View source for Marie of Romania

{{Short description|Queen of Romania from 1914 to 1927}}
{{other people}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Marie
| image        = Queen Mary of Romania 2.jpg
| caption      =
| succession   = [[Queen consort of Romania]]
| reign-type   = Tenure
| reign        = 10 October 1914&nbsp;– 20 July 1927
| coronation   = 15 October 1922
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Ferdinand I of Romania]]|10 January 1893|20 July 1927|end=d.}}
| issue        = {{Plain list |
* [[Carol II, King of Romania]]
* [[Elisabeth, Queen of the Hellenes]]
* [[Maria, Queen of Yugoslavia]]
* [[Nicholas, Prince Regent of Romania]]
* [[Princess Ileana of Romania|Archduchess Ileana]]
* [[Prince Mircea of Romania|Prince Mircea]]}}
| full name    = Marie Alexandra Victoria
| house        = [[House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
| father       = [[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
| mother       = [[Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia]]
| birth_name   = Princess Marie of Edinburgh
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1875|10|29|df=yes}}
| birth_place  = [[Eastwell Park]], Kent, England
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1938|07|18|1875|10|29|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Pelișor Castle]], [[Sinaia]], [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]]
| burial_date  = 24 July 1938<ref>{{cite news | title=Roumanian Queen to Lie in State at Son's Palace | work=Delaware County Daily Times | date=19 July 1938 | author=United Press | location=Beaver and Rochester, Penn. | page=12}}</ref>
| burial_place = [[Curtea de Argeș Cathedral]]
| signature    = MarieOfRomaniaSignature.svg
}}
'''Marie''' ({{langx|ro|Maria}}; born '''Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh'''; 29 October 1875&nbsp;– 18 July 1938){{#tag:ref|All dates in this article use the [[Gregorian calendar]], which was not in use in Romania until 1919. The [[Julian calendar]] which Romania then used was 12 days behind before 1900 and 13 days behind after 1900.|group=note}} was the last [[queen of Romania]] from 10 October 1914 to 20 July 1927 as the wife of [[Ferdinand I of Romania|King Ferdinand I]].

Marie was born into the [[British royal family]]. Her parents were [[Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh]] (later Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), and [[Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia]]. Marie's early years were spent in Kent, [[Malta]] and [[Coburg]]. After refusing a marriage proposal from her cousin, the future [[King George V]], she was chosen in 1892 to marry Ferdinand, then crown prince of Romania, and they wed the next year. Marie was crown princess between 1893 and 1914, and became immediately popular with the Romanian people.

Upon the outbreak of [[World War I]], Marie urged Ferdinand to ally himself with the [[Triple Entente]] and declare war on [[German Empire|Germany]], which he eventually did in 1916. During the early stages of fighting, the national capital [[Bucharest]] was occupied by the [[Central Powers]]. Marie, Ferdinand and their five children took refuge in [[Western Moldavia]]. There, she and her three daughters acted as nurses in military hospitals, caring for soldiers who were wounded or afflicted by [[cholera]]. After the war, on 1 December 1918, the historical region of [[Transylvania]], following [[Bessarabia]] and [[Bukovina]], united with the [[Romanian Old Kingdom|Old Kingdom]] of Romania. Marie, now queen of [[Greater Romania]], attended the [[Paris Peace Conference of 1919]], where she campaigned for international recognition of the enlarged Romania. In 1922, she and Ferdinand were crowned in a specially-built cathedral in the ancient city of [[Alba Iulia]] in an elaborate ceremony which mirrored their status as queen and king of a united state.

As queen, Marie was very popular, both in Romania and abroad. In 1926, she undertook a diplomatic tour of the United States, alongside her children [[Prince Nicholas of Romania|Nicholas]] and [[Princess Ileana of Romania|Ileana]]. They were received enthusiastically by the people and visited several cities before returning to Romania. There, Marie found that Ferdinand was gravely ill and he died a few months later. Now [[queen dowager]], Marie refused to be a member of the regency council that ruled over the country during the minority of her grandson, [[Michael of Romania|King Michael]]. In 1930, Marie's eldest son, the father of King Michael, [[Carol II of Romania|Carol]], who had been forced in 1925 to renounce his rights to succession, deposed his son and usurped the throne, becoming King Carol II. He removed Marie from the political scene and strove to crush her popularity. As a result, Marie left Bucharest and spent the rest of her life either in the countryside or at [[Balchik Palace]], her summer residence in [[Southern Dobruja]] by the [[Black Sea]]. She became ill with [[cirrhosis]] in 1937 and died the following year.

Following Romania's [[Soviet occupation of Romania|transition]] to a [[Socialist Republic of Romania|People's Republic]], the monarchy was excoriated by [[Romanian Communist Party|communist]] officials. Several biographies of the royal family described Marie as a drunkard or as a promiscuous woman, referring to her many alleged affairs and to orgies she had supposedly organised before and during the war. In the years preceding the [[Romanian Revolution]] of 1989, Marie's popularity recovered and she was presented to the population as a model of patriotism. She is primarily remembered for her work as a nurse, and is also known for her extensive writing, including her critically acclaimed autobiography.

== Early life (1875–1893) ==
=== Birth ===
[[File:Eastwell-park-Morris Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen (1880).jpg|thumb|230x230px|[[Eastwell Park]] as it appeared between 1843 and 1894 (south facade)]]
Marie was the eldest daughter and second child of [[Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh]], and the former [[Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia]], respectively the son of [[Queen Victoria]] and the daughter of [[Emperor Alexander II]]. She was born at her parents' residence, [[Eastwell Manor]] in [[Kent]], England, on 29 October 1875, at 10:30&nbsp;am, in the presence of her father. Her birth was celebrated by [[21-gun salute|firing the Park and Tower guns]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24261|page=5161|date=30 October 1875}}</ref> She was named Marie Alexandra Victoria after her mother and grandmothers,{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=19}} and she was informally known as "Missy".{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=6}} The Duke of Edinburgh wrote that his daughter "promises to be as fine a child as her brother and gives every evidence of finely developed lungs and did so before she was fairly in the world".{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=7}} As a grandchild of the reigning [[British monarch]] in the male line, Marie was formally styled "Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Edinburgh" from birth.

Marie's baptism took place in the private chapel of [[Windsor Castle]] on 15 December 1875; [[Arthur Stanley (priest)|Arthur Stanley]] and [[Gerald Wellesley]], [[Dean of Windsor]], officiated. The baptism, "of a strictly private nature", took place one day after the ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of her paternal grandfather, [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Albert]].<ref>''The Times'', 16 December 1875.</ref> Marie's godparents were [[Empress Maria Alexandrovna]] (her maternal grandmother, for whom Queen Victoria stood proxy), the [[Alexandra of Denmark|Princess of Wales]] (her paternal aunt), the [[Princess Alexandrine of Baden|Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]] (her great-aunt, for whom [[Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein]] stood proxy), the [[Alexander III of Russia|Tsarevich of Russia]] (her maternal uncle, for whom Count [[Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov]] stood proxy) and the [[Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn|Duke of Connaught and Strathearn]] (her paternal uncle, for whom the [[Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany|Duke of Albany]] stood proxy).<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24276|page=6461|date=17 December 1875}}</ref>

=== Upbringing ===
[[File:Millais, Princess Marie of Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|left|Marie, aged seven, in an 1882 portrait by [[John Everett Millais]] commissioned by Queen Victoria and exhibited at the [[Royal Academy]]<ref>{{Royal Collection|400920|Princess Marie of Edinburgh (1875–1938)}}</ref>]]
Marie and her siblings, [[Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Alfred]] (b. 1874, known as "Young Affie"), and Princesses [[Victoria Melita]] (b. 1876, known as "Ducky"), [[Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Alexandra]] (b. 1878, known as "Sandra") and [[Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Beatrice]] (b. 1884, known as "Baby Bee"), spent much of their early life at Eastwell Park, which their mother preferred to [[Clarence House]], their official residence.{{sfn|Gauthier|2010|p=9}} In her memoirs, Marie remembered Eastwell fondly.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=12}} The Duke of Edinburgh was largely absent from his children's lives due to his position in the [[British Royal Navy]], and their life was governed by their mother. Marie later stated that she did not even know the colour of her father's hair until she looked at later portraits of him, believing it to be much darker than it actually was.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=8}} When he was at home, the Duke would often play with his children, inventing many games for them.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=15}} Of all her siblings, Marie was closest to her sister Victoria Melita, who was one year younger, but whom everyone believed to be the older girl because of her stature, much to the princesses' dismay.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=9}} The Edinburgh children were all baptised and raised in the [[Anglican]] faith; this upset their [[Russian Orthodox]] mother.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=19}}

The Duchess of Edinburgh was a supporter of the idea of separating generations, and Marie deeply regretted the fact that her mother never allowed chatting between the two "as if [they] were equals".{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=21}} Nonetheless, the Duchess was independent-minded, cultured, and "the most important person" in her children's lives.{{sfn|Van der Kiste|1991|p=20}} At the behest of their mother, Marie and her sisters were taught French, which they detested and rarely spoke.{{sfn|Marie|1990|pp=31–32}} Overall, the Duchess neglected her daughters' education, considering them not very bright or gifted. They were permitted to read aloud, but in the fields of painting and drawing, areas in which they had inherited Queen Victoria's talent, the girls received only a "pedestrian instruction".{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=49}} The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh frequently received members of the royal family at Eastwell Park, inviting them for breakfast nearly daily,{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=47}} and in 1885 Marie and Victoria Melita served as [[bridesmaid]]s at the wedding of their aunt [[Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom|Beatrice]] and [[Prince Henry of Battenberg]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Prince and Princess Henry of Battenberg with their bridesmaids and others on their wedding day|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw145863/Prince-and-Princess-Henry-of-Battenberg-with-their-bridesmaids-and-others-on-their-wedding-day|publisher=[[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]], London}}</ref> Among Marie's playmates were her maternal cousins [[Nicholas II of Russia|Grand Dukes Nicholas]] (called "Nicky"), [[Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia|George]] (called "Georgie"), and [[Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia|Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia]]; their siblings, [[Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia|Michael]] (called "Misha") and [[Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia|Olga]], were too young for the Edinburgh girls. Other playmates included the children of Marie's maternal uncle [[Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia]].{{sfn|Marie|1990|pp=88–89}}

[[File:Marie of Edinburgh, 1888.jpg|thumb|upright|Princess Marie, photographed in 1888]]
In 1886, when Marie was eleven years old, the Duke of Edinburgh was named commander-in-chief of the [[Mediterranean Fleet]] and the family took up residence at [[San Anton Palace|San Antonio Palace]] in Malta.<ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB | url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/64674 | title=Marie, Princess (1875–1938) | year=2004 | access-date=3 November 2013 | author=Pakula, Hannah | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/64674}}</ref> Marie later described her time in Malta as "the happiest memory of my existence".{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=83}} It was in Malta that Marie found her first love, [[Maurice Bourke]], the captain of the Duke's ship, whom Marie called "Captain Dear". She was prone to fits of jealousy when Bourke would pay more attention to one of her sisters than to her.{{sfn|Elsberry|1972|pp=17–19}} The Duke and Duchess were greatly loved in Malta, and San Antonio Palace was frequently full of guests.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=105}} Marie and Victoria Melita received white horses from their mother and went to the local hippodrome nearly daily, apart from Saturday.{{sfn|Marie|1990|pp=106–7}} During their first year in Malta, a French governess oversaw the princesses' education, but due to her failing health, she was replaced the following year by a much younger German woman.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=109}} At San Antonio, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh always maintained a room ready for [[George V|Prince George of Wales]], the second son of the [[Edward VII|Prince of Wales]], who was in the Royal Navy. George called the three elder Edinburgh girls "the three dearests", but favoured Marie most of all.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=136}}

Their sojourn in Malta ended in 1889, when the Duke of Edinburgh became heir presumptive to his childless paternal uncle, [[Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]], upon the Prince of Wales's renunciation of his rights to the duchy, and the family relocated to [[Coburg]].<ref name="odnb" /> Marie later came to view this moment as "truly the end of a life that had been absolute happiness and joy without clouds, of a life with no disappointments or delusions and without any discordant note".{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=146}} The Duchess, who was pro-German, hired a German governess for her daughters, bought them plain clothing and even had them confirmed in the [[Lutheran]] faith.{{sfn|Sullivan|1997|pp=80–82}} The family spent their summers at [[Rosenau Castle]].{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=155}} Duke Ernest was described by Marie as "having his oddities"; his court was less strict than other German courts of the time.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=152}} In Coburg, the princesses' education was broadened: more emphasis was placed on painting and music, which were taught by Anna Messing and Mrs. Helferich respectively.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=169}} On Thursdays and Sundays, Marie and her sisters went to the Coburg Theatre, an experience which they enjoyed greatly.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=177}} Marie and Victoria Melita often observed their brother's friends and made comments on whom they liked better, an aspect which Marie believed was inevitable in the lives of girls who have brothers.{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=190}} Another activity which the girls enjoyed at Coburg was attending winter parties organised by their mother, where they would ice-skate and play different games, such as [[ice hockey]].{{sfn|Marie|1990|p=194}}

=== Marriage ===
[[File:1893 - Ferdinand şi Maria ca Principe şiPprincipesă de Coroană.PNG|thumb|left|Ferdinand and Marie, the Crown Prince and Princess of Romania, pictured after their 1893 marriage]]

