On October
\n15th, 1922, Romanians witnessed an unexpected event, an event with a strong
\nimpact in the mind of every Romanian, who had seen the years of the First World
\nWar: the coronation of Romania’s sovereigns, King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie
\nin Alba Iulia. The kingdom of Greater Romania, took shape in the wake of WWI, being
\nthe result of an incommensurable sacrifice of human and material resources, as
\nwell as superhuman diplomatic efforts. Following that huge price in human lives
\nand material resources, the new Romania became the country where any citizen
\ncould freely develop their personality and contribute to the general happiness
\nand wellbeing. The publications of the
\ntime abounded in details on the organization of the aforementioned event. First
\noff they published the special venue, the city of Alba Iulia, where in 1600
\nWallachian prince Michael the Brave entered in front of his army, an event
\nconsidered by historians the first political union of the Romanian
\nprincipalities. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Then there was the religious service
\nand the emotions caused by the coronation, the rituals going on and the leading
\npersonalities attending the event. The press also wrote about the political
\nrivalries which didn’t cease to exist even during this event. The Liberal
\ngovernment led by Ion I.C. Br\u0103tianu staged the entire coronation, which was
\nboycotted by the political opposition. At the same time, publications wrote
\nabout the Pope’s disapproval of a Catholic king who was to be crowned in an
\nOrthodox church. However, these were all minor elements and the coronation went
\non as planned, because there was nothing to hinder that major event in the life
\nof a nation.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In the
\nfollowing minutes historian Ioan Scurtu is going to help us understand how that
\nmoment was perceived by the main participants in the event, the king and the
\nqueen. According to Ioan Scurtu the two very different personalities of the
\nking and his wife became very visible on that occasion. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ioan
\nScurtu: King Ferdinand was less
\nactive and didn’t love public appearances, but he eventually accepted the
\ncoronation protocol just like he did during the Crown Council in 1916 when he
\nannounced he had to go against his will and accept Romania’s joining the war as
\nthe Council had asked. Queen Marie had a more active role in politics unlike
\nQueen Elizabeth, who wasn’t allowed by her husband, King Carol I, to get
\ninvolved in Romania’s political life. Ferdinand believed that it was the
\nsovereigns’ right to coronation for their major contribution to the 1918 union
\nof the Romanian principalities. And that was also visible in the crowns of the
\ntwo royal figures. Ferdinand took over the steel crown of his predecessor, king
\nCarol, which had three precious stones added, representing Bessarabia, Bukovina
\nand Transylvania. Queen Marie decided that the crown she took over from Queen
\nElizabeth was too modest, so she ordered one made up of gold adorned with a lot
\nof jewels, which was weighing more than two kilograms. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The extremely
\nstrong personality of Queen Marie became very visible during the coronation,
\nbut that strong personality was actually completing that of her husband. Here
\nis historian Ioan Scurtu at the microphone. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ioan Scurtu: The
\ncentral figure in the programme of the Coronation Committee was of course King
\nFerdinand. Queen Marie tried all the time to be close to the king, she wouldn’t
\nbe overshadowed although she hadn’t had the king’s contribution to the union.
\nIn her diary she wrote about a difficult moment for her when she had to kneel
\nbefore the king to have the crown placed on her head. However, the king helped
\nher to stand up and kissed her forehead. The king placed the crown on his head
\nlike Napoleon Bonaparte.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The general happiness and the feeling of victory at the end of 1918
\npersisted right until the coronation. Here is historian Ioan Scurtu again.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ioan Scurtu: The king was himself, he behaved in his style. After
\nthe war, an armistice was signed and high officials, including the clergy had
\nto come to Bucharest those days. The queen was very happy and told him ‘Nando,
\ndo you realize you have become the king of all Romanians, you’re a great man, a
\nhistoric personality?’ But the king had only a laconic reply ‘It was God’s
\nwill!’ As if he hadn’t made such an extraordinary contribution to that union.
\nThey were so different from each other, like I said, different personalities,
\nbut what was important was the fact that they stayed together and everyone saw
\nthe event as the coronation of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The coronation of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie on October 15th
\n1922 was a triumph for an entire nation, which paid a huge price and the
\nsacrifice they made at that time will never be forgotten by the generations to
\ncome. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The coronation of 1922 was a watershed moment in Romania’s modern history<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":123226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[35026,32708,36526,30684,19347,30788],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-ferdinand","tag-king","tag-marie","tag-queen","tag-romania","tag-wwi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n