HRH Princess Helena of Romania: Birthday Anniversary

HRH Princess Helena of Romania, Alnmouth (Northumberland), 2009. Courtesy of HE Alexander Nixon

15 November 2009: A very Happy Birthday to HRH Princess Helena of Romania!

King Michael and Queen Anne’s second daughter: her first photograph

Queen Anne & Princess Helena, 8 December 1950, Lausanne (Diana Mandache collection)

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On this day Princess Elizabeth of Wied married Prince Carol of Romania 140 years ago

On 3/15 November 1869 the palace in Neuwied and every single house in the town was decorated with flags and garlands. At half past five the marriage procession started and proceeded to a salon which had been arranged as a Catholic chapel. After this ceremonial they proceeded down the staircase to a hall below richly arranged as a Protestant chapel. The royal couple made their sacre promise on their knees, exchanged rings. The text of the sermon was aptly chosen, as alluding to the difficulties and troubles which were to be encountered in the far-off Eastern country: “Whither thou goest, I will go : and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God”.  The thunder of cannons announced that the marriage was concluded.

A reception and a state dinner was held at the  Neuwied Castle. In the image below is the royal menu served with that occasion at Neuwied.

Source: RNL

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Book review – Dracula is Dead: How Romanians Survived Communism

Dracula is Dead: How Romanians Survived Communism, Ended it, and Emerged as the New Italy Since 1989, by Sheilah Kast and Jim Rosapepe, Bancroft Press, 400 pp, hardback,  November 2009

The United States throughout the Cold War decades has been a beacon of democracy and freedom for the peoples of Eastern Europe. Americans and their representatives were enthusiastically received in the region as friends and liberators after the momentous 1989 revolutions. Romania emerged from one of the harshest communist dictatorships and embarked upon a bumpy transition road to democracy. The second half of the 1990s has been a crucial period in that process, when the first truly non-communist government and president were elected, the market economy reforms were first properly implemented and King Michael, the hero of the WWII who put an end to the Nazi regime in Romania, was allowed back from exile and had his citizenship restored.

Ambassador James Rosapepe was the US envoy to this country during most of that crucial period, from 1998 to 2001, and together with his wife, the distinguished journalist Sheila Kast, gathered in this timely and remarkable book their impressions and insights about Romania and Romanians. Their writing is easy to follow and fluent, giving a wholesome image of their experiences in post-communist Romania. The book is also a travelogue and an analysis of the mentalities of a people that survived one of the most oppressive communist regimes, or as the authors stated: “it is not a guidebook, but rather a look at a country and a people through American eyes” (p.8). The volume is fittingly published as part of the celebrations of the 20 years anniversary of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

Armistice Day: Belgrade, 11 November 1930

King Alexander I and Queen Marie of Yugoslavia attend the unveiling of a sculpture on Armistice Day in Belgrade, created as a tribute to France by sculptor Ivan Rostrovitsch, 11th November 1930.

Weekly Picture: Neuwied Princely Coat of Arms & Motto

Neuwied Princely Coat of Arms and Motto: Fidelitate et Veritate - Diana Mandache's Weblog ROYAL HISTORY

Neuwied family motto: FIDELITATE et VERITATE

I endeavour in the “Weekly Pictures” post series to bring to light worthy of note, often less known images from the royal past and present and thus further enhance the understanding of royal history and what it represents for us.

Weekly picture: Diana Mandache’s weblog Royal History.

All rights reserved ©www.royalromania.wordpress.com

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The above image is not for copying or duplication over the internet i.e. forums, blogs etc.

Weekly Picture: Forgotten Basreliefs Representing Romanian royals

The Romanian Army Medical Corps Heroes Memorial in Bucharest: basrelief. (Weekly Picture: Diana Mandache's weblog Royal History; Photograph ©Valentin Mandache)

The Romanian Army Medical Corps Heroes Memorial (Monumentul Eroilor Sanitari) in Bucharest: bronze basrelief representing part of the Romanian royal family receiving high ranking officers of the the Romanian Army in the First World War. Queen Marie is represented as a nurse at the basrelief’s centre, Prince Nicholas in cadet uniform-second from left and Princess Elisabeta also as a nurse on the left hand side. The scene probably depicts an official scene from 1917 on the Moldavian front. There is no inscription on the monument mentioning the name of the Romanian royals. That was the main reason why it survived during communist period, when the party officials, a very ignorant lot in matters of royal history, saw the basreliefs as general war time representations and left them in place. These basreliefs and what they represent are still virtually unknown by the Bucharest people, and Romanians in general, with very few press articles mentioning them in the twenty years since the fall of communism. The memorial is the masterwork of Raffaello Romanelli in 1932 and is located nearby Cotroceni Palace, the former residence of King Ferdinand and his queen consort.

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I endeavour in the “Weekly Pictures” post series to bring to light worthy of note, often less known images from the royal past and present and thus further enhance the understanding of royal history and what it represents for us.

Weekly picture: Diana Mandache’s weblog Royal History.

All rights reserved ©www.royalromania.wordpress.com

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Royal Emeralds

Emeralds were also collected by the Romanian queens and princesses. Some of them, as the above set, remained in the country after the royal family went in exile in January 1948.  Now are in the holdings of the Central Bank and exhibited on loan at the National History Museum in Bucharest.

Queen Elisabeta of Greece w. the Emerald Tiara (Diana Mandache's weblog Royal History)

Princess Elisabeta of Romania was a keen collector of diamonds and emeralds. In Greece she received the emeralds of Queen Olga, which as Mrs Martineau (a visitor to the Greek royal court) recorded that they “are valued at millions; are unique – five great stones, like green pools”.

Diana Mandache’s weblog Royal History

Weekly Picture: Elisabeth of Romania w. Pearl and Diamond Tiara

Queen Elisabeth of Romania w. Pearl & Diamond Tiara (Weekly Picture: Diana Mandache's weblog Royal History)

I endeavour in the “Weekly Pictures” post series to bring to light worthy of note, often less known images from the royal past and present and thus further enhance the understanding of royal history and what it represents for us.

Weekly picture: Diana Mandache’s weblog Royal History.

All rights reserved© Diana Mandache www.royalromania.wordpress.com

King Michael of Romania: 88th Birthday Anniversary

A very Happy Birthday to HM King Michael of Romania, 25 October 2009! Queen Anne, King Michael of Romania and daughters Elena, Margarita and Irina in 1957, Life magazine (Diana Mandache's Weblog Royal History)

King Michael of Romania celebrates today his 88th anniversary!

Art Nouveau Romanian Royal Jewels

A less known tiara that once belonged to the Romanian royal family, probably to Queen Marie, now a property of country’s Central Bank. The tiara (platinum, diamonds, sapphires, rubies, etc.) is exhibited at the National History Museum in Bucharest. Bellow is a diamond and pearl pendant in Art Nouveau style, which  also belonged to the Romanian queen. The Royal Family had a relatively large holding of jewels and other precious artifacts, most of them unfortunately lost because were stored in Moscow during the WWI and fell into the hands of the subsequent Bolshevik regime.

The above images are not for copying or duplication over the internet i.e. forums, blogs etc.

©Diana Mandache’s Weblog