Marie of Edinburgh acquiring the Romanian identity

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British Royal Family, Diana Mandache, Familia regala, istoria regalitatii, Princess Marie of Edinburgh, Queen Marie of Romania, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family

Marie of Edinburgh in her first Romanian peasant costume (Diana Mandache Collection)

Princess Marie in her first Romanian peasant costume (from the Arges ethnographic region) given to her by King Carol as a wedding gift. Romanian peasant dress was introduced for court festivities and ceremonies by Queen Elizabeth. The peasants were identified in the national ideology as the quintessential Romanians and many among the Romanian elite started in that period to follow the court’s example and express their national identity by wearing peasant attire when participating at national events and other festivities. Princess Marie from the very beginning wrote to her mother: «The other day there was a charity ball here, and everybody came in Romanian costumes, it looked so pretty».

[see D.M, 'Marie of Romania. Images of a Queen', RRB, 2007, p.16]

Fin de Siècle Romanian royal wedding

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European royal families, Familia regala, istoria regalitatii, Princess Marie of Edinburgh, Queen Marie of Romania, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family

Article first published on the Historic Houses of Romania blog by Valentin Mandache

Because the whole planet seems now captivated by the recent wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, now Duchess of Cambridge, in London, I thought it would be a good idea to post an article touching the subject of historic Romanian architecture in the context of another wedding, more than a century ago, involving Romanian royals. Bellow is a very rare old postcard depicting the official cavalcade accompanying Marie, the Princess of Edinburgh, freshly made a Princess of Romania through the marriage with Crown Prince Ferdinand, when she first arrived, after the marriage ceremony and honeymoon, in her adopted country on the 24 January 1893. Marie’s coach is seen acclaimed by Bucharest’s citizens, passing by two of the city’s architectural landmarks of the late Victorian era: the Unirii Market Hall (in the background), a large and beautiful iron frame structure similar with the ubiquitous Les Halles Centrales found in many of the late c19th French towns and the majestic Beaux Arts style building of the Brancovensc Hospital Establishment (in the foreground). Both these wonderful edifices, so important for Bucharest’s identity, were savagely demolished by the communist authorities in the mid-1980s, during dictator Ceausescu’s infamous vast and architecturally coarse remodelling of large areas of central Bucharest for his infamous ”Victory of Socialism” project. That area is today full of ugly and badly maintained massive communist apartment blocks, which are also among the most expensive properties in Romania’s capital- a measure of the dismal level of culture and confused identity of the post-communist inhabitants of this city.

The arrival of Princess Marie of Edinburgh/ Romania in Bucharest, in Feb. 1893, passing by the Brancovenesc Hospital building and Unirii Market Hall (old postcard circulated 1901, undivided back, ©Diana Mandache collection/photo published in “Marie of Romania. Images of a Queen” by DM, 2007))

For more information on Queen Marie of Romania see “Marie of Romania. Images of a Queen” by Diana Mandache, Rosvall Royal Books, 2007.

Protected: Three MARIEs wearing the historical Diamond Fringe Tiara

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Diamond Fringe Tiara, European royal families, Familia regala, Imperial Russia, Marie Alexandrovna, Queen Maria of Yugoslavia, Queen Marie of Romania, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family, Royal jewels, Royal tiaras, Russian Imperial Family, Serbian Royal family

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Protected: Weekly Picture: Queen Marie’s royal monogram – Gold Badge

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European royal families, Familia regala, istoria regalitatii, Noblesse et Royautés, Queen Marie of Romania, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family, Royal ciphers, Royal jewels, Royal Monograms

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Krokus Flower Watercolours by Marie of Romania, collage

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European royal families, Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, Queen Marie of Romania, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family

I made the above photomontage using photographs of beautiful mauve krokus flower watercolours painted by princess Marie in 1899. The flower is abundant in Romania and also in Coburg region during springtime. The exquisite flowers display the mauve/ purple colour so much loved by Marie and used in her drawings, interior decoration designs or cloth materials. Princess Marie took painting lessons with Mrs Mercier, whom she got in touch through her mother-in-law, Antonia de Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in 1893. DM

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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

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material is strictly prohibited

