caption house succession burial_place signature coronation spouse issue image article_title reign
marie bain . wearing her regalia . photograph by george grantham house of saxe-coburg and gotha queen consort of romania curtea de argeș cathedral semnaturamaria.jpg 15 october 1922 ferdinand i , king of romania carol of the hellenes maria , queen of yugoslavia prince nicholas ii princess ileana prince mircea , king of romania elisabeth , queen queen mary of romania 2.jpg marie of romania
 10 1927 october 1914 & nbsp ; -- 20 july
marie of romania

princess marie of edinburgh , more commonly known as marie of romania -lrb- marie alexandra victoria ; 29 october 1875 -- 18 july 1938 -rrb- , was the last queen consort of romania as the wife of king ferdinand i. born into the british royal family , she was titled princess marie of edinburgh at birth .
her parents were prince alfred , duke of edinburgh and grand duchess maria alexandrovna of russia .
marie 's early years were spent in kent , malta and coburg .
after refusing a proposal from her cousin , the future king george v , she was chosen as the future wife of crown prince ferdinand of romania , the heir apparent of king carol i , in 1892 .
marie was crown princess between 1893 and 1914 , and became immediately popular with the romanian people .
marie had controlled her weak-willed husband even before his ascension in 1914 , prompting a canadian newspaper to state that `` few royal consorts have wielded greater influence than did queen marie during the reign of her husband '' .
after the outbreak of world war i , marie urged ferdinand to ally himself with the triple entente and declare war on germany , which he eventually did in 1916 .
during the early stages of fighting , bucharest was occupied by the central powers and marie , ferdinand and their five children took refuge in moldavia .
there , she and her three daughters acted as nurses in military hospitals , caring for soldiers who were wounded or afflicted by cholera .
on 1 december 1918 , the province of transylvania , following bessarabia and bukovina , united with the old kingdom .
marie , now queen consort of greater romania , attended the paris peace conference of 1919 , where she campaigned for international recognition of the enlarged romania .
in 1922 , she and ferdinand were crowned in a specially-built cathedral in the ancient city of alba iulia , in an elaborate ceremony which mirrored their status as queen and king of a united state .
as queen , she was very popular , both in romania and abroad .
in 1926 , marie and two of her children undertook a diplomatic tour of the united states .
they were received enthusiastically by the people and visited several cities before returning to romania .
there , marie found that ferdinand was gravely ill and he died a few months later .
now queen dowager , marie refused to be part of the regency council which reigned over the country under the minority of her grandson , king michael .
in 1930 , marie 's eldest son carol , who had waived his rights to succession , deposed his son and usurped the throne , becoming king carol ii .
he removed marie from the political scene and strived to crush her popularity .
as a result , marie moved away from bucharest and spent the rest of her life either in the countryside , or at her home by the black sea .
in 1937 , she became ill with cirrhosis and died the following year .
following romania 's transition to a socialist republic , the monarchy was excoriated by communist officials .
several biographies of the royal family described marie either as a drunkard or as a promiscuous woman , referring to her many alleged affairs and to orgies she had supposedly organised before and during the war .
in the years preceding the romanian revolution of 1989 , marie 's popularity recovered and she was offered as a model of patriotism to the population .
marie is primarily remembered for her work as a nurse , but is also known for her extensive writing , including her critically acclaimed autobiography .
