01 Monday Nov 2010
Posted in European royal families
Tags
Balkans, Boris III, Bulgarian Royal Family, European royal families, Familia regala, istoria regalitatii, non reigning monarchs, Prince Alexander Battenberg, Simeon King of Bulgaria, South-East European Monarchs
A few very recent photographs of the Battenberg palace in Sofia, inaugurated in 1882 during the reign of prince Alexander Battenberg.
All rights reserved DM
22 Wednesday Sep 2010
Tags
Alexander Crown Prince of Serbia, Balkans, Constantine King of Greece, European royal families, Familia regala, Greek Royal family, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Michael of Romania, non reigning monarchs, Regele Mihai, Simeon King of Bulgaria, South-East European Monarchs
Balkan Monarchs, Sep 2010. Source: Serbian Royal Family website http://www.royalfamily.org
This a rare historical image, the most recent gathering of the Balkan Monarchs, photograph taken on the occasion of the silver wedding anniversary of Crown Prince of Serbia. In the image l to r: King Simeon of Bulgaria, Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia, King Michael of Romania and King Constantine of Greece, 17 September 2010. Below is a 1912 photograph depicting a similar rare gathering, this time of Balkan Crown Princes: Alexander of Serbia, Boris of Bulgaria, Constantine of Greece, Ferdinand of Romania, Danilo of Montenegro. Diana Mandache
The Balkan Crown Princes at a gathering: Alexander of Serbia, Boris of Bulgaria, Constantine of Greece, Ferdinand of Romania, Danilo of Montenegro in 1912 (Diana Mandache collection)
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All rights reserved Diana Mandache’s Weblog Royal History
23 Monday Aug 2010
Posted in Romanian Royal Family, Weekly Picture, World War One
Tags
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
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]
All rights reserved Diana Mandache’s Weblog Royal History
see also Forgotten Basreliefs representing Romanian royals
21 Saturday Aug 2010
Tags
Balkans, European royal families, Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, King Ferdinand, Queen Marie of Romania, Regele Ferdinand, Romanian Royal Family, Royal Palace, Scroviste Royal Palace, South-East European Monarchs
The Scroviste Royal Palace located about 20 km north of Bucharest among lakes and forests, has been one of the favourite summer and week end retreats of King Ferdinand of Romania. Before the palace was built, there was just a hunting lodge used by Ferdinand, and from that basis new buildings and amenities were added in the subsequent decades. Today a new palace is used by the presidency of Romania. The images above show sketches for a palace section in Scroviste designed by Arthur Lorentz in the 1930s. DM
11 Sunday Jul 2010
Posted in European royal families
Tags
Balkans, European royal families, Familia regala, King Zog I of Albania, South-East European Monarchs
New book: ’A Royal Exile – King Zog and Queen Geraldine of Albania’ by Neil Rees – for orders click here
see also the film footage
26 Monday Apr 2010
Posted in European royal families, Films & Interviews
Tags
Balkans, European royal families, Familia regala, Noblesse et Royautés, non reigning monarchs, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Serbian Royal family, South-East European Monarchs
There is an interesting article in the New York Times, 23 April 2010 issue, about Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, who talks about his legendary family:
to listen click here Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia
read the article here
31 Sunday Jan 2010
Posted in Historic Residences, Romanian Royal Family
Tags
Balkans, Castele si palate regale, Eastern Europe, Familia regala, istoria regalitatii, King Ferdinand, Noblesse et Royautés, Queen Marie of Romania, Regele Ferdinand, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family, Royal Palaces, Scroviste Palace
Mock country house, Scroviste royal retreat complex, located on lake Snagov shore, North of Bucharest (RNA. Diana & Valentin Mandache)
The image above shows one of the guest houses from within the grounds of Scroviste royal palace, on the shore of Snagov lake. It is a design combining peasant farmhouse and Neo-Romanian architecture within a peculiar Arts and Crafts matrix (see my earlier post on Romanian Arts and Crafts architecture for details). The house has a ground floor pergola made from wooden poles carved with ethnographic motifs. Similar type carved poles adorn the extended first floor veranda. The palace gardens were landscaped by Fr. Rebhun, a talented and prolific Austrian landscape architect, very active in Romania in those decades, with many completed royal and public park commissions (Royal Pelesh Castle gardens, Cismigiu Park in central Bucharest, etc.) . What I like in this instance in terms of landscape architecture is the pergola with climbing roses, the house nestled between two imposing trees and the peasant stone stone cross at the base of the right hand tree, which together with the wonderful architecture of the house and its special location on the shore of a prairie lake constitute a metaphor of the Romanian peasant life and country’s natural landscape, an excellent product of those very creative decades of early 20th c. in this country.©Valentin Mandache: Historic Houses of Romania
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All rights reserved Diana Mandache’s Weblog
08 Friday Jan 2010
Tags
Balkans, European royal families, Familia regala, istoria regalitatii, King Ferdinand, Noblesse et Royautés, Printesa Mignon, Queen Marie of Romania, Queen Marie of Serbia, Queen Marie of Yugoslavia, Romanian Royal Family, Serbian Royal family
Crown Princess Marie of Romania w. her daughter Princess Mignon
Queen Maria of Yugoslavia (b. Princess Maria 'Mignon' of Romania)
Maria, styled by her mother Mignon after an opera character, was born at Friedenstein Castle in Gotha on 8 January 1900. She was named after her grandmother, the Grand Duchess of Russia later Duchess of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
All rights reserved Diana Mandache’s weblog Royal History.
22 Tuesday Dec 2009
Tags
Balkans, Eastern Europe, Familia regala, King Michael of Romania, Monarhia, Noblesse et Royautés, non reigning monarchs, Regele Mihai, Romanian Revolution 1989, Romanian Royal Family, Royal Palaces
The royal palace and King Carol I Foundation were badly affected by machine-gun fire exchanges during the Romanian Revolution when Ceausescu was toppled from power, December 1989 (Diana Mandache's Weblog http://www.royalromania.wordpress.com)
The royal palace and King Carol I Foundation were badly affected by machine-gun fire exchanges during the Romanian Revolution when Ceausescu was toppled from power, December 1989
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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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