Marie grew into a "lovely young woman" with "sparkling blue eyes and silky fair hair"; she was courted by several royal bachelors, including Prince George of Wales, who in 1892 became second in line to inherit the throne.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=31}} Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh all approved, but the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh did not. The Princess of Wales disapproved of the family's pro-German sentiment, while the Duchess of Edinburgh did not wish her daughter to remain in England, which she disliked. In addition, the Princess of Wales (whose father had been a minor German prince before being called to the Danish throne) was higher than she in the [[Order of precedence in England and Wales|order of precedence]].{{sfn|Pope-Hennessy|1959|pp=250–51}} The Duchess of Edinburgh was also opposed to marriage between first cousins, which was not allowed by her native Russian Orthodox Church.{{sfn|Mandache|2001|p=334}} Thus, when George proposed to her, Marie informed him that the marriage was impossible and that he must remain her "beloved chum". Queen Victoria would later comment that "Georgie lost Missy by waiting & waiting".{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=32}}

Around this time, King [[Carol I of Romania]] was looking for a suitable bride for his nephew, [[Ferdinand I of Romania|Crown Prince Ferdinand]], in order to secure the succession and ensure the continuation of the [[House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen]]. Possibly motivated by the prospect of removing tensions between Russia and Romania on the subject of control over [[Bessarabia]], the Duchess of Edinburgh suggested that Marie meet Ferdinand.{{sfn|Mandache|2001|p=334}} Marie and Ferdinand first became acquainted during a [[wikt:gala|gala]] dinner, where they conversed in German. She found him shy but amiable, and their second meeting went just as well.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=33}} Once they were formally engaged, Queen Victoria wrote to another granddaughter, [[Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine]], that "[Ferdinand] is nice & the Parents are charming–but the country is very insecure & the immorality of the Society at Bucharest quite awful. Of course the marriage will be delayed some time as Missy won't be 17 till the end of October!"{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=34}} [[German Empress Frederick]], Marie's aunt, wrote to her daughter, [[Crown Princess Sophia of Greece]], that "Missy is till now quite delighted, but the poor child is so young, how can she guess what is before her?"{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=35}} In late 1892, King Carol visited London in order to meet the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Victoria, who eventually agreed to the marriage and appointed him a [[Knight of the Garter]].{{sfn|Elsberry|1972|p=44}}

On 10 January 1893, Marie and Ferdinand were married at [[Sigmaringen Castle]].{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=68}} During the evening before the wedding, Marie's father [[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh]] reportedly summoned Marie to his rooms to inform her that he and her mother had settled a dowry of 1,000,000 French francs{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=67}} (then worth approximately £40,000)<ref name="EdvinssonEtAl2010">
{{cite book
| last1       = Edvinsson
| first1      = Rodney
| last2       = Jacobson
| first2      = Tor
| last3       = Waldenström
| first3      = Daniel
| year        = 2010
| title       = Exchange rates, prices, and wages, 1277–2008
| publisher   = Ekerlids Förlag
| location    = Stockholm
| isbn        = 978-91-7092-124-7
| url         = https://www.ifn.se/media/fj0aowj1/2010-exchange-rates-prices-and-wages-1277-2008-webb.pdf
| pages       = 324, 330
| access-date = 29 January 2025
}}
</ref> on Marie, before bursting into tears and declaring that he had hoped for a different destiny for his daughter.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=67}} The couple were married in three ceremonies: one civil, one Catholic (Ferdinand's religion) and one Anglican. The civil ceremony was performed in the Red Hall of the castle by Karl von Wendel, the [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|German Emperor]] being the first of the witnesses present to sign the marriage act. At four o'clock, the Catholic ceremony took place at the Town Church, with Marie being led to the altar by her father. The Anglican ceremony was more modest and was conducted in one of the chambers of the castle.<ref>[http://www.tkinter.org/QueenMarie/TheGraphic/index.htm Supplement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021123818/http://www.tkinter.org/QueenMarie/TheGraphic/index.htm |date=21 October 2013 }} to ''The Graphic'', 21 January 1893.</ref>{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=68}} Although King Carol granted the couple "''Honigtag''" (one day of honeymoon), Marie and Ferdinand spent a few days at the Castle of [[Krauchenwies]] in Bavaria. From there, they left for the countryside, interrupting their journey briefly to stop at [[Vienna]], where they visited [[Emperor Franz Joseph]]. Due to growing tensions between Austria and Romania (the visit took place during the ongoing movement of the [[Transylvanian Memorandum]]), the couple's visit was brief, and they arrived in the border town of [[Predeal]] following a nighttime crossing of Transylvania by train.{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 2|pp=10–14}} Marie was warmly welcomed by the Romanian people, who were longing for a more personal monarchy.{{sfn|Gauthier|2010|p=52}}

=== Issue ===
{{See also|Royal descendants of Queen Victoria and King Christian IX}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style="width: 30%;" | Name 
! style="width: 10%;" | Birth 
! style="width:10%;" | Death 
! class=unsortable| Spouse and children
|- style="background: #f8f8ff;"
| [[King Carol II of Romania]] || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1893</span>15 October<br /> 1893 || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1953</span>4 April<br /> 1953 || bgcolor="#f8f8ff" | Married 1918, [[Zizi Lambrino|Ioana Maria Valentina "Zizi" Lambrino]] (1898–1953); <br /> 1 son ([[Carol Lambrino]]) <br /> Married 1921, [[Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark]] (1896–1982); <br /> 1 son ([[King Michael of Romania]]) <br /> Married 1947, [[Magda Lupescu|Elena "Magda" Lupescu]] (died 1977) ''no issue''
|- style="background: #fff8f8;"
| [[Elisabeth of Romania|Queen Elisabeth of Greece]] || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1894</span>12 October <br /> 1894 || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1956</span>15 November <br /> 1956 || bgcolor="#fff8f8" | Married 1921, [[King George II of Greece]] (1890–1947) ''no issue''
|- style="background: #fff8f8;"
| [[Queen Maria of Yugoslavia]] || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1900</span>6 January <br /> 1900 || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1961</span>22 June <br /> 1961 || bgcolor="#fff8f8" | Married 1922, [[King Alexander I of Yugoslavia]] (1888–1934);<br />3 sons (including [[King Peter II of Yugoslavia]])
|- style="background: #f8f8ff;"
| [[Prince Nicholas of Romania|Prince Nicholas]]{{sfn|Eilers|1987|p=192}} || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1903</span>18 August <br /> 1903 || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1978</span>9 June <br /> 1978 || bgcolor="#f8f8ff" | Married 1931, Ioana Doletti (1902/9–1963) ''no issue'';<br />Married 1967, Thereza Lisboa Figueira de Mello (1913–1997) ''no issue''
|- style="background: #fff8f8;"
| [[Princess Ileana of Romania|Princess Ileana]]|| align="center" | <span style="display:none">1909</span>5 January <br /> 1909 || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1991</span>21 January <br /> 1991 || bgcolor="#fff8f8" | Married 1931, [[Archduke Anton of Austria|Archduke Anton of Austria-Tuscany]] (1901–1987);<br />2 sons, 4 daughters<br />Married 1953, Dr. Stefan Issarescu (1906–2002) ''no issue''
|- style="background: #f8f8ff;"
| [[Prince Mircea of Romania|Prince Mircea]] || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1913</span>3 January <br /> 1913 || align="center" | <span style="display:none">1916</span>2 November <br /> 1916 || bgcolor="#f8f8ff" | ''None''
|}

== Crown Princess (1893–1914) ==
[[File:Marie, Crown Princess of Romania.jpg|thumb|Crown Princess Marie, in the first photograph of her taken in Romania{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 2|p=15}}]]

=== Domestic life ===
The first years of Marie and Ferdinand's marriage were not particularly easy, and Marie would later tell her husband that "it is such a shame that we had to waste so many years of our youth just to learn how to live together!"{{sfn|Wolbe|2004|p=214}} Gradually, the couple's relationship became based on a cordial friendship: Marie accorded Ferdinand the respect she believed he was due as a man and, later, as king, and he respected her because he realised that she had a better understanding of the world than he did.{{sfn|Ciubotaru|2011|p=22}} Eventually, Marie came to believe that she and Ferdinand were "the best associates, the most loyal companions, but our lives intertwine only in certain matters".{{sfn|Marie|2004|p=122}} Ferdinand enjoyed Marie's presence during military marches and she was therefore frequently invited to this sort of event.{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 2|p=121}}

Marie gave birth to her first child, [[Carol II of Romania|Prince Carol]] on 15 October 1893, only nine months after the wedding. Although Marie requested the use of [[chloroform]] in order to ease the pains of labour, doctors were reluctant to do administer it, believing that "women must pay in agony for the sins of Eve". After Marie's mother and Queen Victoria insisted, King Carol allowed the use of the drug on Marie.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=49}} Marie did not derive much joy from the arrival of her firstborn, later writing that she "felt like turning [her] head to the wall".{{sfn|Elsberry|1972|p=54}} Similarly, although Marie was constantly reminded by Carol's wife [[Elisabeth of Wied|Elisabeth]] that childbirth is "the most glorious moment in [Marie's] life", she could only feel a longing for her mother at the birth of her second child, [[Elisabeth of Romania|Princess Elisabeth]], in 1894.{{sfn|Elsberry|1972|p=57}} After becoming accustomed to life in Romania, Marie began to rejoice at the births of her children,{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 2|pp=171; 316–17}} namely [[Maria of Yugoslavia|Princess Maria]] (1900–61), nicknamed "Mignon" in the family, [[Prince Nicholas of Romania|Prince Nicholas]] (1903–78), nicknamed "Nicky",{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 2|pp=312–13}} [[Princess Ileana of Romania|Princess Ileana]] (1909–91) and [[Prince Mircea of Romania|Prince Mircea]] (1913–16).

King Carol and Queen Elisabeth promptly removed Prince Carol and Princess Elisabeth from Marie's care, considering it inappropriate for them to be raised by their young parents.{{sfn|Ciubotaru|2011|p=51}} Marie loved her children, but at times found it difficult even to scold them, thus failing to supervise them properly.{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 2|pp=310–11}} The royal children were given some education, but were never sent to school. As the royal household could not provide the equivalent of a classroom education, most of the children's personalities became severely flawed as they grew older.{{sfn|Ciubotaru|2011|p=92}} Prime Minister [[Ion G. Duca]] later wrote that "it was like [King Carol] wished to leave for Romania heirs completely unprepared for succeeding".{{sfn|Duca|1981|p=103}}

=== Life at court ===
[[File:Marie04.jpg|thumb|190px|Marie in a portrait by [[Henry Walter Barnett]], {{circa}} 1902]]

From the start, Marie had trouble adjusting to life in Romania. Her personality and "high spirits" frequently created controversies at the Romanian court, and she disliked the austere atmosphere of her household.{{sfn|Sullivan|1997|p=141}} She wrote that she "had not been brought down to Romania to be adored and spoilt and made much of; she had come to be part of the machinery King Carol had wound up. She had been imported to be trimmed, educated, cut down and trained according to the great man's conception of things." When describing her early days in Romania, Marie wrote that "for long hours [she] would mope, whilst [her] young husband did his military service, all alone in rooms [she] hated, heavy German rooms".{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|p=xxiii}} Marie's paternal aunt, the [[Empress Frederick]], wrote to her daughter, the [[Sophia of Prussia|Crown Princess of Greece]], that "Missy of Roumania is more to be pitied than you. The King is a great tyrant in his family, & has crushed the independence in Ferdinand so that no one cares about him, & his beautiful & gifted little wife, I fear, gets into scrapes, & like a butterfly, instead of hovering over the flowers, burns her pretty wings by going rather near the fire!"{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=87}} Easily learning to speak the [[Romanian language]], Marie followed her mother's advice to dress carefully and show respect for Orthodox rituals.<ref name="ciobanu"/>

Marie and Ferdinand were advised by King Carol to maintain a restricted group of friends; thus, Marie would lament that her familial circle had been shrunk to only the King and Ferdinand, "who stood in mighty awe of the iron old man, forever trembling that any action of [hers] might displease that duty-bound head of the family".{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|p=xxiii}} ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'' wrote that Marie had found herself, "from the hour of her arrival in Bucharest under the tutelage of that stern disciplinarian King Carol I".{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|p=xxiv}}

In 1896, Ferdinand and Marie moved to [[Cotroceni Palace]], which had been extended by the Romanian architect Grigore Cerchez, and to which Marie added her own designs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.muzeulcotroceni.ro/engleza/istoric_eng.html|title=Brief History of Cotroceni Palace|work=muzeulcotroceni.ro|author=Mihail Ipate|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415155000/http://www.muzeulcotroceni.ro/engleza/istoric_eng.html|archive-date=15 April 2014}}</ref> The following year, Ferdinand was struck down with [[typhoid fever]]. For days, he was delirious and, despite his doctor's best efforts, came close to dying.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=117}} During this time, Marie exchanged numerous letters with her family in Britain{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|p=xiv}} and was terrified at the prospect of losing her husband. King Carol still had an heir in Prince Carol, whose young age presented issues; thus, the whole family desperately wished for Ferdinand to pull through. Eventually, he did, and he and Marie went to [[Sinaia]], the site of [[Peleș Castle]], for a period of recovery. Nonetheless, the couple was not able to attend celebrations for [[Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee]] that summer. During Ferdinand's convalescence, Marie spent most of her time with her two children, taking them on long walks and picking flowers with them.{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 2|pp=146–50}} The winter of 1897/1898 was spent with the [[Russian Imperial family]] on the [[French Riviera]], where Marie often rode horses, in spite of the low temperatures.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=145}}

