A couple of weeks ago I asked my Instagram followers to send in their questions for historian, Ioana N. Gaurean, best known as Marie_of_Romania on instagram. Ioana specialises in the life of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Marie of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, later Queen Consort of Romania, so I am excited to have teamed up with her to give everyone a unique insight into Marie’s life!
1. What fascinated you about Marie?
The strength of character woven with flaws and imperfections. I have always been fascinated by complex characters, whether fictional or historical; characters situated somewhere on the grey spectrum of morality, advancing through life in what I consider to be the most quintessential human way: walking the line between light and shadow, being touched by both.
© National Portrait Gallery, London NPG x81765
2. How did you get interested in Marie?
In my early adolescence, I discovered a deep passion for strong, rebellious and unyielding royal women. I began reading extensively on the subject. My first loves were “the classics” — Cleopatra (I used to dream of becoming the archaeologist who discovered her tomb), Elisabeth of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and Anne Boleyn (my great favourite of those days). It took me a while to realise that “we have royal women at home”, because Romania was terribly slow in redressing the historical narratives of the communist period and the monarchical period remained an “era non grata”. It may seem unbelievable, but when I first began studying history at school, in the mid to late ’00s — so more than 15 years after the 1898 Revolution — the school curriculum was yet to address the monarchical period; not a word of our kings and queens and even less so of their role in the making of modern Romania. So, I took it upon myself to remedy the situation and to educate myself on the matter. I began chronologically and, for a couple of years, I was heart and soul invested in the eccentric life and literary work of our first queen, Elisabeth or Carmen Sylva (her pen name). At the time, however, the historiography on Queen Elisabeth was not as generous as it is today, nearly two decades later, so I ran out of material to read and I moved forward on the chronology to our second queen, Marie. I read my first Queen Marie book in 2011, “Missy, the Queen of Romania” by Guy Gauthier; within a year, there were no books left for me to read on the subject. But this time I just could not move on. I needed more. In 2013, I went to the Romanian National Archives for the first time and began my own research journey.
3. What was Marie’s relationship like with Queen Victoria?
Marie and her sisters did not have a particularly close relationship with their “Grandmama Queen”, as they used to call Queen Victoria to differentiate her from “Grandmama Empress”, the Russian Tsarina. “When I think back, I distinctly remember that our sympathies were more on the side of Grandmama Empress,” wrote Marie in 1910. “Yet around Grandmama Queen, there was always such an atmosphere of awing interest. What a dignity in that tiny little woman! Certainly, when we were little, we were rather afraid of her and later in growing up we were, perhaps, even more afraid. There was something about her quite indescribable, I can only call it ‘legendary’, even then she seemed a living piece of history. I do not think that we were at all favourite granddaughters, my mother being Russian and of a very independent temperament at that. I do not think the two of them got on quite well, so neither were we looked upon with great favour.” Maria Alexandrovna was herself quite the character and went to great lengths to keep her children, in as much as possible, away from the Queen. In fact, she used the birth of her first daughter as an opportunity to settle some scores with her mother-in-law, namely the sore issue of precedence and style. Arriving in London in early 1874, Maria Alexandrovna was shocked to realise that she was no longer the darling of the Court, the grandest of the Grand Duchesses, as she had been in St. Petersburg as only daughter of Russian Tsar; in Britain, she was simply the wife of Queen Victoria’s second son and all her sisters-in-law, British Princesses by birth, in addition to the Princess of Wales, had precedence over her. When his daughter complained, Tsar Alexander II promptly insisted that his darling daughter should be styled as “Her Imperial and Royal Highness”, not merely “Her Royal Highness”; calmly, Queen Victoria responded that as long as “Royal” came first, sure, let her keep her inconsequential “Imperial” if so she wished. Maria Alexandrovna was doubly irked. Thus, when a daughter was born on October 29th 1875, the mother decided that the little princess should be named after her three living grandparents: Marie Alexandra Victoria — in this precise order, lest Queen Victoria forget that Imperial came, in fact, before Royal. Some years later, in 1879, the Queen would remark in her journal: “little Missy is excessively like Marie” … it was little jabs like these which maintained a certain distance between grandchildren and grandmother, but the mutual affection was certainly there, albeit more timid.
