Queen Marie of Romania was the last Queen of Romania. She was born into the British royal family and married King Ferdinand I. Marie spent her early years in Kent, Malta, and Coburg. In 1892, after rejecting 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. During her reign as Crown Princess, Marie became popular among her people.
Marie urged Ferdinand to declare war on Germany after World War I, which he did in 1916 after allying himself with the Triple Entente. When the fighting started in Bucharest, Marie, Ferdinand, and their five children took refuge in Moldavia. She and her three daughters worked as nurses in military hospitals, caring for wounded soldiers or afflicted with cholera.
Marie was a very popular queen, both in Romania and abroad. She and two of her children toured the United States as diplomats in 1926. People received them enthusiastically, and they visited numerous cities before returning to Romania. In the ensuing months, Marie found that Ferdinand was gravely ill and died. Marie, now queen dowager, refused to participate in the regency council that ruled the country during King Michael’s minority. Marie’s eldest son Carol usurped the throne in 1930, who had waived his right to succession. He removed Marie from the political scene and tried to crush her popularity. Marie moved to either the countryside or her Black Sea home and spent the rest of her life there. She died in 1937 of cirrhosis.
During Romania’s transition to a socialist state, communist officials criticized the monarchy. Several royal biographies paint Marie as a drinker or a promiscuous woman following several pre- and post-war orgies she had allegedly organized. She was presented as a model of patriotism to the population in the years before the Romanian Revolution in 1989. Marie is most well known as a nurse but is also well known for her writing, including her autobiography.