[[File:Duckyandsisters.jpg|thumb|left|Marie ''(far right)'' and her sisters in mourning after the death of their father in 1900]]

Around this time, Marie met Lieutenant [[Gheorghe Cantacuzène]], a member, albeit through an illegitimate branch, of an ancient Romanian princely family and a descendant of Prince [[Șerban Cantacuzino]]. Although not very good looking, Cantacuzène stood out using his sense of humour and fashion, as well as his talent in horse-riding.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=118}} The two soon became romantically involved, but their affair was terminated after it became known by the public. As much as she condemned Marie's behaviour, her mother allowed her to come to Coburg when, in 1897, she apparently became pregnant. Historian Julia Gelardi believes that Marie gave birth to a child at Coburg; the child may either have been stillborn or sent to an orphanage immediately following its birth.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=87–88}} There was speculation on whether Marie's second daughter, "Mignon", was Cantacuzène's daughter, and not Ferdinand's.{{sfn|Veiga|1995|p=185}} Over the following years, Marie was also rumoured to have been romantically linked to [[Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia]],{{#tag:ref|Boris was rumoured to have been "Mignon"'s natural father; the princess's paternity was reputedly "a public secret"{{sfn|Crawford|2011|p=28}} and Marie frequently taunted King Carol by telling him that Boris was, in fact, "Mignon"'s father.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=88}}|group=note}} [[Waldorf Astor]],{{#tag:ref|Astor was rumoured to have been the father of Prince Nicholas, Marie's second son, whose blue eyes and "hawk nose" resembled those characteristic of the Astors.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=136; 155}} As he grew older, Nicholas came to resemble his Hohenzollern relatives, thus quelling prior gossip.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=109}}|group=note}} Prince [[Barbu Știrbey]]{{#tag:ref|Știrbey was rumoured to have been the father of Princess Ileana and Prince Mircea, Marie's youngest children.|group=note}} and [[Joe Boyle]].{{sfn|Pakula|1984|pp=146–48}} In 1903, Ferdinand and Marie inaugurated the [[Pelișor Castle]], an [[Art Nouveau]] castle in Sinaia that King Carol commissioned for the royal couple.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://adevarul.ro/locale/ploiesti/foto-110-inaugurarea-castelului-pelisor-darul-facut-carol-i-ferninand-reginei-maria-1_510e47844b62ed5875cea4b8/index.html | title=110 ani de la inaugurarea Castelului Pelișor, darul făcut de Carol I lui Ferdinand și Reginei Maria | work=Adevărul | date=3 February 2013 | access-date=18 December 2013 | author=Mihai, Dana | language=ro }}</ref> Marie only learned of the extent of repression used to quell the [[1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt]] once it was too late to intercede. She afterwards took to dressing quite often in [[Romanian dress|folk costume]], both at home and in public, initiating a fashion trend among young upper-class women.<ref name="ciobanu"/>
[[File:Balchik Palace ifb.JPG|thumb|Marie's summer residence in [[Balchik]]]]
On 29 June 1913, the [[Third Bulgarian Empire|Tsardom of Bulgaria]] declared war on [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]], thus starting the [[Second Balkan War]]. On 4 July, Romania entered the war, allying itself with Greece.{{sfn|Giurescu|1972|p=295}} The war, which lasted a little over a month, was worsened by [[1913 Romanian Army cholera outbreak|a cholera epidemic]]. Marie would look upon her first encounter with an epidemic as a turning point in her life. With the help of Dr. [[Ioan Cantacuzino]] and Sister Pucci, a [[Red Cross]] nurse, Marie travelled between Romania and Bulgaria, lending a helping hand in hospitals.{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 2|pp=356–64}} These events would prepare her for her experiences in the Great War.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=184}} [[Treaty of Bucharest (1913)|As a result of the war]], Romania gained possession of [[Southern Dobrudja]], including the coastal town of [[Balchik]] (''Balcic''), which Marie would come to cherish in 1924 and use to host her residence, called [[Balchik Palace|The Quiet Nest]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.historia.ro/node/65 | title=Balcic, suma Balcanilor | publisher=historia.ro | work=Historia Magazine | access-date=17 December 2013 | author=Rădulescu, George | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224818/http://www.historia.ro/node/65 | archive-date=17 December 2013}}</ref> Soon after the war ended, Carol became ill.

On 28 June 1914, at [[Sarajevo]], [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria]] [[assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|was assassinated]]. This came as a shock to Marie and her family, who were vacationing at Sinaia when the news reached them. On 28 July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and, as Marie saw it, "the world's peace was torn to shreds". Then, on 3 August, King Carol held a [[Crown Council of Romania|Crown Council]] at Sinaia, in order to decide whether Romania should enter the war. Although Carol was in favour of his country supporting Germany and the [[Central Powers]], the council decided against it. Not long after the council, Carol's illness worsened and he became bed-ridden; the possibility of his abdication was even discussed.{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 2|pp=398–401}} Eventually, he died on 10 October 1914 and Ferdinand automatically succeeded as king.

== Queen of Romania (1914–1927) ==
=== World War I ===
On 11 October 1914, Marie and Ferdinand were acclaimed as king and queen in the [[Chamber of Deputies (Romania)|Chamber of Deputies]].{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 2|pp=409–12}} Princess Anne Marie Callimachi, a close friend of Marie's, wrote that "as Crown Princess, [Marie] had been popular; as queen, she was more loved".{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=180}} Marie maintained a certain influence on her husband and the entire court, leading historian A. L. Easterman to write that "it was not [Ferdinand], but Marie who ruled in Romania".{{sfn|Easterman|1942|pp=38–42}} At the time of Ferdinand's accession, the government was led by the [[National Liberal Party (Romania, 1875)|liberal]] prime minister [[Ion I. C. Brătianu]]. Ferdinand and Marie jointly decided to not make many changes in court and let people accept the transition from one regime to another, rather than force them. Thus, many of Carol and Elisabeth's servants were kept in place, even the ones who were not particularly liked.{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 3|p=13}} With Brătianu's help, Marie began pressuring Ferdinand into entering the war; concurrently, she contacted various reigning relatives in Europe and bargained for the best terms for Romania, in case the country should enter the war.<ref name="odnb" /> Marie favoured an alliance with the [[Triple Entente]] (Russia, France and Britain), partly because of her British ancestry. Neutrality was not without perils, and entering the war with the Entente meant that Romania would act as Russia's "buffer" against possible attacks.{{sfn|Elsberry|1972|p=104}} Meanwhile, in 1915, Marie was elected an honorary member of the [[Romanian Academy]], becoming the second woman to join after Queen Elisabeth.<ref>Florica Dimitrescu, “Reflecții pe marginea vernisajului expoziției consacrate primelor doamne membre ale Academiei Române”, in ''Academica'', nr. 5/May 2015, year XXV, p. 15.</ref>

[[File:1917 - Regina Maria pe timpul vizitei într-un spital în anul 1917.jpg|thumb|left|Marie visiting a patient in a military hospital during [[World War I]], 1917]]

Eventually, Marie demanded of Ferdinand in no uncertain terms that he enter the war, leading the French minister to Romania, Auguste Félix de Beaupoil, Count of Saint-Aulaire, to remark that Marie was twice an ally to the French: once by birth and once by heart.{{sfn|Saint-Aulaire|1953|p=322}} Ferdinand gave in to Marie's pleas, and he signed a treaty with the Entente on 17 August 1916. On 27 August, Romania formally declared war on Austria-Hungary.{{sfn|Giurescu|1972|p=300}} Saint-Aulaire wrote that Marie "embraced war as another might embrace religion".{{sfn|Saint-Aulaire|1953|p=399}} After informing their children that their country had entered the war, Ferdinand and Marie dismissed their German servants, who could only remain in their employ as "war prisoners" of sorts.<ref>Marie's journal, 27 August 1914, quoted in {{harvnb|Marie 1991, Vol 3|p=69}}.</ref> Early on during the war, Marie was involved in aiding the [[Romanian Red Cross]] and visited hospitals daily.{{sfn|Gauthier|2010|pp=190–91}} During the first month of hostilities, Romania fought no less than nine battles; some, such as the [[Battle of Turtucaia]], took place on its own soil.{{sfn|Giurescu|1972|pp=300–1}}

On 2 November 1916, Marie's youngest son, Prince Mircea, who had been sick with [[typhoid fever]], died at [[Buftea]]. Marie was distraught and wrote in her journal: "Can anything ever be the same?"<ref>Marie's journal, 10 November 1916, quoted in {{harvnb|Marie 1991, Vol 3|p=97}}</ref> After [[Battle of Bucharest|Bucharest fell]] to Austrian troops, the royal court was transferred to [[Iași]], capital of the [[Western Moldavia|Moldavia]] region, in December 1916.<ref name="odnb" /> There, she continued to act as a nurse in military hospitals. Daily, Marie would dress as a nurse and go to [[Iași railway station|the train station]], where she would receive more injured soldiers; then she would transport them to hospital.{{sfn|Saint-Aulaire|1953|p=360}}

[[File:AsambleaDeAlbaIulia19181201.jpg|thumb|right|[[Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia]], 1918]]

After the conclusion of the [[Russian Revolution]] in early November 1917 and the victory of the [[Bolshevik]]s, Romania became, in the words of diplomat Frank Rattigan, "an island surrounded on all sides by the enemy, with no hope of assistance from the Allies".{{sfn|Rattigan|1924|pp=194–95}} Soon afterwards, Ferdinand signed the [[Truce of Focșani]], on 9 December 1917.{{sfn|Giurescu|1972|p=307}} Marie considered the truce perilous, while Brătianu and Știrbey believed it was a necessary measure for obtaining more time. Later turns of events would prove Marie to have assumed correctly.{{sfn|Gauthier|2010|p=215}} In 1918, Marie vehemently opposed the signing of the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1918)|Treaty of Bucharest]], giving rise to her description as "truly the only man in Romania".{{sfn|Gauthier|2010|p=216}} The [[Armistice with Germany]] (11 November 1918) put an end to fighting in Europe and, thus, to the war.

In the tenth century, the [[Principality of Hungary]] had begun conquering Transylvania, which Hungarians had fully occupied by around 1200.{{sfn|Horedt|1958|pp=117–23}} The idea of a "[[Greater Romania]]" had existed in the minds of Romanians in Transylvania for some time{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=203}} and Brătianu had actively supported the concept before the war.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=207}} In 1918, both [[Bessarabia]] and [[Bukovina]] voted for union with Romania. [[Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia|An assembly]] took place in the ancient city of [[Alba Iulia]] on 1 December 1918, where [[Vasile Goldiș]] read the resolution for the [[Union of Transylvania with Romania|union of Transylvania]] with the [[Romanian Old Kingdom|Old Kingdom]]. This document, supported by Romanian as well as [[Transylvanian Saxons|Saxon]] deputies,{{sfn|Hupchik|1995|p=83}} established a ''High National Romanian Council'' ({{langx|ro|Marele Sfat Național Român}}) for the province's temporary administration.{{sfn|Giurescu|1972|pp=311–12}} Marie wrote, "the dream of ''România Mare'' seems to be becoming a reality&nbsp;... it is all so incredible that I hardly dare believe it."{{sfn|Aronson|1973|p=237}} After the assembly, Ferdinand and Marie returned to Bucharest, where they were met by general mirth: "a day of 'wild, delirious enthusiasm', with the bands crashing and the troops marching and the people cheering".{{sfn|Aronson|1973|p=237}} Allied troops took part in the celebration and Marie was elated to see the Entente on Romanian soil for the first time.{{sfn|Marie 1991, Vol 3|pp=492–93}} Around this time, Marie became infected with the [[Spanish flu]], with symptoms peaking a week after Alba Iulia; her diary describes "a changed being, miserable and weak, brought to the brink of despair by so much headache and terrible sickness that sapped me of my strength".<ref>{{cite journal | last =Roșu | first =Victor Tudor | title = Gripa spaniolă și Unirea de la 1 decembrie 1918 | journal = Astra Sabesiensis | pages = 139–40| year = 2020 | volume=6}}</ref>

=== Paris Peace Conference ===
{{Quote box
 | quote  = She is magnificent and we have, against all protocol, shouted our admiration. The day remained grey, but Queen Marie carried her light within her.
 | source = — The French writer [[Colette]] in ''[[Le Matin (France)|Le Matin]]'' newspaper, 6 March 1919 <ref name="mtn">{{cite news | title=Ainsi Parla la Reine de Roumanie | work=Le Matin | date=6 March 1919 | author=Colette | location=Paris | page=1}}</ref>
 | width  = 25em
 | align  =right
}}
Because Ferdinand had refused to sign the Treaty of Bucharest and because Romania had been hostile towards the Central Powers until the end of the war, its place among the winning countries during the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] was guaranteed. The official delegation was led by Brătianu, who had just begun his third term as prime minister.{{sfn|Botoran|Moisuc|1983|pp=328–36}} Brătianu's rigidity, combined with French Prime Minister [[Georges Clemenceau]]'s reluctance to overlook Ferdinand's acceptance of the Treaty of Bucharest, led to open conflict and the Romanian delegation left Paris, much to the dismay of the "[[The Big Four (World War I)|Big Four]]". Hoping to resolve the situation, Saint-Aulaire suggested that Marie should be sent to the conference instead. The Queen was delighted at the prospect.{{sfn|Ciubotaru|2011|p=xxiv}}