4. Which sibling was Marie closest to?
Marie was closest to Victoria Melita, known as Ducky in the family. The two sisters shared a strong bond and were fiercely loyal to each other. Although Marie was older by one year, the two girls grew up like twins; inseparable, yet the two facets of a coin, the yin and yang, the sun and the moon, the feminine and the masculine, the romantic and the dominant one. Through thick and thin, the sisters had each other’s backs. They were so self-sufficient as a duo that they marginalised their other sisters, Sandra in particular, as she was closer in age to them than little Beatrice was. Throughout her life, Marie wrote extensively — letters upon letters, memoirs, articles, essays, novels, and so forth; therefore, it is a pleasure to follow her trail of thoughts, to understand her mentality, her beliefs, her feelings. It is an observation of mine from all my research that Marie would have stopped at nothing for her sister. Ever the empath and loyal to those she loved, Marie would have gladly sacrificed her life for a number of the people she held dear to her heart, but she would have killed for only two: her sister and her firstborn.
5. Are you a professional historian?
I would say so, although I can hardly believe it — must be that millennial-typical Peter Pan syndrome. But I do have an undergraduate degree in history and politics, as well as a master’s degree in war studies and the history of war. Last September, after long years of research, I finally got my PhD. My thesis explores in great detail Queen Marie’s role and involvement in the Great War. At the moment, I am editing it for publishing. In 2023, I fulfilled a dream of mine and published Queen Marie’s unknown memoirs, “The Real Regina Maria. The Story of a Soul”, the earliest draft of what would become her well-known autobiography, “The Story of My Life”. The manuscript of “The Real Regina Maria” was something I stumbled upon quite on accident on that very first venture of mine into the Romanian National Archives, back in 2013. Its publication was truly a full circle moment, in addition to it being my first contribution to this field of studies.
6. Did Marie get on with her mother?
This could be a doctoral thesis in itself, because Marie’s relationship with her mother was perhaps the most convoluted and complex relationship of Marie’s life — and no one could have described it better than the daughter herself in “The Real Regina Maria”: “My mother is sacred to me, but no one has ever caused me more agonising grief with their injustice of judgement than my mother.” Profoundly miserable in her marriage, Maria Alexandrovna dedicated herself entirely to her children and made their childhoods heavenly happy. Mother and daughters travelled extensively between England, Russia, Germany and Malta; the sisters grew up wild and carefree, developing at will, hardly receiving any education in the formal sense. This idyllic childhood began showing its downside once the girls entered adolescence and the family settled at Coburg. The mother continued the travelling routine alone, while the sisters were placed under the care of a rigid German governess and were served a taste of their poor brother’s miserable existence… for, all those years when the sisters rode carefree on the shores of Malta or played in the gardens of Tsarkoe, Alfred had been left behind at Coburg, all in the name of a pristine formal education which ruined his mental health and pushed him (allegedly) to suicide. Hating all things English to the point of paroxysm, Maria Alexandrovna strove to swiftly turn her English daughters into the most proper German Princesses. Marie and Victoria fought hard to preserve their sense of English identity — and when they felt they could not longer fight alone, they found a rare opportunity to confess the truth of their struggle to their ever-absent father. A monstrous fight ensued between the Duke and Duchess of Coburg, but at least the “Germanification” of the Edinburgh princesses was slowed down and only continued at a rate that would not raise the suspicions of their English father. These ugly realities of the last three years Marie spent at home, coupled with the role played by Maria Alexandrovna in her poorly arranged marriage, caused Marie a great deal of trauma, which ultimately led to her years of unrest and rebellion, years when “I stormed, raged, doubted, and defied God, Man, and Life, years when the black waters of trouble threatened to close over my head.” Yet, when those years of trouble reached their boiling point, it was none other than Maria Alexandrovna who put the fear of gods in King Carol of Romania and won battle after battle in the name of her daughter and the stability of her position in Romania. “I could write volumes about my mother,” wrote Marie in the Real Regina Maria. “She was one of the grandest and, at the same time, the most illogical woman I ever knew. All the unfathomable of Russia lay in her soul, all the depths and the heights and the mist of her native land lay in her soul, which was the most tormented soul that I ever came in contact with. There were grand sides to her nature, but she was the most baffling