Anniversary of the Accession of the King of Romania

Today is the ninetieth anniversary of the first accession to the throne of H.M. The King of Romania in 1927. 


This was on the occasion of the death of his grandfather King Ferdinand I, of whom there is a biography at  Ferdinand I of Romania. His eldest son Carol, and father of the present King, had renounced his right of succession the previous year and went into exile with his mistress. In 1930 he returned to the country, displaced the triune Regency that ruled in the name of his son and was enthroned as King Carol II. King Michael became Crown Prince until 1940 when his father abdicated and again went into exile, dying in 1953. Since 1940, most of that time, alas, in exile, the present King has been a symbol of his realm and a sign of hope to many.

The boy King Michael I with his grandmother Queen Marie and his mother Princess Elena in mourning for King Ferdinand I

Image: Hoover.org



The King of Romania during his first reign with his grandmother Queen Marie

and his mother Princess Elena.
His monogram can be seen behind the Royal group

Image:Pinterest






The Romanian regalia

Following on from my post yesterday about the Romanian coronation in 1922 here are some details and pictures of the regalia used in the ceremony.

The regalia used at the 1922 coronation consists of the King's crown and sceptre, his mantle, and the Queen's crown.

The King's crown was the Steel Crown of  King Carol I of Romania which was forged at the Army Arsenal (Arsenalul Armatei) in Bucharest of the steel of a cannon captured by the Romanian Army from the Ottomans during the War of Independence of 1877-78. King Carol I chose steel, and not gold, to symbolize the bravery of the Romanian soldiers. He received it during the ceremonies of his coronation and of the proclamation of Romania as a kingdom on 10/22 May 1881.

Image: National Museum of History Bucharest

This photograph shows the contrast of the steel and the gilding:  

 

The sceptre made for King Ferdinand I in 1922 It depicts four rural Romanian women and the head of an eagle with a cross in its beak. The eagle symbolizes the Latin origin of the Romanian people.On it is an inscription "To His Majesty King Ferdinand of All Romaniana, given this in remembrance of the 1916-1919 war for the liberation and unification of all Romanianans"

Image: National Museum Bucharest 

 

The head of the sceptre

Image: Londonconstant on Flickr

The crown and King Ferdinand's mantle on display at the castle of Sinaia

Image: blog.europeana.eu

 

King Ferdinand’s Coronation Robe: of crimson velvet, embroidered with gold featuring emblems of the Romanian provinces and the royal coat of arms, trimmed with ermine. It was designed by Costin Petrescu.

 

 

 

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Photographs by Valentin Mandache©/ www.royalromania.wordpress.com

For Queen Marie a new crown was made,  and she did not wear that made for Queen Elisabeth and used in 1881, and similar in design to the Steel Crown:

Image: National Museum of History Bucharest

but rather used a new one, designed specially for her and reflecting Byzantine forms:

Queen Marie's Crown made of Transylvanian gold and decorated with rubies, emeralds, amythysts, turquoises and opals

Image: National Museum of History Bucharest

The crown was made in Paris at the jewellers "Falize", after the drawings of the Romanian painter Costin Petrescu. His inspiration for the design was from the crown worn by Lady Elena - Despina (wife of Neagoe Basarab, ruler of Wallachia between 1512 and 1521, daughter of the Serbian despot Jovan Brankovic) on the votive painting of the bishopric church in Curtea de Argeş. From the artistic point of view, the crown belongs to the Art Nouveau style. The pendants bear the arms of the Queen, including her paternal arms derived from Prince Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Victoria's second son.

There is more about the Coronation anniversary and a slide show of pictures of the King's mantle at the Royal Romania blog.

Coronation at Alba Iulia 1922

Today is the ninetieth anniversary of the coronation of King Ferdinand I of Romania and his consort Queen Marie at Alba Iulia in Transylvania. It had been st Alba Iulia on December 1 1918 that the vote to accede to the Romanian Kingdom was given by Transylvanian representitives, and the city had been the capital of the previous unified Romanian monarchy, that of Michael the Brave from 1599 to 1601. The coronation took place at the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral of the Reunion, built in 1921-22, next to the medieval Catholic cathedral. Both are within the eighteenth century Alba Carolina fortess built under the Emperor Charles VI.

 

King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania
following their Coronations on October 15, 1922, in Alba Iulia.

 

Image:www.tboyle.net/Royalty/Romania_Coronation

King Ferdinand I of Romania and his wife Queen Marie were crowned in a non-denominational ceremony on October 15, 1922, in the square in front of the Coronation Cathedral of the Reunification.  The ceremony was non- denominational because, although Romania was overwhelmingly Orthodox, the King was a devout Catholic and his wife was then an Anglican.

King Ferdinand's two successors, King Carol II and King Mihai I, however, had only swearing-in ceremonies. King Carol II, upon ascending the Throne in the summer of 1930, did schedule a coronation in Alba Iulia for the following September; but, a few weeks before the planned ceremony, the coronation was postponed and was never to be re-scheduled, because of the complicated situation with Carol's ex-wife, Queen Helen, who due to their divorce obviously could not be crowned with him, but was nonetheless living in Romania as "Queen Mother Helen" or Her Majesty Helen.

The Coronation was very much a celebration of the post-war unification of the Romanian people under one King. thus the pre-war kingdom based on Wallachia and Moldavia was now unired to Bessarabia [ now Moldova], Transylvania and the Dobruja. The diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference which achieved this owed no little part of its success to Queen Marie's presence, and the Coronation was very much her day. As the links above show, she was a somewhat larger-than-life figure, who won the hearts of her Romanian subjects by he enthusiastic support of the national cause during the First World War and the subsequent developments. Here are views from a set of postcards of the ceremony:

Images: Romania Postcards collection at postcardscollection.wordpress.com

Image:tkinter.smig.net

Two sisters, H.M. Queen Elizabeth of Greece and H.M. Queen Marie of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, at the Coronation of their parents. The Queens are followed by T.R.H. Princess Irene of Greece, Princess Ileana of Romania and Grand Duchess Viktoria Fyodorovna of Russia.

Image: Serbian Royal Family website

Queen Marie in her Coronation robes and crown

Image:hoover.org

Queen Marie's own account of the coronation can be read in the illustrated article which can be found here. 

There is information about one of the items of jewellery worn by the Queen, a spectacular sapphire, here  and here - the latter has an expandable link to Philip de Lazlo's 1924 Coronation portrait of the Queen.

A commemorative medal  for the Coronation

Image: e-bay

The Romanian Orthodox Cathedral of the Reunification built in Alba Iulia in 1921-22, and the setting for for the coronation

Image:Wikipedia