[[File:La reine de Roumanie à Paris, dans la cour de l'Hôtel Ritz avec ses deux filles 1919, Meurisse.jpg|thumb|left|Queen Marie with her two eldest daughters in Paris, 1919]]

Marie arrived in Paris on 6 March 1919.<ref name="mtn" /> She was immediately popular with the French people, due to her boldness during the War.<ref>[[Jean Jules Henri Mordacq|General Mordacq]], apud {{harvnb|Gauthier|2010|p=238}}.</ref> Upon meeting Marie, Clemenceau abruptly told her, "I don't like your Prime Minister", to which she replied, "Perhaps then you'll find me more agreeable."{{sfn|Daggett|1926|p=270}} He did, and president [[Raymond Poincaré]] noticed a change in Clemenceau's attitude towards Romania after Marie's arrival. After staying in Paris for a week, Marie accepted King George V and [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]]'s invitation and crossed the [[English Channel]], lodging at [[Buckingham Palace]]. Hoping to acquire as much goodwill for Romania as possible, Marie became acquainted with many important political figures of the time, including [[Lord Curzon]], [[Winston Churchill]], and [[Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor|Waldorf]] and [[Nancy Astor]]. She also frequently visited her son Nicky, who was then in school at [[Eton College]].{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=282–83}} Marie was elated to have returned to England after so much time, writing that "it was a tremendous emotion to arrive in London, and to be greeted at the station by George and May."{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=280}}

After the end of her visit in England, Marie returned to Paris, where the people were just as excited for her arrival as they had been a few weeks before. Crowds gathered around her frequently, waiting to see the "exotic" Queen of Romania. American President [[Woodrow Wilson]] remained unimpressed by Marie, and her comments on Russian laws dealing with sexual relations, which were considered inappropriate, did not help.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=282–83}} Marie shocked many officials by waving all her ministers aside and leading negotiations herself. On this, she later commented, "Never mind, you'll all just have to get used to accepting me with the faults of my virtues."{{sfn|Daggett|1926|p=282}} Marie left Paris with numerous supplies for Romania's relief, and later that year the conference [[Treaty of Versailles|resulted]] in the international recognition of Greater Romania, thus doubling Ferdinand and Marie's kingdom to {{convert|295000|km2|sqmi}} and increasing the population by ten million.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=282–83}} This led [[Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (1890–1958)|Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia]], who briefly lived in Bucharest, to conclude that "by her charm, beauty, and ready wit, [Marie] could obtain anything she desired".{{sfn|Maria Pavlovna|1932|p=16}}

=== Dynastic efforts ===
[[File:Constantin Pascali - Regina Maria.jpg|thumb|upright|Queen Marie in a portrait by Constantin Pascali, early 1920s]]

In 1920, Marie's eldest daughter, Princess Elisabeth, was engaged to [[George II of Greece|Prince George of Greece]], the eldest son of the deposed [[King Constantine I of Greece]] and Marie's cousin Sophia. After inviting George and his two sisters, the [[Helen of Greece and Denmark|Princesses Helen]] and [[Princess Irene, Duchess of Aosta|Irene]], to lodge with them at Sinaia, Marie organised numerous activities for the young couple and was delighted at the prospect of marrying off her daughter, whose character was severely flawed. In October, reports of [[Alexander of Greece|King Alexander]]'s death came from Greece; the Greek princesses had to return to their parents as soon as possible. The following day, news arrived that Marie's mother had died in her sleep in [[Zürich]].{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=297}} Marie made arrangements for her departure to Switzerland, where she would take Helen and Irene to their parents and arrange her mother's funeral. Meanwhile, George and Elisabeth would remain at Sinaia.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=305}}

Soon enough, Crown Prince Carol proposed to Princess Helen and they were married the following year. Marie was delighted, as she had frowned upon Carol's relationship with [[Zizi Lambrino]] and had been worried at the birth of their illegitimate son [[Carol Lambrino|Carol]], who, to her great relief, had been given his mother's surname.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=274–78}} In 1922, Marie married her second daughter, "Mignon", to [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|Alexander I of Serbia]] (later of Yugoslavia). She was delighted at the births of her two royal grandsons, [[Michael of Romania|Prince Michael of Romania]] (1921–2017) and [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Prince Peter of Yugoslavia]] (1923–1970); the births of two grandchildren destined to sit on Europe's thrones seemed to cement her ambitions. Marie's dynastic efforts were viewed by critics as those of a manipulative mother who would sacrifice her children's happiness in order to fulfil her ambitions; in reality, Marie never forced any of her children to marry.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=308}} While attending Peter's baptism, Marie met the [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Duchess of York]], later Queen Elizabeth, by whom she was enchanted.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Queen Mother and Her Century | publisher=Dundurn |author1=Bousfield, Arthur |author2=Toffoli, Garry | year=2002 | location=Toronto | page=49 | isbn=1-55002-391-8}}</ref>

In 1924, Ferdinand and Marie undertook a diplomatic tour of France, [[Switzerland]], [[Belgium]] and the United Kingdom. In England, she was warmly welcomed by George V, who declared that "apart from the common aims, which we pursue, there are other and dear ties between us. Her Majesty the Queen, my dear cousin, is British born."{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|pp=152–53}} Similarly, Marie wrote that the day of her arrival in England was "a great day for me, one of emotions, sweet, happy and the same time glorious emotions to come back as Queen to my own country, to be received officially, in all honour and enthusiastically into the bargain – to feel your heart swell with pride and satisfaction, to feel your heart beat and tears start into your eyes, while something gave you a lump into your throat!"{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|pp=152–53}} These state visits were a symbolic recognition of the prestige Romania had gained after World War I. Whilst visiting [[Geneva]], Marie and Ferdinand became the first royals to enter the newly established headquarters of the [[League of Nations]].{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|pp=152–53}}

===Coronation===
[[File:Marie Coronation portrait.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Official coronation portrait of Queen Marie, dressed in full regalia]]

The location for Marie and Ferdinand's [[coronation]] was [[Alba Iulia]], which had been an important fortress in the Middle Ages and where [[Michael the Brave]] had been declared ''[[Voivode]]'' of Transylvania in 1599, thus bringing Wallachia and Transylvania under his [[personal union]].{{sfn|Elsberry|1972|p=178}} An Orthodox cathedral was built as the [[Coronation Cathedral, Alba Iulia|Coronation Cathedral]] in 1921–1922.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dEsEPXeJ164C&pg=PA149|page=149|title=Imaginea României prin turism, târguri și expoziții universale, în perioada interbelică|author=Claudiu Alexandru Vitanos|publisher=Editura Mica Valahie|date=2011|isbn=978-6-06-830440-3}}</ref> An elaborate set of jewellery and clothing was made especially for the coronation. Marie's crown was designed by painter [[Costin Petrescu (painter)|Costin Petrescu]] and it was made in the [[Art Nouveau]] style by [[Lucien Falize|Falize]], a Parisian jewelry house. The crown was inspired by that of [[Milica Despina of Wallachia|Milica Despina]], the wife of 16th-century Wallachian ruler [[Neagoe Basarab]], and it was made entirely out of Transylvanian gold. The crown had two pendants on the sides; one contained an image of the royal arms of Romania and the other, the arms of the Duke of Edinburgh, which Marie had used as her own arms prior to her marriage. The crown, which cost around 65,000 [[French franc|francs]], was paid for by the state, via a special law.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Coroana reginei Maria | author=Ilie, Cornel Constantin | journal=Istorie și Civilizație |date=November 2011 | volume=3 | issue=26 | page=78 | issn=2066-9429 }}</ref>

Among the guests at the royal couple's coronation were Marie's sister "Baby Bee", the [[George VI|Duke of York]] and French generals [[Maxime Weygand]] and [[Henri Mathias Berthelot]], who had led the [[French military mission to Romania (1916–1918)|French military mission to Romania]]. The ceremony was conducted by the [[Metropolitan of All Romania]], [[Miron Cristea]], but it was not performed inside the cathedral as Ferdinand, a Roman Catholic, refused to be crowned by a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church. After placing his crown on his own head, Ferdinand crowned Marie, who had knelt before him. Immediately, cannons were fired as a sign that the first king and queen of Greater Romania had been anointed. A feast was given in the same room where the union had been proclaimed in 1918; there, more than 20,000 peasants were offered roast steaks. The following day, Ferdinand and Marie triumphantly entered Bucharest.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://jurnalul.ro/campaniile-jurnalul/recurs-la-romania/incoronarea-regilor-romaniei-desavarsite-110633.html | title=Încoronarea Regilor României Desăvărșite | work=Jurnalul Național | date=1 December 2007 | access-date=7 December 2013 | author=Anghel, Costin | language=ro | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224042/http://jurnalul.ro/campaniile-jurnalul/recurs-la-romania/incoronarea-regilor-romaniei-desavarsite-110633.html | archive-date=17 December 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The splendour of the coronation was subsequently cited as evidence of Marie's theatricality.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=318}} Marie would be received into the [[Romanian Orthodox Church]] in 1926, mentioning a desire to be closer to her people.<ref name="ciobanu">{{cite web | url=http://jurnalul.ro/special-jurnalul/regina-maria-povestea-vietii-mele-568017.html | title=Regina Maria: Povestea vieții mele | work=Jurnalul Național | date=10 February 2011 | access-date=17 December 2013 | last1=Anghel | first1=Carmen | last2=Ciobanu | first2=Luminița | language=ro | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704072357/http://jurnalul.ro/special-jurnalul/regina-maria-povestea-vietii-mele-568017.html | archive-date=4 July 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Visit to America ===
[[File:TIMEMagazineCover8Aug1924.jpg|thumb|Queen Marie on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', 4 August 1924]]

The [[Maryhill Museum of Art]] in [[Maryhill, Washington]], was initially designed as a mansion for wealthy businessman [[Samuel Hill]]. However, at [[Loie Fuller]]'s behest, the building was turned into a museum instead. Hill wished it to be dedicated in 1926, and he conceived it as a monument to peace, to his wife Mary, and to Queen Marie herself. Marie agreed to come to America and witness the dedication, especially as Fuller was an old friend of hers. Fuller quickly put together a committee that supported Marie's "tour" of America and arrangements were made for her departure.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=341}} Marie viewed the tour as an opportunity to "see the country, meet the people and put Romania on the map".{{sfn|Elsberry|1972|p=196}} She travelled by ship across the Atlantic Ocean and disembarked in New York, on 18 October 1926, accompanied by Prince Nicholas and Princess Ileana.

{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:23em; max-width: 35%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" |
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,<br />
A medley of extemporanea;<br />
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;<br />
And I am Marie of Roumania.
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | <small>[[Dorothy Parker]], 1927<ref>{{cite book | editor1-last=Rawson |editor1-first=Hugh | editor2-last=Miner |editor2-first=Margaret |year=2006 |title= The Oxford Dictionary of American Quotations |location=New York |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0-19-516823-5 }}</ref></small>
|}

Upon her arrival, Marie was welcomed enthusiastically with the "whistle of steamers, roar of guns in white smoke puffs against gray fog, voices cheering in a stinging rain". She was formally greeted by [[Jimmy Walker]], the [[Mayor of New York City]].{{sfn|Morris|1927|p=13}} Constance Lily Morris, author of ''On Tour with Queen Marie'', wrote that the people were excited for Marie's arrival mainly because of her almost mythical allure, which had been created by papers and rumour throughout her life; she observed that "the modest [[Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium|Queen of the Belgians]] had once come with [[Albert I of Belgium|her king]] for a brief visit and years ago the dusky [[Kalākaua|Hawaiian ruler]] had honored us, but there had been no others. The time could not have been better set." Marie was also fairly popular within [[suffragette]] circles, where she was viewed as "a woman whose wits had devised many a coup d'état, whose brains had thought out many a difficult problem for her people, who had used the gifts given her to further every good purpose".{{sfn|Morris|1927|pp=18–19}}
[[File:Queen Marie 1927.jpg|thumb|Drawing made by [[Manuel Rosenberg]] during Queen Marie's visit to the United States in 1927]]
During their time in America, Marie, Nicholas and Ileana undertook tours of several cities, including [[Philadelphia]]. They were very popular, and were greeted with equal enthusiasm in each city they visited, so much so that "[Nicholas and Ileana] seemed fairly dazed by their tremendous ovation".{{sfn|Morris|1927|p=29}} At the [[White House]], the official dinner was marked by awkward moments, due to the morose attitude of President [[Calvin Coolidge]] and his wife [[Grace Coolidge|Grace]]; Marie lingered less than two hours.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=324}} Before leaving the United States, Marie was presented with a bullet-proof armored town car by [[Willys-Knight]], which she joyfully accepted. On 24 November, Marie and her children were seen off by a delegation from Washington, D.C., as they prepared to leave by ship from [[New York Harbor]]. Morris wrote that "our last view was of Her Majesty, her children on either side, waving back with that tear-and-smile of those who pass from happy scenes."{{sfn|Morris|1927|p=232}} Morris accompanied the queen throughout her journey and offered a very detailed account of Marie's time in America in her book, published in 1927.