mixture of immense culture and splendid intelligence closely linked to something bewildering illogical, with an undercurrent of real Russian ruthlessness. My mother was a tormented soul and she wore a mask all the days of her life. I think there is neither man nor woman who ever really knew who or what my mother was. Curiously enough, there was something resentful in her love for us, as though we had all been bitter disappointments to her.” Marie’s relationship with her mother advanced through ups and downs, periods when Maria Alexandrovna was giving her daughter wings, periods when she stomping her to the ground… and unfortunately their relationship ended on one of those periods of low, a prolonged one at that: the Great War had placed mother and daughter on opposing camps. By the twilight of her life, Maria Alexandrovna’s hatred of England had become greater than her love for Russia, thus she sided, passionately, with Germany in the Great War. When Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary in 1916, implicitly becoming Germany’s enemy, Maria Alexandrovna held her daughter responsible for her country’s course of action, going as far as calling Marie a warmonger and saying that the death of her youngest son, Prince Mircea, was a divine retribution of sorts. “How can she believe I am responsible for this war? My poor old bitter Mama, your hard words are an added burden on my already shattered heart, but above all I cry for the way you have abandoned yourself to this bitterness, it must be a worse suffering than the one I have to bear, because at least there is no hatred in my heart.” On the very day she received the sudden news of her mother’s passing in 1920, Marie took to her diary to release her grief; among the things she wrote was the following sentence: “What separated you most from us was the fact that we were English-born and you hated all things English.” After years of processing and reprocessing the relationship with her mother, Marie developed this painful certainty that, in her heart of hearts, their mother always resented them for the English blood… and Marie simply had to live with it.
7. What is your favourite fact about Marie?
I think my favourite fact about Marie is that, in her youth, she loved a good party, she usually was the first one to get to a ball and the last to leave, dancing until the wee hours of the morning and always requesting “one more dance”. I particularly love a letter sent by King Carol to his brother, Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (Ferdinand’s father and Marie’s father-in-law), where he was complaining that there were too many parties at Cotroceni Palace and, since Marie and Ferdinand were entertaining foreign guests at the time, he could not put his foot down, because… well, hospitality. Cotroceni Palace has an interesting layout, having been in the past a monastery, hence in the heart of the inner courtyard is a big church. What makes King Carol’s letter particularly amusing is that he writes it in such a gossipy manner, adding at some point: “And I heard they were even dancing outside, around the church!!!!” — gasp, clutching his imaginary pearls!
8. Do you have any book recommendations about Marie and her family?
My first recommendation for readers interested in learning about Marie and Romanian history, an introductory book so to say, is “The Last Romantic” by Hannah Pakula. Written in the early 80s, this biography remains the most consistent to date and will continue to be a highly relevant historiography source, in spite of the passing of time, because Pakula had the advantage of writing this biography with the blessing of Marie’s youngest daughter, Princess Ileana, and using personal documents provided by Ileana — some of which were (allegedly) burned before Ileana’s passing at Marie’s testamentary request. Thereafter, I would recommend “The Story of My Life”, Marie’s life in her own words. I think a foundation of knowledge on Marie is useful before reading her autobiographical work so as to better enjoy her perspective, reason why I recommend “The Last Romantic” first. Another English source I found extremely interesting due to its comparative nature is “Born to Rule” by Julia P. Gelardi, it tackles the parallel lives of Queen Victoria’s five granddaughters who became queens themselves: Marie of Romania, Alexandra of Russia, Sophie of Greece, Maud of Norway, and Victoria Eugenie of Spain. “The Real Regina Maria. The Story of a Soul” is also a great source, bilingual, so it could be read by both a Romanian and international audience, but unfortunately there is a serious problem of supply with this book, which I hope to be able to do something to remedy in the near-mid future. Unfortunately, Romanian history in general is not easily available for international audiences, because it is not often that foreign publishing houses have much interest in my country when it comes to anything other than the communist period. So there is virtually nothing regarding Marie’s immediate family that I could recommend, except Princess Ileana’s own memoirs, “I Live Again”, which describes how she picked up her life and rebuilt it once she was forced into exile in 1948.
