The Royal Antifascist Coup of 23 August 1944 in Romania (via Valentin Mandache’s weblog)

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Eastern Europe, Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Michael of Romania, Queen-Mother Helen, Regele Mihai, Regina Elena, Romanian Royal Family, South-East European Monarchs, Valentin Mandache

Today 66 years ago, King Michel of Romania led the antifascist coup of 23 August 1944 against the pro-German government, by personally arresting the dictator marshal Ion Antonescu, a war criminal responsible for the death of hundred of thousands of Romanian and Soviet Jews, who allied the country with Nazi Germany and took it into a hu … Read More

via Valentin Mandache’s weblog

Weekly Picture: Helen Queen-Mother of Romania, Name Day St. Helen 21 May

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European royal families, Familia regala, Greek Royal family, istoria regalitatii, King Michael of Romania, Noblesse et Royautés, Queen-Mother Helen, Regele Mihai, Regina Elena, Romanian Royal Family, South-East European Monarchs

Queen Helen of Romania

The image above, a beautiful etching by Oskar Stoessel, dating from late 1920s, depicts Queen Helen, then a Princess of Romania.

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I endeavor 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

Weekly Picture: King Michael of Romania w. his mother, Greece 1938

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European royal families, Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Michael of Romania, Noblesse et Royautés, Queen-Mother Helen, Regele Mihai, Regina Elena, Romanian Royal Family, South-East European Monarchs

Michael of Romania & Princess Helen visiting the Acropolis of Athens, January 1938. The visit in Greece took place with the occasion of Paul of Greece's wedding. (Weekly Picture: Diana Mandache's Weblog - Royal History)

This is one of my favourite royal subject photographs, which I always enjoy seeing it. It was made in January 1938 when Helen’s brother, Paul, the diadoch of Greece, married Frederika of Hanover. King Michael, then the Crown Prince of Romania, an inveterate photographer since his early years, takes snaps of the famous historical site of Athens.

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I endeavor 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

WEEKLY PICTURE: King Michael of Romania w. his mother Princess Helen

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Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Michael of Romania, Noblesse et Royautés, Princess Helen of Greece, Princess Helen of Romania, Regina Elena, Romanian Royal Family, South-East European Monarchs

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I endeavor 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

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Protected: Weekly Picture: Princess Helen of Romania w. the Diamond Greek Key Tiara

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European royal families, Familia regala, istoria regalitatii, Noblesse et Royautés, Princess Helen of Greece, Princess Helen of Romania, Queen-Mother Helen, Regina Elena, Romanian Royal Family, Royal jewels, Royal tiaras

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Radio Free Europe. Interview: King Michael of Romania recalls start of WWII

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Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Michael of Romania, Noblesse et Royautés, non reigning monarchs, Queen-Mother Helen, Regele Mihai, Regina Elena, Romanian Royal Family, WWII

Radio Free Europe: Romania’s former sovereign, King Michael, is one of the three surviving heads of state from World War II (alongside Bulgaria’s King Simeon and Cambodia’s Norodom Sihanouk), and the only one involved directly in the war. RFE/RL correspondent Eugen Tomiuc spoke to the 88-year-old former monarch at his residence in Aubonne, Switzerland, about the start of the war and the impact of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on Romania and the rest of Eastern Europe.

RFE/RL: We’re marking this month the 70th anniversary of two fateful events in European history that also had a subsequent impact on Romania. On August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the USSR signed a nonaggression pact with a secret protocol that would result, less than a year later, in Romania losing territories to the USSR. And on September 1, as a direct consequence of the pact, Germany attacked Poland, thus triggering World War II. I would like to ask you to recall the moment when you learned about the beginning of the war — what did you feel then?

King Michael: At that time I was still in school, and I wasn’t involved with the running of the state, my father [King Carol II] did it all with his government. Of course, we knew what was happening around us, but the implications — deep implications — at the time, were difficult to understand, because I was concerned with what I had to do in school. But we felt deep down in a way without saying it, so to speak, that something very nasty was going on. And finally, what we felt was exactly what has actually happened.

RFE/RL: Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, and on September 17, the USSR invaded eastern Poland. The Allied powers, however, did not declare war on the Soviet Union, and Romania felt threatened from two sides. This feeling of unease you mentioned, the instinct that something bad was to come, did it have anything to do with the fact that even though Romania had established diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia, it knew that the issue of Bessarabia was still pending?

King Michael: Yes, of course. The question of the Soviet Union at the time — we always kept it in our minds as something to be very careful of, because you never quite knew what was coming next. We had seen a lot of things about the history [of Romania and Russia]; it was enough to understand we could have been in a dangerous situation later on.

Because we had the possible danger from the Soviets, on the other hand, the German Nazis were also working up something and we were sort of caught between the two. So there are many, many things that people may be criticizing and so on, but we ought to — this is the thing I realized later, not at the time itself — we were facing danger in the sense that either the Soviets or the Nazis, if we didn’t do the one thing or the other that they might have liked, we might have lost our independence. So it’s a very difficult situation, come to think of it, after it happened. How do you try and steer as much as one can without being too dangerous? That was our problem.

Weekly Picture: Helen of Greece in traditional costume

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Eastern Europe, European royal families, Familia regala, King Michael of Romania, Noblesse et Royautés, Princess Helen of Greece, Queen-Mother Helen, Regina Elena, Romanian Royal Family, South-East European Monarchs

Princess Helen of Greece, future Queen-Mother of Romania (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 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: HELEN Queen-Mother of ROMANIA, swimming

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Familia regala, Greek Royal family, Noblesse et Royautés, Princess Helen of Greece, Princess Helen of Romania, Queen-Mother Helen, Regina Elena, Romanian Royal Family, South-East European Monarchs

 

Helen Queen-Mother of Romania swimming in the Snagov lake, north of Bucharest, 1942 (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

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Protected: Royal Menus: Easter Meal at the Romanian Court

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Balkans, Casa Regala, Eastern Europe, Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Michael of Romania, Meniuri regale, Monarhia, Queen-Mother Helen, Regele Mihai, Regina Elena, Romanian Royal Family, Royal Menus, Royalty

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