Marie was delighted with the visit, and wished to return to America as soon as possible. She wrote in her diaries:{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=327}}
<blockquote>
"both my children and I have but one dream: to return! To return to that stupendous New World, which makes you almost guiddy {{sic}} because of its immencity, {{sic}} its noise, its striving, its fearful impetuous {{sic}} to get on, to do always more, always bigger, quicker, more astonishingly a restless, flaring great world, where I think everything can be realised&nbsp;... I know, as long as I live, breathe and think, the love for America will beautify my life and thoughts&nbsp;... Perhaps Fate will allow me one day to go back to America."
</blockquote>

== Widowhood (1927–1938) ==
=== 1927–1930 ===
[[File:Queens Marie and Helen with King Michael.jpg|thumb|left|Marie with [[Helen of Greece and Denmark|Helen]] and [[Michael I of Romania|Michael]], 1927–1930]]

Prince Carol sparked [[Romanian dynastic crisis|a dynastic crisis]] when he officially renounced his rights to succeed Ferdinand on 5 January 1926, simultaneously waiving all parental rights over Prince Michael, who had been proclaimed heir apparent. A Provisional Regency Bill was passed, creating a regency council composed of Prince Nicholas; the Orthodox Patriarch, [[Miron Cristea]]; and [[Gheorghe Buzdugan]], the president of the [[High Court of Cassation and Justice|Court of Cassation]].<ref>{{cite news | title=Reununciation of Prince Charles | work=The Age | date=6 January 1926 | location=Melbourne, Vic. | page=5}}</ref> However, both Marie and Ferdinand were reluctant to leave the country in the hands of a five-year-old boy, even overseen by a regency, for fear that the lands gained during World War I would be reclaimed by neighbouring countries and that political disturbances might lead to civil unrest. Nevertheless, when Marie returned from America, Ferdinand's death seemed imminent. He was suffering from [[intestinal cancer]], and by April 1927 had come so close to death as to be given the last rites of the Catholic Church. He died on 20 July, in Marie's arms. She later wrote: "'I am so tired' were his last words and when he lay so quiet in my arms one hour later, I knew that I must thank God for ''him'' at least. This was rest indeed."{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=327–28}}

Michael automatically succeeded as king upon Ferdinand's death and the regency council took charge of his role as monarch. In May 1928, Carol, who had found his life abroad with [[Magda Lupescu]] unsatisfactory,{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=327}} attempted to return to Romania with the help of the [[Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere|1st Viscount Rothermere]]. He was prevented from doing so by English authorities, who then proceeded to expel him from England. Infuriated, Marie sent an official apology to George V on behalf of her son, who had already begun plotting a coup d'état.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=329–30}} Carol succeeded in divorcing Princess Helen on 21 June 1928, on grounds of incompatibility.<ref>{{cite book | title=Helen, Queen Mother of Rumania, Princess of Greece and Denmark: An Authorized Biography | publisher=Faber and Faber | author=Lee, Arthur Gould | year=1956 | location=London | page=121 | oclc=1485467 }}</ref>

Marie's popularity was severely affected during Michael's reign and, after refusing to be part of the regency council in 1929, she was accused by the press, and even by Princess Helen, of plotting a coup.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=332}} During this time, there were numerous rumours as to Princess Ileana's marriage. After talk of Ileana marrying the [[Boris III of Bulgaria|Tsar of Bulgaria]] or the [[Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (1907–1938)|Prince of Asturias]],{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|p=152}} she was eventually betrothed to [[Alexander Hochberg|Alexander, Count of Hochberg]], a minor German prince, in early 1930.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Ileana Engaged | journal=The Outlook |date=February 1930 | volume=134 | issue=7 | pages=257–58}}</ref> This betrothal was, however, short-lived and Marie never managed to conclude a political marriage for her youngest daughter, instead marrying her to [[Archduke Anton of Austria|Archduke Anton of Austria–Tuscany]] in 1931.{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|p=152}}

=== Carol II's reign ===
[[File:Philip Alexius de Laszlo-Queen Marie of Romania, nee Princess Marie of Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|right|Marie in a [[Philip de László]] painting, 1936]]

On 6 June 1930, Carol arrived in Bucharest and made his way into Parliament, where the Act of Succession 1927 was duly declared null. Thus, Carol usurped the throne from his son, becoming King Carol II. Upon hearing of Carol's return, Marie, who was abroad, was relieved. She had been growing anxious with the direction in which the country was heading and viewed Carol's return as the [[return of the Prodigal Son]]. However, as soon as she arrived in Bucharest, she became aware that things would not go well. Carol refused to accept his mother's advice to take Helen back{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=332}} and never sought Marie's counsel during his reign, thus making the already existing breach between mother and son complete.{{sfn|Easterman|1942|pp=86–87}}

Desolate and almost stripped of her belief, Marie turned to the religious teachings of the [[Baháʼí Faith]], which she found "vastly appealing". She was particularly attracted by the idea of [[Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion|humanity's unification under one faith]], given her own religiously divided family.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=337}} Introduced to the doctrine by [[Martha Root#Martha Root and Queen Marie of Romania|Martha Root]],<ref>{{cite book | title= Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America | chapter=Women in the North American Baháʼí Community | publisher= Indiana University Press | last1=Hutchinson|first1=Sandra| last2=Hollinger|first2=Richard | editor1-last=Keller|editor1-first=Rosemary| editor2-last=Ruether|editor2-first=Rosemary |year=2006 | location= Bloomington, Ind. | page=779 | isbn= 0-25334-685-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=we2KvdT3zOsC}}</ref> Marie carried on a correspondence with [[Shoghi Effendi]], then head of the Faith, where she expressed herself as a follower of the Baháʼí teachings. Additionally, she made several public statements promoting the teachings of [[Baháʼu'lláh]], describing him as a prophet similar to Jesus or Muhammad. This written correspondence has led Baháʼís to regard her as the first royal convert to their religion.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=Marie Alexandra Victoria | last=Marcus |first=Della L. | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/marie-alexandra | encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] | date=2015 | access-date=27 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title=100 Years of the Baháʼí Faith in Europe |author1=Hassel, Graham |author2=Fazel, Seena | journal=Baháʼí Studies Review | year=1998 | volume=8 | pages=35–44}}</ref>{{sfn|Marcus|2000|pp=10–12, ''passim''}} Biographer Hannah Pakula notes that Marie "continued to attend the Protestant Church", even though she "prayed 'better at home with my Baha-u-llah books and teachings.'"{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=337}} In 1976, [[William McElwee Miller]] published a polemical book against the religion,<ref>{{cite journal | last =Elwell-Sutton | first =L.P. | title = Review of "The Baha'i Faith" Its History and Teaching by William McElwee Miller | journal =Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland | number =2 | pages = 157–158| year = 1976 | volume=108|  doi =10.1017/S0035869X00133416 | url =http://bahai-library.com/elwell-sutton_miller_bahai_faith | jstor =25203713 | s2cid =162531277 | access-date = 29 September 2017| url-access =subscription }}</ref> which included selections from a letter written in 1970 by Marie's daughter [[Princess Ileana of Romania|Ileana]] denying any such conversion had taken place.<ref>{{cite book | title= The Baha'i Faith: Its History and Teachings | publisher= William Carey Library | last1=Miller|first1=William McElwee|author-link= William McElwee Miller |year=1974 | location= Pasadena, Ca. | pages=304–05 | isbn= 0-87808-137-2}}</ref>

In 1931, Prince Nicholas eloped with Ioana Doletti, a divorced woman. Marie strongly disapproved of her son's actions and felt hurt by Doletti's repeated attempts to keep Nicholas from communicating with his mother. Although she blamed the women in her sons' lives for a while, she also came to blame herself, for failing to educate them properly. However, she stubbornly and continually refused to meet Magda Lupescu, even after Carol's pleas. Until her last years, Marie seldom even mentioned Lupescu's name.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=350–52}}

With Carol's mistress hated throughout the country, it was only a matter of time before opposition to the King emerged. This opposition most prominently came under the form of the [[Iron Guard]], a group supported by [[Benito Mussolini]] and [[Adolf Hitler]]. After Carol turned to Ion Duca for help, the Iron Guard assassinated Duca in December 1933.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=350–52}} After Duca's death, Carol's popularity plummeted and there were rumours that an attempt would be made on his life at the annual independence parade. In order to avoid this, he instead had Marie attend the parade, in what would be her final public appearance.{{sfn|Elsberry|1972|p=253}}

After the parade, Carol set out to destroy his mother's popularity among Romanians and tried to push her out of the country. Marie, however, did not comply, instead retreating to either of two locales.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=352}} The first was [[Bran Castle]]. Located near [[Brașov]] in southern Transylvania and given to her as a gift in 1920 by grateful local officials, she had it restored over the next seven years.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/destinatii-istorice/articol/castelul-bran-istorie-mit | title=Castelul Bran, de la istorie la mit | publisher=historia.ro | work=Historia Magazine | access-date=18 December 2013 | author=Alexandra, Radu | archive-date=21 February 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221230535/http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/destinatii-istorice/articol/castelul-bran-istorie-mit | url-status=dead }}</ref> The other was Balchik, where she had built [[Balchik Palace|a palace]] and a small chapel called ''Stella Maris'' and tended to her garden. She also visited Ileana and her children in Austria. Ileana rarely received permission from Carol to visit Romania; this irritated Marie greatly. She also spent some time in [[Belgrade]] with her daughter "Mignon" and her son-in-law, King Alexander. In 1934, Marie visited England once again.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=352}}

=== Illness and death ===
[[File:BisericaEpiscopalaCurteaDeArges (12).JPG|thumb|left|Marie's tomb in [[Curtea de Argeș Cathedral|Curtea de Argeș Monastery]]]]

During the summer of 1937, Marie fell ill.<ref name="odnb" /> Her personal physician, Dr. Castellani, determined she had [[pancreatic cancer]], although her official diagnosis was [[cirrhosis of the liver]]. Marie had not been a drinker and, upon hearing the news, she reportedly said: "then there must be a [[Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease|non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver]], because I have never in my life tasted alcohol."{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=363}} She was prescribed a diet of cold foods, injections and bed rest. Marie was so weak at times that she could not even pick up a pen. In February 1938, she was sent to a sanatorium in Italy, in hopes that she might recover. There, she was visited by Nicholas and his wife, whom Marie eventually forgave for her transgressions. She was also visited by Princess Helen, whom she had not seen in nearly seven years, and [[Waldorf Astor]]. Marie was eventually transferred to a sanatorium in [[Dresden]]. Growing weaker and weaker, she requested that she be taken back to Romania, in order to die there. Carol denied her a journey by aeroplane,{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=363–64}} and she declined a [[Air medical services|medical flight]] offered by Hitler,<ref name="hitler">{{cite web | url=http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/portret/articol/iubirile-reginei-maria | title=Iubirile reginei Maria | publisher=historia.ro | work=Historia Magazine | access-date=18 December 2013 | archive-date=19 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219011421/http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/portret/articol/iubirile-reginei-maria | url-status=dead }}</ref> instead choosing to return to Romania by train. She was brought to the [[Pelișor Castle]].{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=363–64}}{{#tag:ref|According to official reports, in keeping with [[Carol II of Romania's cult of personality|Carol's cult of personality]], Marie was still alive upon reaching the castle. However, she may in fact have died while on the train, in the [[Bacău]] area. At the time, another rumour suggested that Carol had fired a gun at Nicolae, the bullet hitting Marie when she threw herself before the latter.<ref name="hitler"/>|group=note}}

Marie died on 18 July 1938, at 5:38&nbsp;pm, eight minutes after lapsing into a coma.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|p=418}} Her two eldest children, Carol and Elisabeth, accompanied by Prince Michael, were at her deathbed.{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=363–64}} Two days later, on 20 July, Marie's body was brought to Bucharest, where she [[lay in state]] in the white drawing room at Cotroceni Palace. Her coffin was surrounded by flowers and glowing tapers and was guarded by officers of the Fourth Hussars. Thousands of people filed by Marie's bier during the three-day lying in state and, on the third day, the palace was opened for factory workers. Marie's funeral cortege made its way to [[Bucharest North railway station|the train station]], passing under the [[Arcul de Triumf|Arch of Triumph]]. Her coffin was taken to [[Curtea de Argeș Monastery]], where she was interred. Marie's heart, according to her own wishes, was placed in a small golden casket embellished with the emblems of the [[Historical regions of Romania|Romanian provinces]] and interred in her ''Stella Maris'' chapel in Balchik. In 1940, after Southern Dobrudja was [[Treaty of Craiova|ceded to Bulgaria]] during [[World War II]], her heart was transferred to Bran Castle.{{sfn|Pakula|1984|pp=418–20}} There, Ileana built a chapel to house the heart, kept in two nested boxes placed inside a marble sarcophagus.<ref name="inima">{{cite web |url=http://adevarul.ro/locale/ploiesti/foto-video-inima-reginei-maria-vine-peles-decorul-atmosfera-palatului-balcic-1_51910ba5053c7dd83f953f85/index.html | title=Inima reginei Maria vine la Peleș, în decorul și atmosfera palatului de la Balcic | work=Adevărul | date=13 May 2013 | access-date=17 December 2013 | author=Mihai, Dana | language=ro }}</ref>

Marie was the last [[queen consort of Romania]], as Princess Helen was accorded only the title of [[Queen Mother]] between 1940 and 1947. She was one of Queen Victoria's five crowned granddaughters and one of three to retain their positions as consort after the conclusion of World War I, alongside the [[Maud of Wales|Queen of Norway]] and the [[Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg|Queen of Spain]].

