Romanian monarchs visiting the WP cemetery in Val du Pâtre, Alsace

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First World War, Great War, King Ferdinand of Romania, Queen Marie of Romania, Val du Pâtre, World War One, WP cemetery, WWI

Queen Marie and King Ferdinand of Romania taking part in a commemoration service at the former war prisoner cemetery from Val du Pâtre (Soultzmatt) in Alsace, where the Romanian war prisoners were interned and a great number of them died between 1917-1918. They were captured during the German offensive of 1916 in Transylvania and the Romanian Kingdom.

Bucharest: First Scenes since the Declaration of War by King Ferdinand

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Bucharest, Familia regala, First World War, Great War, istoria regalitatii, King Ferdinand of Romania, Queen Marie of Romania, Romanian Royal Family, World War One, WWI

After the Declaration of War – the departure of a Romanian regiment for the front. The Crown Prince Carol of Romania (right, second) watches the men of a regiment of infantry proceeding on active service as they march through the streets on their way to the front.

Romania’s entry into the Great War, 27 August 1916. King Ferdinand’s Proclamation

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King Ferdinand of Romania, WWI

 

 

Great War era US Army soldier's gravestone in Bellu Cemetery, Bucharest

Reblogged from Historic Houses of Romania:

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I organised last Sunday (24 June '12) a thematic architectural tour in Bellu Cemetery, also known as the national pantheon of Romania. We visited the Christian Orthodox section of this huge necropolis, which is in its turn is divided in a civilian part, the largest, and a smaller military one. I found there a headstone marking the grave of an US Army soldier and relief worker from the Great War era: "Edward Newell Ware, Illinois, Pvt.

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King Ferdinand of Romania driving “powerful type car”

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First World War, Great War, istoria regalitatii, King Ferdinand of Romania, Regele Ferdinand, Romanian Royal Family, World War One

King Ferdinand of Romania & Prince Carol

King Ferdinand of Romania driving from the Royal military headquarters, October 1916. The King acts as his own chauffeur when occasions arise. Beside him is Prince Carol. The car is of a powerful, for those times, touring type with external brake levers. Behind is the  pillared portico of the royal hunting lodge from Scroviste, near Bucharest. These are one of the first photographs of the monarch and his staff taken after Romania entered the First World War (August 1916). 

Great War memorial on village green with the effigy of King Ferdinand of Romania

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Balkans, Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Ferdinand, Primul Razboi mondial, Queen Marie of Romania, Regele Ferdinand, Romanian Royal Family, South-East European Monarchs, WWI

The Great War Memorial for the fallen soldiers in the village of Zatreni, Valcea county/ Photograph ©Valentin Mandache

This post is dedicated to the anniversary tomorrow, 24 August, of King Ferdinand of Romania’s birthday (1865 – 1927), the sovereign of the country during the Great War.

The citizens of Zatreni in south west Romania, paid a high price during the Great War, with 233 men killed in action, a huge loss for a village. The memorial on the village green dedicated to the local heroes features a well rendered effigy of King Ferdinand, the supreme commander of the Romanian army, seen in the above photograph. The monument, most amazingly, survived the the communist period, probably because there was no inscription mentioning the sovereign’s name on the monument, which made the local communist authorities to propagate the idea that the bas-relief represented just a Great War era soldier personifying the army. Romania’s entry into the war on the side of the Entente was decided by a special Crown Council on 27 August 1916.   DM

King Ferdinand’s Proclamation – 28 August 1916

Romanians! The war which for the last two years has been encircling our frontiers more and more closely has shaken the ancient foundations of Europe to their depths. It has brought the day which has been awaited for centuries by the national conscience, by the founders of the Romanian State, by those who united the principalities in the war of independence, by those responsible for the national renaissance. It is the day of the union of all branches of our nation.  Today we are able to complete the task of our forefathers and to establish forever what Michael the Brave was only able to establish for a short moment, namely, a Romanian union on both slopes of the Carpathians. [...] In our moral energy and our valour lie the means of giving him back his birthright of a great and free Rumania from the Tisza to the Black Sea, and to prosper in peace in accordance with our customs and our hopes and dreams.