9. Was Marie ever involved in any scandals?
Oh, yes — Marie was involved in countless scandals throughout her life, but this had much to do with the fact that Romania was a scandal prone society and gossip was rampant. Moreover, an interesting fact is that Romania had one of the most liberal press laws in Europe, free speech was virtually unrestricted, so journalists were free to write whatever they wanted. The system worked on a “suing for calumny” mentality, meaning that the papers could publish whatever and whoever felt unjustly smeared could simply sue the journalist. As we know, most royal families apply a “do not engage with rumours” approach, which meant that journalists would write whatever and the Crown would ignore it and keep its head high. A Romanian aristocrat wrote in her memoirs: “Morality has never been a strong point with my compatriots. Life was too free in our easy-going country to breed any rigid principles. Romania loves to gossip, but seldom blames. Queen Marie was immensely popular, our people simply worshiped her, the high society admired her and knew her well, for she loved parties and functions and entertained generously herself. Her love affairs or caprices were never considered a grievance by the people. On the contrary, I do believe the Romanians, with their natural immorality, felt rather relieved and pleased at not having a saint as a Queen. Personally, I knew her all my life and was devoted to her, believed she was the most beautiful woman I ever saw, and held her in total admiration. Even her faults, moral or physical, turned out to her absolute advantage. Queen Marie loved her adopted country, was devoted to it and this won her the unquestioned adoration of her people.” This all to emphasise why Marie’s many scandals were, for the Romania of those days, and even the Romania of today, not such big deals as they might be perceived when removed from this socio-cultural context. Throughout her life, Marie’s scandals had to do with mundane things: partying too hard during the Festival Season, riding too recklessly, being extravagant in her choice of clothing, wearing jewellery too liberally, spending too much money on questionable art or her interior design projects, flirting a little here and there, or — later in life — oversharing in the articles she wrote.The only serious scandal of her life, with potential devastating consequences, was the paternity scandal of Princess Marie. In 1899, albeit on real grounds, Queen Elisabeth and King Carol proactively worked on exploiting and exposing Marie’s romance with a Romanian lieutenant in the hopes of severely marring her reputation and having her at long last subdued. The scandal became known and openly discussed across Europe because of letters sent freely to family and friends and, from there, spread forth. However, the whole ploy backfired on the Romanian sovereigns. Queen Victoria’s family did not appreciate the way one of theirs was attacked by, well, strangers. “Nando was a complete stranger to us. My English family was — and still is — terribly exclusive and only grudgingly opens its doors to strangers unless they can fully absorb them. I knew that, in a way, my choice of betrothed set me outside the family fortress and, in fact, I felt a little bit of a traitor.” That is what Marie wrote about her engagement. However, even from outside the fortress, Marie was still provided with its protection when she had to face a battle with her in-laws. Queen Victoria threatened to write to King Carol to put the fear of God in him, the Empress Frederick was sending letters to her daughter Sophie telling her how life in Romania was way worse than Greece and how poor little Missy was suffering under King Carol’s tyranny. In what Maria Alexandrovna was concerned, she summoned her daughter to Gotha, placed her under her and her husband’s protection and unleashed hell, wasting no time in getting lawyers involved. Maria Alexandrovna and King Carol’s battle of wills lasted for months. The last letter the Grand Duchess sent to Prince Ferdinand before the King was coerced to relent and agree to all of Marie’s demands regarding her life in Romania sounded like this: “I am going to be very clear, for the last time. I cannot wait for a solution any longer, nor will I accept that my daughter should be treated like a nobody. I am left with no course but sue for divorce. Yes, I have said the great word, so beware. My patience is at an end. If you do not arrange my daughter’s return to Romania promptly and receive her with the honour and respect due to her rank, I will appeal to the Emperor of Russia and the Queen and I will describe with all frankness and in the minutest details how my daughter was pushed into her bad conduct by the intolerable position which the weakness of her husband exposed her to in that barbarian land, where the King himself surrounded her with spies and worked to compromise her irrevocably. You already know how little disposed my relatives are towards Romania, do not push us. This is my last word. Decide swiftly and with sense.” Within days, a solution was found. Within a month, Marie was back in Romania, received indeed with the respect due to her rank. This scandal represented the boiling point of the disputes which had plagued the Romanian royals for years, deteriorating and unravelling their familial relations. It was a scandal which ultimately settled the dynamics within the family, providing the younger generation with more freedom and giving Marie the chance to grow as a person. In 1900, Marie was 25 years old and had been married for 7 years; for 7 years her sole focus in life was surviving and keeping mentally afloat in what she perceived as a prison — “I am sorry to have to confess that this is what Romania was in those days, a prison.” This scandal was the turning point in Marie’s life; the only way was from such a dark place was up.