== Legacy ==
===Author===
According to one of her biographers, Diana Mandache, Marie published 34 books and short stories during her lifetime.{{sfn|Mandache|2011a}} Encouraged to write by her aunt Queen Elisabeth, she found a source of inspiration in the memoirs of King Carol I.{{sfn|Dună|2021|p=83}} Her first book, ''The Lily of Life'', appeared at Bucharest in 1912. Written in the English she would always use, but soon translated into Romanian, it is a fairy tale with symbolic characters.{{sfn|Dună|2021|pp=84-85}} ''My Country'', published in London in 1916 and in Paris the following year, combined a variety of genres in an effort to raise Allied support for Romania. [[Nicolae Iorga]] wrote and published a Romanian translation in 1917,{{sfn|Dună|2021|p=86}} and an expanded version appeared in 1925.{{sfn|Dună|2021|p=84}}

Her critically acclaimed autobiography, ''The Story of My Life'', published by Cassell in London, in three volumes,<ref name="woolf"/> came out in 1934-1935.{{sfn|Dună|2021|p=84}} The book was reviewed by [[Virginia Woolf]], who felt it was too familiarizing of the royal family. She stated that "suppose that among the autumn books of 2034 is ''Prometheus Unbound'', by George the Sixth, or ''Wuthering Heights'', by Elizabeth the Second, what will be the effect upon their loyal subjects? Will the British Empire survive? Will Buckingham Palace look as solid then as it does now? Words are dangerous things, let us remember. A republic might be brought into being by a poem."<ref name="woolf">{{cite book | title=Women and Writing | publisher=Harcourt, Inc. | author=Woolf, Virginia | author-link=Virginia Woolf | year=1979 | location=New York | page=[https://archive.org/details/womenwriting00wool/page/198 198] | isbn=0-15-193775-3 }}</ref> At the same time, she appreciated its depiction of a "royal animal" escaping its gilded cage.{{sfn|Dună|2021|p=84}} Critic [[Octav Șuluțiu]] emphasized the work's value as a historical document and its psychological insight.{{sfn|Dună|2021|pp=83-84}}

Marie wrote a few diary pages in 1914 upon the death of Carol I, but started keeping a daily diary in August 1916, on the day Romania entered World War I. She wrote new entries almost every day during the war and after, with some pauses in her later years.{{Sfn|Dună|2021|p=86}} The first volume was published in 1996.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.romlit.ro/index.pl/jurnalul_reginei_maria | title= Jurnalul Reginei Maria | work= România literară | date= 13 October 2004 | access-date= 19 December 2013 | author= Săndulescu, Al. | language= ro | archive-date= 15 November 2018 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181115172954/http://www.romlit.ro/index.pl/jurnalul_reginei_maria | url-status= dead }}</ref> Ten additional books of entries appeared between 2006 and 2014; Marie's war diary, edited by [[Lucian Boia]], was published in 2014; and the entries from her final years were released to the public in 2018.{{sfn|Dună|2021|p=92}}

===Public figure===
[[File:Medal - Marie of Romania.jpg|thumb|upright|A medal depicting Marie]]

Even before becoming queen, Marie had succeeded in establishing her public image as that of "one of the best-looking and richest princesses in Europe".<ref>{{cite book | title=The Three Emperors | publisher=Fig Tree | author=Carter, Miranda | year=2009 | location=London | page=124 | isbn=978-0-670-91556-9}}</ref> She was known primarily for her talent in horse-riding, writing, painting, sculpting and dancing, as well as for her beauty.<ref>{{cite book | title=Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera | publisher=Tauris | author=Nelson, Michael | year=2007 | location=London | page=127 | isbn=978-1-84511-345-2}}</ref> Her popularity was dimmed by two slanderous campaigns: that conducted by the Central Powers during World War I;{{sfn|Duca|1981|p=153}} and that led by Communist officials after Romania's transition to a [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Socialist Republic]] in 1947.

During Romania's 42 years under Communist rule, Marie was alternately depicted as either an "agent of English capitalism" or as a devoted patriot who believed that her destiny was intertwined with that of Romania. In the 1949 ''Adevărata istorie a unei monarhii'' ("The True History of a Monarchy"), author Alexandru Gârneață refers to orgies that supposedly were held by Marie at Cotroceni and Balchik and claims that her cirrhosis was caused by her heavy drinking, even offering examples of instances when a drunken Marie needed to be carried off a yacht by her fellow drinkers. Marie's supposed extramarital affairs were brought forward as evidence of promiscuity, which contravened Communist values.<ref name="lupsor"/> In 1968, Communist officials vandalised the chapel sheltering Marie's heart, opening the sarcophagus and taking the boxes as well as the heart into Bran Castle. In 1971, these were transferred to Bucharest's [[National Museum of Romanian History]].<ref name="inima"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://adevarul.ro/cultura/istorie/75-ani-moartea-reginei-maria-1_51e6f606c7b855ff564bb7a5/index.html | title=''75 de ani de la moartea Reginei Maria'' | work=Adevărul | date=18 July 2013 | access-date=18 December 2013 | author=Mandache, Diana | language=ro }}</ref> It was not until the late period of [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]'s regime, the last years before the [[Romanian Revolution]], that Marie's merits came to be acknowledged.<ref name="lupsor">{{cite journal | url=http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/portret/articol/regina-maria-critica-i-laude-istoriografia-comunista | title=Regina Maria, între critică și laude în istoriografia comunistă | publisher=historia.ro | journal=Historia | access-date=16 December 2013 | author=Lupşor, Andreea | archive-date=3 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303190304/http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/portret/articol/regina-maria-critica-i-laude-istoriografia-comunista | url-status=dead }}</ref>

In Romania, Marie is known by the nickname ''Mama Răniților'' ("Mother of the Wounded"),<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.romanialibera.ro/cultura/aldine/cine-este-regina-care-a-devenit-mama-ranitilor-296852.html | title=Cine este regina care a devenit 'mama răniților' | newspaper=România Liberă | date=5 November 2012 | access-date=26 November 2013 | author=Pădurean, Claudiu | archive-date=17 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224317/http://www.romanialibera.ro/cultura/aldine/cine-este-regina-care-a-devenit-mama-ranitilor-296852.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> or simply as "Regina Maria", while in other countries she is remembered as the "Soldier Queen" and "Mamma Regina".<ref>{{cite news | title=Queen thinks Rumania will Battle Again | work=St. Petersburg Daily Times | date=4 October 1918 | page=4}}</ref>{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|pp=273–74}} Marie is also nicknamed "the mother-in-law of the Balkans", due to her children's marriages into the region's ruling houses. By the time of her death, Marie's children had ruled in three Balkan countries,{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=308}}{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|p=151}} although her descendants no longer occupy any European throne. Marie was called "one of the greatest figures in Romanian history" by [[Constantin Argetoianu]],<ref>{{cite book | title=Pentru cei de mâine: Amintiri din vremea celor de ieri | publisher=Humanitas | author=Argetoianu, Constantin | author-link=Constantin Argetoianu | language=ro | year=1992 | location=Bucharest | page=109 | isbn=978-973-28-0224-3}}</ref> and in her honour, Romania established the Order of the Cross of Queen Marie in 1917.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://mvu.ro/product/ordinul-crucea-regina-maria-clasa-a-iii-a-model-1917/ | title=Ordinul Crucea Regina Maria | date=12 December 2018 | publisher=Virtual Museum of the Union | access-date=17 May 2022}}</ref>
[[File:Queen Maria (Marie) of Romania - statue; Regina Maria - statuie.jpg|thumb|left|Statue celebrating Queen Marie's birth at Eastwell Park, Ashford, Kent]]
[[Oscar Han]] executed a bronze bust of Marie. Unveiled in the center of Balchik in 1933, it was evacuated to [[Constanța]] during the Romanian withdrawal of 1940. It then spent most of the next eight decades in storage, at times being threatened with melting under the Communist regime and receiving a bullet hole in the back of the head. The restored bust was placed in front of the Constanța art museum in 2020.<ref>{{cite journal | title= Restituiri culturale – povestea statuilor regale din Dobrogea de sud, repatriate în toamna anului 1940 | author=Cornea, Delia Roxana | journal=Analele Dobrogei |date=2020| volume=2 | issue=1 | page=79-99 | issn=1224-4910 }}</ref> A statue of Queen Marie was unveiled in [[Ashford, Kent]], in December 2018, to mark her birth and childhood at the nearby Eastwell Park.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/leisure-complex-to-open-ahead-of-schedule-193985/|title=Elwick Place Picturehouse cinema and Travelodge hotel in Ashford to open earlier than planned|date=23 November 2018 |access-date=25 November 2018}}</ref> Soon afterwards, a fictionalised account of her role in the Paris Peace Conference was given in a feature film, ''Queen Marie'',<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kenigsberg|first=Ben|date=6 May 2021|title='Queen Marie' Review: Border Talks|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/movies/queen-marie-review.html|access-date=24 July 2021}}</ref> while American author [[Laurie R. King]] depicted the queen at Bran in the mystery novel ''Castle Shade''.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Harris|first=Marlene|date=1 June 2021|title=Castle Shade|language=en-US|work=Library Journal|url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/?reviewDetail=castle-shade-2116274|access-date=24 July 2021}}</ref>

Other cities with statues of Marie include [[Oradea]] (2012),<ref>{{Cite web |title= Statuia Reginei Maria a fost dezvelită de ziua orașului |url= https://www.bihon.ro/stirile-judetului-bihor/statuia-reginei-maria-a-fost-dezvelita-de-ziua-orasului-393865/ |access-date=6 April 2025 |website=Bihor Online |date= 12 October 2012 |language=ro}}</ref> [[Bucharest]] (2018, in [[Izvor Park]]),<ref>{{Cite web |title= Prima statuie a Reginei Maria, plină de controverse |url= https://www.libertatea.ro/stiri/prima-statuie-a-reginei-maria-plina-de-controverse-2479243 |access-date=6 April 2025 |website=Libertatea|date= 7 December 2018 |language=ro}}</ref> [[Giurgiu]] (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |title= Statuia Reginei Maria din centrul orașului a fost dezvelită oficial |url= https://jurnalgiurgiuvean.ro/statuia-reginei-maria-din-centrul-orasului-a-fost-dezvelita-oficial/ |website=Jurnal Giurgiuvean|date= 18 July 2020 |language=ro}}</ref> [[Alba Iulia]] (2022),<ref>{{Cite web |title= Sute de oameni la dezvelirea statuii Reginei Maria, din Alba Iulia |url= https://alba24.ro/live-video-sute-de-oameni-la-dezvelirea-statuii-reginei-maria-din-alba-iulia-946362.html|access-date=6 April 2025 |website=Alba24|date= 15 October 2022|language=ro}}</ref> [[Deva, Romania|Deva]] (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |title= Statuia Reginei Maria a fost amplasată în Centrul Istoric al Devei |url= https://stiridinhunedoara.ro/statuia-reginei-maria-a-fost-amplasata-in-centrul-istoric-al-devei/ |access-date=6 April 2025 |website= Știri din Hunedoara|date= 31 October 2023 |language=ro}}</ref> and [[Chișinău]] (2025).<ref>{{Cite web |last1= Moldova |first1= Europa Liberă |title= La Chișinău a fost inaugurat monumentul Reginei Maria |url= https://moldova.europalibera.org/a/la-chisinau-a-fost-inaugurat-monumentul-reginei-maria/33362048.html |access-date=6 April 2025 |website=Europa Liberă Moldova|language=ro}}</ref>

===Personal effects and jewels===
Prior to 2009, many of Marie's personal belongings were on display at Bran Castle, her residence in her later years, which functions as a museum.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bran-castle.com/royal-residence.html | title=Royal Residence | publisher=bran-castle.com | work=Bran Castle | access-date=16 December 2013 | archive-date=17 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217040738/http://www.bran-castle.com/royal-residence.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> That year, when the castle was legally restored to Princess Ileana's heirs, the [[Ministry of Culture and National Patrimony|Culture Ministry]] moved the collection of her items to a nearby building, ''Vama Medievală'', which is also open to visitors.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.romanialibera.ro/actualitate/eveniment/colectiile-din-castelul-bran-mutate-la-vama-medievala-148964.html | title=Colecțiile din Castelul Bran, mutate la Vama Medievală | newspaper=România Liberă | date=17 March 2009 | access-date=30 March 2014 | language=ro | archive-date=7 August 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807193200/http://romanialibera.ro/actualitate/eveniment/colectiile-din-castelul-bran-mutate-la-vama-medievala-148964.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2015, the casket containing the queen's heart was placed on a pedestal in the room at Pelișor where she died; the display can be viewed by the public.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://adevarul.ro/locale/ploiesti/reparatie-inima-reginei-maria-revenit-castelul-pelisor-locul-batut-ultima-data-1_5638e913f5eaafab2c45c829/index.html | title=Inima Reginei Maria a revenit la Castelul Pelișor, locul unde a bătut pentru ultima dată | work=Adevărul | date=3 November 2015 | access-date=1 December 2015 | author=Mihai, Dana | language=ro }}</ref>