Romanians! Animated by the holy duty imposed upon us, and determined to bear manfully all the sacrifices inseparable from an arduous war, we will march into battle with the irresistible élan of a people firmly confident in its destiny.  The glorious fruits of victory shall be our reward. Forward, with the help of God!  FERDINAND   [Source: Records of the Great War, vol.V, National Alumni, 1923]

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see also Forgotten Basreliefs representing Romanian royals

Weekly Picture: Forgotten Basreliefs Representing Romanian royals

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Bucharest, Bucuresti, European royal families, Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Ferdinand of Romania, Monuments, Noblesse et Royautés, Queen Marie of Romania, Regele Ferdinand, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family, South-East European Monarchs, WWI

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.

Monumentul Eroilor Sanitari: unul din panourile basorelief de bronz de pe Monumentul Eroilor Sanitari din Bucuresti, unde sunt reprezentati Regina Maria ca sora sanitara, Printul Nicolae in uniforma de cadet si Printesa Elisabeta de asemenea ca sora sanitata. Basoerlieful prezinta o scena din anul 1917 in una din cele mai grele perioade ale Primului Razboi Mondial pentru Romania, cand suportul moral al Familiei Regale si munca in vizitele in spitalele de campanie ale Reginei Maria si a copiilor ei au fost esentiale pentru mentinerea moralului in acele zile de cumpana. Basoreliefurile au supravietuit comunismului deoarece nu sunt mentionate nume pe ele, iar oficialii comunisti, un grup care nu s-a remarcat prin nivel cultural, au crezut ca sunt o scena generala de razboi, lasandu-le in loc. Diana Mandache

Queen Marie of Romania. Regina Maria on Facebook

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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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Protected: Queen Marie of Romania, Colonel Joe Boyle and the Canadians

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Arthur Duke of Connaught, Colonel Joseph Boyle, Familia regala, First World War, Governors of Canada, Queen Marie of Romania, Queen Victoria, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family, WWI

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Documents: Paderewski on the Paris Peace Conference, May 1919

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First World War, Paderewski, Paris Peace Conference, Poland, WWI

Address by Ignacy Paderewski, May 1919

The Polish nation is today living through solemn moments. I suppose that in its eventual history there was never a time more solemn, more fateful than the present.  The fate of our country is at stake; powerful people holding in their hands the destiny of the world, are building a framework for our independent existence, are deciding the frontiers of our State, and soon will pronounce a final sentence, from which, no doubt for long years, there will be no appeal, perhaps for many generations.

Violent bursts of hope and of joy and anxiety are strongly shaking our national spirit.  From every side, from every corner of our former commonwealth, people are coming here to Warsaw and going there to Paris, in frock coats and smock frocks, in old-fashioned country dress, in mountaineer costume, and they cry aloud and implore that their distant provinces should be united to the Polish state.  The Polish eagle does not seem to be a bird of prey, since people are gathering themselves under its wings. What will Poland be like?  What will be her frontiers?  Will they give us everything we should have? These are the questions that every Pole is asking.  I am here to answer, as far as I am able, all these questions.  I have taken part in the work of the Polish Delegation to the Peace Conference, and I am here to report on this work to the Seym, and I ask for attention. I will begin with what has been done.  The Conference has only dealt as yet with one of their defeated adversaries, the Germans.  Conditions have been dictated to them, though they are not yet signed, which give us considerable advantages on the west frontier. We are not all satisfied with our frontier.  I admit freely that I belong to the unsatisfied ones; but have we really a right to complain? 

The Conference tried to decide justly according to the rule on ethnographical and national majority as regards all territorial questions. They applied this rule to our territory, and we have obtained considerable advantages from it on the west.  But not everything was decided according to this principle.