Cotroceni Royal Palace: The Princess’s Boudoir

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Diana Mandache, European royal families, Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Carol I, King Ferdinand, Queen Marie of Romania, Regele Ferdinand, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family, Royal Palaces

This is a drawing dating from 1893 and is an interior design proposal for Princess Marie’s boudoir at the time when the French architect Paul Gottereau started the works for the rebuilding of  Cotroceni palace. The edifice was the official residence of Ferdinand & Marie. This design proposal was sent for the approval of Princess Marie. Unfortunately in the contemporary Cotroceni palace not all of the old decorations or furniture seen in the drawing above are still in place, due to the vicisitudes endured by this building over the ensuing decades, events that ranged from natural to human catastrophes such as earthquakes or the communist takeover in 1947. DM

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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

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material is strictly prohibited

Queen Marie of Romania at the Academie des Beaux Arts, 1919

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Diana Mandache, European royal families, Familia regala, istoria regalitatii, Noblesse et Royautés, Queen Marie of Romania, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family, South-East European Monarchs

Princess Elisabeta, Queen Marie of Romania & Princess Maria (Mignon), at the French Academy, 8 March 1919

I have recently published on my Facebook page dedicated to Queen Marie a photograph published in a French magazine in the spring of 1919.  At that time Queen Marie was a regular visitor of Paris as a unofficial representative of Romania at the Peace Conference. The image shows the Romanian queen with her eldest daughters at the French Academy, listening to the welcoming speech of Charles Vidor. The event is described by Marie in her last memoir ‘Later Chapters’:

… there was a solemn ‘séance a l’Académie des Beaux Arts’ where I was admitted as only woman amidst the most doct company of very old and important gentlemen. This was also a very special honour; I felt deeply flattered, but not being ‘une intelectuelle’ only normally intelligent, I felt somewhat bewildered about all the fuss they made about my talents etc… I was not entirely convinced that I deserved these conspicuous honours, whilst I had accepted the military tribute payed to me, without a blush. I was pompously ushered to a chair in the celebrated old room of ‘l’Institut’ and had to listen to a very flattering speech of welcome by Mr. Charles Vidor [President of the French Academy] to which I answered in a few simple, unprepared words. When deeply moved I can luckily always express myself, only emotion generally makes my English accent more conspicuous. Anyhow my amiable old colleagues were more than enchanted with me and we said extraordinarily sweet things to each other, and then I and my daughters were conducted to a second building where we listened to some supremely exquisite music and conversed with innumerable elderly gentlemen with famous names recognized all over the world, among whom Henri Bergson the great philosopher and François Fleming. (8 March 1919)

All rights reserved©Diana Mandache, ‘Laters Chapters of My Life. The Lost Memoir of Queen Marie of Romania’, Sutton, 2004

Weekly Picture: Mignon of Serbia with her baby son and family – 1923

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European royal families, Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Peter II of Yugoslavia, Noblesse et Royautés, Princess Ileana, Princess Mignon, Queen Maria of Yugoslavia, Queen Marie of Romania, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family, Serbian Royal family

Ileana, Mignon, baby Peter and Queen Marie in Belgrade, September 1923 (Weekly Picture Diana Mandache’s Weblog: Royal History)

This a private photograph found in the archives (public archives..) showing the Romanian Queen together with her grandson, in Belgrade, preparing for the christening festivities.

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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: A wonderful photo of Princess Marie of Romania in Art Nouveau style

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European royal families, Familia regala, Noblesse et Royautés, Queen Marie of Romania, Regina Maria, Romanian Royal Family

Princess Marie in an Art Nouveau decorative ambient (Weekly Picture: Diana Mandache's Weblog Royal History)

Marie of Romania was a great promoter of the Art Nouveau style in Romania. Her histrionic personality fit wonderfully within this theatrical style. Marie’s Art Nouveau creations are diverse and range from paintings, theatre settings to furniture design. Here is an wonderful photograph with Marie that speaks volume about her passion for the Art Nouveau, posing with a garland of mock flowers crowning her head, in front of an floral motif Art Nouveau screen. ©Diana Mandache

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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

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material is strictly prohibited