The [[Maryhill Museum of Art]] holds a permanent exhibition titled "Marie, Queen of Romania". This display includes the queen's coronation gown, a copy of the crown, silverware, gilt furniture, and jewelry, among other items.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://adevarul.ro/locale/oradea/foto-coroana-reginei-maria-atras-sute-vizitatori-1_50aebbd27c42d5a6639fb2f7/index.html | title= Coroana Reginei Maria a atras sute de vizitatori | newspaper=Adevărul | date=15 October 2012 | access-date=30 March 2014| author=Barbu, Florina | language=ro}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.maryhillmuseum.org/ongoing-exhibitions/queen-marie-of-romania | title=Marie, Queen of Romania | date=29 January 2013 | publisher=Maryhill Museum of Art | access-date=16 December 2013}}</ref>

The [[Queen Marie of Romania Sapphire]] is named from its association with Marie. Originally set in a necklace by [[Cartier (jeweler)|Cartier]] in 1913, the drop jewel weighs 478 carats. It was transferred to a diamond necklace in 1919 and King Ferdinand purchased it for Marie in 1921. The price was 1,375,000 [[French franc|francs]], to be paid in four instalments until 1924. At the time, large jewelry had not excited Marie's interest; she preferred to wear a Greek cross or, when she attended the [[Paris Opera]], her pearls. However, the sapphire sautoir (jewel chain) was an ideal match for the sapphire tiara she had bought from Russian exile [[Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin|Grand Duchess Vladimir]]. She wore them both at her coronation receptions and when sitting for her portrait by [[Philip de László]].{{sfn|Nadelhoffer|2007|pp=245–46}} During her visit to the United States, when she presided over a ball at the [[Ritz-Carlton Hotel (New York City)|New York Ritz-Carlton]], one observer remarked: "There was a heavy chain of diamonds, broken at intervals with squares of massive design. From this chain was suspended an unbelievable egg-shaped sapphire, one of the largest, it is said, in the world".{{sfn|Gelardi|2005|p=324}}

== Titles, styles, honours and arms ==
=== Titles and styles ===
*29 October 1875&nbsp;– 10 January 1893: ''Her Royal Highness'' Princess Marie of Edinburgh{{sfn|Eilers|1987|p=189}}<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25495|page=3531|date=28 July 1885}} {{London Gazette|issue=26184|page=3865|date=20 July 1891}}</ref>
*10 January 1893&nbsp;– 10 October 1914: ''Her Royal Highness'' The Crown Princess of Romania<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27489 |supp=y|page=6860|date=28 October 1902}}</ref>
*10 October 1914&nbsp;– 20 July 1927: ''Her Majesty'' The Queen of Romania
*20 July 1927&nbsp;– 18 July 1938: ''Her Majesty'' Queen Marie of Romania

=== Honours ===
Marie was a recipient of the following national and foreign honours:<ref name = "HofUndStaat">''Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Preußen'' (1907), Genealogy p. [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NX4OAAAAYAAJ/page/n39/mode/2up 5]</ref>
{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}}:
** '''CI''': [[Order of the Crown of India|Companion of the Crown of India]], ''11 December 1893''<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=26467|page=7319|date=15 December 1893}}</ref>
** '''RRC''': Member of the [[Royal Red Cross|Decoration of the Royal Red Cross]]<ref name="ordersuk">{{cite web|title=Prince Alfred |work=Land Forces of Britain, The Empire and The Commonwealth |publisher=[www.regiments.org Regiments.org] |year=2007 |url=http://www.regiments.org/biography/royals/1844alfr.htm |access-date=30 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013160929/http://www.regiments.org/biography/royals/1844alfr.htm |archive-date=13 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
** '''VA''': [[Royal Order of Victoria and Albert]], 2nd Class<ref name="Whitaker1897">{{cite book|author=Joseph Whitaker|title=An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord ...|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_TUMsAAAAMAAJ/page/n119|year=1897|publisher=J. Whitaker|page=110}}</ref>
** '''DStJ''': [[Venerable Order of Saint John|Lady of Justice of St. John]]<ref name="ordersuk" />
** '''GCVO''': Dame Grand Cross of the [[Royal Victorian Order]]
* {{flagicon|Saxe-Coburg and Gotha}} {{flagicon|Saxe-Altenburg}} {{flagicon|Saxe-Meiningen}} [[Ernestine duchies]]: Dame, Special Class of the Decoration of Honour of the Saxe-Ernestine
* {{flag|Kingdom of Romania}}:
** Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Crown (Romania)|Order of the Crown]]{{sfn|Elsberry|1972|p=147}}
** Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of Carol I]], with Collar, ''1906''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://familiaregala.ro/ordine-si-decoratii/ordinul-carol-i |title=Ordinul Carol I |website=[[Romanian royal family|Familia Regală a României]] |location=Bucharest |language=ro |trans-title=Order of Carol I |access-date=16 June 2020}}</ref>
** Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Ferdinand I, with Collar, ''1930''<ref name=romanul1930>{{Citation | last=| title=M. S. Regina Maria, dnii Maniu, Vaida și Mironescu Președintele Camerei d. Șt. Cicio Pop și prof. N. Iorga decorați de M. S. Regele Carol II| newspaper=Românul| date= 29 June 1930 | url=http://documente.bcucluj.ro/web/bibdigit/periodice/romanul/1930/BCUCLUJ_FP_P2581_1930_015_0026.pdf| accessdate=8 June 2022}}</ref>
* {{flagicon|Austrian Empire}} {{flagicon|Kingdom of Hungary|1896}} [[Austria-Hungary]]: Grand Cross of the [[Order of Elizabeth]], ''1913''<ref name="osterreich">{{citation|chapter-url=https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1918&page=424&size=45|chapter=Ritter-orden|title=Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie|date=1918|location=Vienna|publisher=Druck und Verlag der K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei|page=[https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1918&page=702&size=45 328]}}</ref>
* {{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}:
** Grand Cross of the [[Legion of Honour]], ''March 1919''{{sfn|Mandache|2011a|p=41}}<ref>{{cite book| author = M. Wattel, B. Wattel | title = Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et étrangers |location= Paris |date = 2009 |publisher= Archives & Culture | pages = 21, 512, 612 | isbn = 978-2-35077-135-9| ref = M. et B. Wattel}}</ref>
** ''[[Médaille militaire]]''{{sfn|Marghiloman|1927|p=131}}
* {{Flag|Grand Duchy of Hesse}}: [[House Order of the Golden Lion (Hesse-Kassel)|Dame of the Golden Lion]], ''1 May 1896''<ref name="ordensliste">{{citation|title=Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste|chapter=Goldener Löwen-orden|page=3|language=German|location=Darmstadt|year=1914|publisher=Staatsverlag|via=hathitrust.org}}</ref>
* {{flag|Kingdom of Italy}}: [[Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy]]{{sfn|Marghiloman|1927|p=199}}
* {{flag|Kingdom of Portugal}}: Dame of the [[Order of Saint Isabel|Order of Queen Saint Isabel]]
* {{flag|Russian Empire}}: [[Order of St. Catherine|Grand Cross of St. Catherine]], ''1896''
* {{flagcountry|Restoration (Spain)}}: Dame of the [[Order of Queen Maria Luisa]], ''1909''<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/issue.vm?id=0001030925&search=&lang=es|chapter=Real orden de Damas Nobles de la Reina Maria Luisa|title=Guía Oficial de España|date=1920|access-date=21 March 2019|page=230}}</ref>
* {{flag|Kingdom of Yugoslavia}}: [[Order of St. Sava|Grand Cross of St. Sava]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Acović|first=Dragomir|title=Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima|year=2012|location=Belgrade|publisher=Službeni Glasnik|pages=369}}</ref>
}}

=== Arms ===
As a male-line grandchild of a British Sovereign, Marie bore the arms of the kingdom, with an [[inescutcheon]] for Saxony, differenced by a five-point label argent, the outer pair of which bore anchors azure, the inner roses gules, and the central a cross gules. In 1917, the inescutcheon was dropped by Royal Warrant from George V.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/cadency.htm|title=marks of cadency in the British royal family|website=www.heraldica.org}}</ref>
<gallery class="center" mode="packed" heights="130" style="font-size:95%; line-height:130%">
File:Coat of Arms of Marie of Edinburgh.svg|Marie's [[coat of arms]] as a British princess
File:Royal Monogram of Queen Marie of Romania, Variant.svg|Early monogram of Queen Marie
File:Monogram of Princess Marie of Edinburgh.png|Monogram of Princess Marie of Edinburgh
File:Royal Monogram of Marie of Romania, Variant 2.svg|Monogram of Queen Marie of Romania
File:Coat of Arms of Marie of Saxe-Coburg, Queen of Romania (Order of María Luisa).svg|Coat of arms of Queen Marie, as Dame of the [[Order of Queen Maria Luisa]] (Spain; note [[Coat of arms of Romania|Romanian arms]] on [[Division_of_the_field#Common_divisions_of_the_field|left]])
</gallery>

==Written works==
===Books===
* ''The Lily of Life'' (1912)
* ''The Dreamer of Dreams'' (1913)
* ''Ilderim'' (1915)
* ''Four Seasons. Out of a Man's Life'' (1915)
* ''The Naughty Queen'' (1916)
* ''The Stealers of Light. A legend'' (1916)
* ''My Country'' (1916); enlarged as ''The Country That I Love: An Exile's Memories'' (1925)
* ''Roumania Yesterday and To-day'', by Winifred Gordon (1918) [1st chapter by Queen Marie]
* ''The Story of Naughty Kildeen'' (1922)
* ''Ode to Roumania'' (1923)
* ''Why?: A Story of Great Longing'' (1923)
* ''The Queen of Roumania's Fairy Book'' (1925)
* ''The Voice on the Mountain: A Story for Those Who Understand'' (1926)
* ''The Lost Princess: A Fairy Tale'' (1927)
* ''The Magic Doll of Roumania'' (1929)
* ''The Story of My Life'' (3 vol., 1934-1935)
* ''Masks'' (1937)
* ''Later Chapters of My Life: The Lost Journal of Queen Marie of Romania'' (2004)

===Short stories===
* "The Serpents' Isle", ''[[The Lady's Realm]]'', March 1897
* "The Siege of Widin", ''The Lady's Realm'', July 1898
* "Lulaloo", ''[[Good Housekeeping]]'', March 1925

===Poems===
* "A Robin Redbreast's Carol", ''The Lady's Realm'', January 1903

===Songs===
* "Byzantine Princess Song" (1933)

===Nonfiction===
* "What the River Says", ''The Lady's Realm'', November 1899
* "Romantic Rumania", ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'', 7 December 1918
* "A Queen Looks at Life", [[North American Newspaper Alliance]], June 1925 [syndicated series]{{#tag:ref|According to "A Bookman's Notes: Ghost Writing", ''[[The Bookman (New York)|The Bookman]]'', October 1927, Zoë Beckley, journalist for the Famous Features Syndicate, ghostwrote Queen Marie's newspaper articles. According to Philip Schuyler, "Who Piqued the Interest of a Queen?", ''[[Editor & Publisher]]'', 13 June 1925, Beckley solicited this particular series from the queen in Bucharest on 1 February 1925, but denied ghosting it, restricting herself to typing, and correcting punctuation and spelling.|group=note}}
* "A Queen Talks About Love", ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'', September 1925
* "The Intimate Thoughts of a Queen Facing Fifty", ''Cosmopolitan'', October 1925
* "Foreword", ''Art and Archeology'', January 1926
* "At Grand-Mama's Court", ''[[McCall's]]'', March 1926
* "My Impressions of America", North American Newspaper Alliance, 21 October – 4 December 1926 [14-part syndicated series]
* "The Story of My Life", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', 16 December 1933 - 3 February 1934 [8 parts]
* "My Life as a Crown Princess", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', 14 April – 16 June 1934 [8 parts; not in 12 May 9 June]
* "My Mission: I. In Paris", ''[[The Cornhill Magazine]]'', October 1939
* "My Mission: II. At Buckingham Palace", ''The Cornhill Magazine'', November 1939
* "My Mission: III. Paris Again", ''The Cornhill Magazine'', December 1939

===Letters===
* ''A Biographer's Notebook'', by Hector Bolitho (1950) [includes Queen Marie's letters to her "American friend"]
* ''Queen Mary of Romania: Letters to Her King'' (2015)
* ''Queen Marie of Romania: Letters to Her Mother'' (2 vol., 2016)

===Archives===
A large part of Queen Marie's papers (including correspondence and photographs) is preserved in different American institutions, including the "Queen Marie of Romania Papers" collection in the Library of Kent State University (Kent, Ohio),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.library.kent.edu/special-collections-and-archives/queen-marie-romania-papers#QM.| title=Queen Marie of Romania Papers | publisher=Department of Special Collections and Archives. Kent State University Libraries and Media Services. | access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref> the "George I. Duca Papers" collection in the [[Hoover Institution]] Archives (Stanford, California),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf3489n5wg/entire_text/ | title=George I. Duca Papers | publisher=Hoover Institution Library & Archives. | access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref> and the "Lavinia A. Small Papers" collection in the Library of the University of Colorado at Boulder (Boulder, Colorado).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archives.colorado.edu/repositories/2/resources/1875| title=Lavinia A. Small Papers | publisher=University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries, Special Collections, Archives and Preservation Department.| access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref>

