Elizabeth of Romania: Her Husband Was King of Romania... But...

This is a photograph of Queen Elizabeth of Romania. She was born Elizabeth of Wied and married Carol of Romania, a German Prince. When it became clear that they would have no more children -- their only daughter died in childhood -- they groomed another family member to became ruler of Romania.


Queen Elizabeth of Romania
Carol I of Romania was a Prince of Romania. (When the country was founded, he was not the prince of Romania, that was another man.)  Carol was succeeded by his nephew, Ferdinand who married someone in the British Royal Family, Princess Marie of Edinburgh.

Elizabeth married Prince Carol I in 1869, and they would ruled Romania. At this time they were known as Prince and Princess of Romania, and after 1881, they were King and Queen of the land. She lived to see the outbreak of World War 1.  Her husband died in 1914.  After this time she was known as the Queen Dowager.

Elizabeth was also a writer, and she wrote under a pen name, Carmen Sylva.  Her successor to the Romanian throne, Queen Marie, also wrote and found success as a writer.  Elizabeth would not live to see Transylvania become part of Romania, for she died in 1916.

Unlike the history of Vlad Tepes, there is more information about Queen Elizabeth of Romania and her family.  She kept a diary of her thoughts and these have been valuable to many historians.  Her husband was King of Romania, but his territory did not include Transylvania.


The Kingdom of Romania, as it was when Elizabeth was Queen- Transylvania is not a part of it.

Comments