and Marie's independent
temperament, both interfered very
little with each other.
She lived to see final tragedy
in her life-the rift between Carol
and her other son, Prince Nicholas.
A Semi-invalid, due to blood and
liver trouble, the dowager queen
continued to live on the Black