10. What was Marie’s greatest achievement as Queen of Romania?
Her wartime efforts. The Great War was the cornerstone of Marie’s legacy — or Marie’s legend, because in Romania she does have a legendary aura. “Always and again that old legend that I made the war,” — she wrote rather annoyed in her diary at some point in the mid-20s — “as though a woman could be the veto for war!” She might not have been the veto for war, but she most certainly was the spirit of the war, the rallying cry, the northern star when the defeats started piling up. Queen Marie’s case was unique in Europe; no other royal consort had such a prolific activity during the war, getting involved in everything that happened within her country, working relentlessly with the politicians, military men, foreign representatives, the medical system, the press. “She was everywhere!” — said the French ambassador to Romania, and Marie knew it; in fact, she strove to be everywhere, to offer the Romanian people the illusion that she saw, heard and lived everything, that there was nothing she would not do for them and the country’s redemption and victory. Marie made sure her face and name were everywhere: most hospitals were “Queen Marie” hospitals, either under her command or her patronage; the ambulances were “Queen Marie’s Ambulances”, her monogram large on the vehicles which took the wounded soldiers from the battlefield to safety; her name was constantly in the press, as the Queen was both writing articles and being written about; she walked miles upon miles in hospitals wards, up and down the snowy or muddy roads of countryside Moldova, to all forgotten corners, almost never advertising her visits so as to inspect the reality of the sanitary units treating her people; many died looking in the eyes of their Queen, holding onto her pictures, or whispering her name. The people adored her, the soldiers vowed to fight and die for her; during the Great War, an unbreakable bond was created between the Romanian people and their Queen. Wartime is one of those out of ordinary contexts that build legends and Marie consciously and consistently worked towards that, no solely for her own legacy, but for the salvation of her family, the dynasty and the country. It did pay off. The Bolsheviks stood no chance is corrupting their Romanian counterparts, they were too enamoured with their Queen to forsake her. Queen Marie’s case in the Great War is a fascinating one: the perfect blend of thoroughly grasped PR and propaganda, combined with the sincerest affection, determination, and belief in the cause — to the bitter end, victorious or otherwise. I am eagerly looking forward to the moment when my book will be published and the public will be able to discover, step by step, how Marie tackled the war and why this was the greatest achievement of her life “as though a woman could be the veto for war!” She might not have been the veto for war, but she most certainly was the spirit of the war, the rallying cry, the northern star when the defeats started piling up. Queen Marie’s case was unique in Europe; no other royal consort had such a prolific activity during the war, getting involved in everything that happened within her country, working relentlessly with the politicians, military men, foreign representatives, the medical system, the press. “She was everywhere!” — said the French ambassador to Romania, and Marie knew it; in fact, she strove to be everywhere, to offer the Romanian people the illusion that she saw, heard and lived everything, that there was nothing she would not do for them and the country’s redemption and victory. Marie made sure her face and name were everywhere: most hospitals were “Queen Marie” hospitals, either under her command or her patronage; the ambulances were “Queen Marie’s Ambulances”, her monogram large on the vehicles which took the wounded soldiers from the battlefield to safety; her name was constantly in the press, as the Queen was both writing articles and being written about; she walked miles upon miles in hospitals wards, up and down the snowy or muddy roads of countryside Moldova, to all forgotten corners, almost never advertising her visits so as to inspect the reality of the sanitary units treating her people; many died looking in the eyes of their Queen, holding onto her pictures, or whispering her name. The people adored her, the soldiers vowed to fight and die for her; during the Great War, an unbreakable bond was created between the Romanian people and their Queen. Wartime is one of those out of ordinary contexts that build legends and Marie consciously and consistently worked towards that, no solely for her own legacy, but for the salvation of her family, the dynasty and the country. It did pay off. The Bolsheviks stood no chance is corrupting their Romanian counterparts, they were too enamoured with their Queen to forsake her. Queen Marie’s case in the Great War is a fascinating one: the perfect blend of thoroughly grasped PR and propaganda, combined with the sincerest affection, determination, and belief in the cause — to the bitter end, victorious or otherwise. I am eagerly looking forward to the moment when my book will be published and the public will be able to discover, step by step, how Marie tackled the war and why this was the greatest achievement of her life.
I’d like to say a huge thank you to Ioana for agreeing to take part in today’s guest Q&A. If you’re a historian and would like to take part in a guest Q&A or write a guest blog for my website, please send an email to queenvictoriaroses@gmail.com
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