Marie's letters to her parents-in-law, Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Antonia of Portugal, between 1892 and 1904 are preserved in the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family archive, which is in the State Archive of Sigmaringen (Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen) in the town of [[Sigmaringen]], Baden-Württemberg, Germany.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=6-2553782 | title=Briefe der Kronprinzessin Maria ("Missy") von Rumänien, geb. Prinzessin von Edinburgh und Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, an ihre Schwiegereltern Fürst Leopold und Fürstin Antonia von Hohenzollern | publisher=Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen | access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=6-2553790 | title=Briefe der Kronprinzessin Maria ("Missy") von Rumänien an ihren Schwiegervater Fürst Leopold von Hohenzollern | publisher=Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen | access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref> Marie's letters to her husband's grandmother, Josephine of Baden, between 1893 and 1899 are also preserved in the State Archive of Sigmaringen (Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=6-2553662 | title=Briefe der Kronprinzessin Maria ("Missy") von Rumänien, geb. Prinzessin von Edinburgh und Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, an Fürstin Josephine von Hohenzollern | publisher=Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen | access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref>

== Ancestry ==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center |ref=<ref name=louda>{{citation| last1 = Louda| first1 = Jiří|author1-link=Jiří Louda|last2=Maclagan |first2=Michael|author2-link=Michael Maclagan| title = Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe| year = 1999| publisher = Little, Brown| location = London| isbn = 978-1-85605-469-0| page = 34 }}</ref>
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Princess Marie of Edinburgh'''
|2= 2. [[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|3= 3. [[Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia]]
|4= 4. [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|5= 5. [[Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom]]
|6= 6. [[Alexander II of Russia]]
|7= 7. [[Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine]]
|8= 8. [[Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|9= 9. [[Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg]]
|10= 10. [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn]]
|11= 11. [[Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld]]
|12= 12. [[Nicholas I of Russia]]
|13= 13. [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia)|Princess Charlotte of Prussia]]
|14= 14. [[Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine]]
|15= 15. [[Princess Wilhelmine of Baden]]
}}

== References ==
'''Endnotes '''
{{Reflist|group=note}}

'''Footnotes'''
{{reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin|20em}}
* {{cite book | title=Grandmama of Europe | publisher=Cassell | last=Aronson | first=Theo | year=1973 | location=London | isbn=0-304-29063-7 | url=https://archive.org/details/grandmamaofeurop00theo }}
* {{cite book | title=România la Conferința de Pace de la Paris | language=ro | publisher=Dacia | last1=Botoran | first1=Constantin | last2=Moisuc | first2=Viorica | year=1983 | location=Cluj-Napoca | ol=18196100M }}
* {{cite book | title=Viața Cotidiană la Curtea Regală a României | language=ro | publisher=Cartex | last=Ciubotaru | first=Ștefania | year=2011 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-606-8023-13-7 }}
* {{cite book | title=The Last Tsar: Emperor Michael II | publisher=Murray McLellan Limited | last=Crawford | first=Donald | year=2011 | location=Edinburgh | isbn=978-0-9570091-1-0 }}
* {{cite book | title=Marie of Roumania | publisher=George H. Doran & Co. | last=Daggett | first=Mabel Potter | year=1926 | location=New York | oclc=1075530 }}
* {{cite book | title=Amintiri Politice | publisher=Humanitas | last=Duca | first=Ion G. | author-link=Ion G. Duca | year=1981 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-973-28-0183-3 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Dună |first1=Raluca |title='Memory, Though, is as Strong as Hope'. Queen Marie of Romania and her War Literature|journal= Philologica Jassyensia |date=2021 |volume=year XVII, nr. 1 (33)|pages=81{{ndash}}93|issn=2247-8353|location=Iași}}
* {{cite book | title=King Carol, Hitler and Lupescu | publisher=V. Gollancz Ltd. | last=Easterman | first=Alexander Levvey | year=1942 | location=London | oclc=4769487 }}
* {{cite book | title=Queen Victoria's Descendants | publisher=Genealogical Publishing Company | last=Eilers | first= Marlene A. | year=1987 | location=Baltimore | isbn=0-8063-1202-5 }}
* {{cite book | title=Marie of Romania | publisher=St. Martin's Press | last=Elsberry | first=Terence | year=1972 | location=New York | oclc=613611 }}
* {{cite book | title=Missy, Regina României | language=ro | publisher=Humanitas | last=Gauthier | first=Guy | year=2010 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-973-50-2621-9 }}
* {{cite book | title=Born to Rule | publisher=St. Martin's Griffin | last=Gelardi | first=Julia | year=2005 | location=London | isbn=978-0-312-32423-0 | url=https://archive.org/details/borntorulefivere00juli }}
* {{cite book | title=Istoria României în date | publisher=Editura Enciclopedică | language=ro | last=Giurescu | first=Constantin C.| year=1972 | location=Bucharest | oclc=637298400 }}
* {{cite book | title=Contribuţii la istoria Transilvaniei în secolele IV-XIII | language=ro | publisher=Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne | last=Horedt | first=Kurt | year=1958 | location=Bucharest }}
* {{cite book | title=Conflict and Chaos in Eastern Europe | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan | last=Hupchik | first=Dennis | year=1995 | location=New York | isbn=978-0-312-12116-7 | url=https://archive.org/details/conflictchaosine00hupc }}
* {{cite journal | title=The Marriage of Princess Marie of Edinburgh and Ferdinand, the Crown Prince of Romania | last=Mandache | first=Diana | journal=Royalty Digest |date=May 2001 | volume=10 | issue=119 | pages=333–38 | issn=0967-5744 }}
* {{cite book | title=Later Chapters of My Life: The Lost Memoir of Queen Marie of Romania | publisher=Sutton | last=Mandache | first=Diana | year=2011a | location=Gloucestershire | isbn=978-0-7509-3691-0 }}
* {{cite book | title=Her Eternal Crown: Queen Marie of Romania and the Bahá'í Faith | publisher=George Ronald | last=Marcus | first=Della | year=2000 | location=Oxford | isbn=0-85398-442-5 }}
* {{cite book | title=Note politice, 1897–1924 | publisher=Institutul de Arte Grafice "Eminescu" | last=Marghiloman | first=Alexandru | year=1927 | location=Bucharest | oclc=23540746 }}
* {{cite book | title=A Princess in Exile | publisher=Viking | author=Maria Pavlovna of Russia | author-link=Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (1890–1958) | year=1932 | location=New York | oclc=1372354 | ref={{sfnRef|Maria Pavlovna|1932}} }}
* {{cite book | title=Povestea Vieții Mele | language=ro | volume=1 | publisher=Moldova | author=Marie, Queen of Romania | year=1990 | location=Iași | isbn=973-9032-01-X | ref={{sfnRef|Marie|1990}} }}
* {{cite book | title=Povestea Vieții Mele | language=ro | volume=2 | publisher=Eminescu | author=Marie, Queen of Romania | year=1991 | location=Bucharest | isbn=973-22-0214-9 | ref={{sfnRef|Marie 1991, Vol 2}} }}
* {{cite book | title=Povestea Vieții Mele | language=ro | volume=3 | publisher=Eminescu | author=Marie, Queen of Romania | year=1991 | location=Bucharest | isbn=973-22-0215-7 | ref={{sfnRef|Marie 1991, Vol 3}} }}
* {{cite book | title=Însemnări Zilnice | publisher=Albatros | author=Marie, Queen of Romania | year=2004 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-973-24-0323-5 | ref={{sfnRef|Marie|2004}} }}
* {{cite book | title=On Tour with Queen Marie | url=https://archive.org/details/ontourqueenmarie008233mbp | publisher=Robert M. McBride & Co. | last=Morris | first=Constance Lily | year=1927 | location=New York | oclc=2048943 }}
* {{cite book | title=Cartier | publisher=Chronicle Books | last=Nadelhoffer | first=Hans | year=2007 | location=London | isbn=978-0-8118-6099-4 }}
* {{cite book | title=The Last Romantic | publisher=Simon and Schuster | last=Pakula | first=Hannah | year=1984 | location=New York | isbn=0-671-46364-0 }}
* {{cite book | title=Queen Mary, 1867–1953 | url=https://archive.org/details/queenmary18671950000pope | url-access=registration | publisher=G. Allen and Unwin | last=Pope-Hennessy | first=James | year=1959 | location=London | oclc=1027299 }}
* {{cite book | title=Diversions of a Diplomat | publisher=Chapman and Hall Ltd. | last=Rattigan | first=Frank | year=1924 | location=London | oclc=11319209 }}
* {{cite book | title=Confession d'un Vieux Diplomate | language=fr | publisher=Flammarion | last=Saint-Aulaire | first=Auguste Félix de Beaupoil, Count of | year=1953 | location=Paris | oclc=3450664 }}
* {{cite book | title=A Fatal Passion: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia | publisher=Random House | last=Sullivan | first=Michael John | year=1997 | location=New York | isbn=0-679-42400-8 | url=https://archive.org/details/fatalpassiona00mich }}
* {{cite book | title=Princess Victoria Melita | publisher=Sutton | last=Van der Kiste | first=John | year=1991 | location=Gloucestershire | isbn=0-7509-3469-7 }}
* {{cite book | title=Istoria Gărzii de Fier 1919–1941, Mistica Ultranaționalismului | publisher=Humanitas | last=Veiga  |first=Francisco | year=1995 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-973-28-0392-9 }}
* {{cite book | title=Ferdinand I Întemeietorul României Mari | publisher=Humanitas | last=Wolbe | first=Eugen | year=2004 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-973-50-0755-3 }}
{{refend}}

'''General bibliography'''

* {{cite book | title=Queen Marie of Romania and Colonel Boyle. Confessions | publisher=Tritonic | last=Cristescu | first=Sorin | year=2017 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-606-749-210-1 }}
* {{cite book | title=Queen Marie of Romania. Confessions, February 1914 - March 1927 | publisher=Tritonic | last=Cristescu | first=Sorin | year=2018 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-606-749-296-5 }}
* {{cite book | title=Queen Marie of Romania - Letters to Her King | publisher=Tritonic | last=Cristescu | first=Sorin | year=2015 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-606-749-102-9 }}
* {{cite book | title=Queen Marie of Romania - Letters to Her Mother, vol. I: 1901 -1906 | publisher=Tritonic | last=Cristescu | first=Sorin | year=2016 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-606-749-145-6 }}
* {{cite book | title=Queen Marie of Romania - Letters to Her Mother, vol. II: 1907 -1920 | publisher=Tritonic | last=Cristescu | first=Sorin | year=2016 | location=Bucharest | isbn=978-606-749-153-1 }}
* {{cite book | title=Dearest Missy. The Letters of Marie Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, Duchess of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and of her daughter, Marie, Crown Princess of Romania, 1879-1900 | publisher=Rosvall | last=Mandache | first=Diana | year=2011b | location=Falköping | isbn=978-91-975671-7-6 }}
* {{cite book | title=My Dear Mama. The Letters of Marie, Crown Princess of Romania, and of her mother, Marie Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, Duchess of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 1901-1910 | publisher=Rosvall | last=Mandache | first=Diana | year=2023 | location=Falköping }}
* {{cite book | title=The Child of the Sun: Royal Fairy Tales and Essays by the Queens of Romania, Elisabeth (Carmen Sylva, 1843-1916) and Marie (1875-1938) | publisher=Ibidem | last=Zimmermann | first=Silvia Irina | year=2020 | location=Stuttgart | isbn=978-3-8382-1393-4 }}

== External links ==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooksby=yes|lcheading=Marie, Queen, consort of Ferdinand I, King of Romania, 1875–1938}}
*{{Commons category-inline|Queen Marie of Romania}}
*{{wikiquote-inline|Marie of Edinburgh, Queen of Romania}}
* {{wikisource author-inline|Marie of Romania}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Maria, Queen consort of Ferdinand I, King of Romania}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=40911}}
* [[British Pathé]] newsreels depicting Marie of Romania: [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=79132 1914], [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=76568 1917], [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=20502 1924], [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=3733 1930], [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=3737 1930], [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=7179 1931], [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=2697 1932], [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=18985 1938]
* {{Librivox author |id=12115}}
* [http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/docs/pdf/1893/TS0001.pdf Treaty between Great Britain and Roumania for the Marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Great Britain and Ireland with His Royal Highness the Prince Ferdinand of Roumania – 15 December 1892] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709143036/http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/docs/pdf/1893/TS0001.pdf |date=9 July 2017 }}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/019418}}
* {{NPG name|name=Marie, Queen of Romania}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]|29 October|1875|18 July|1938|[[House of Wettin]]}}
{{S-roy|ro}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Elisabeth of Wied]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Queen consort of Romania]]|years=10 October 1914&nbsp;– 20 July 1927}}
{{s-vac|next=[[Anne of Bourbon-Parma]]|as=titular queen}}
{{S-ach}}
{{S-bef|before=[[William Sproule]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of People on the Cover of Time Magazine: 1920s|Cover of Time Magazine]]
|years=4 August 1924}}
{{S-aft|after=[[John J. Pershing]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{British princesses}}
{{Princesses of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha}}
{{Romanian princesses by marriage}}
{{Great Union}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marie Of Romania}}
[[Category:1875 births]]
[[Category:1938 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Bahá'ís]]
[[Category:20th-century Eastern Orthodox Christians]]
[[Category:20th-century Romanian writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Romanian women writers]]
[[Category:Romanian nurses]]
[[Category:British princesses]]
[[Category:Burials at Curtea de Argeş Cathedral]]
[[Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Anglicanism]]
[[Category:Converts to the Bahá'í Faith from Eastern Orthodoxy]]
[[Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Romania]]
[[Category:Deaths from cirrhosis]]
[[Category:English Anglicans]]
[[Category:English Bahá'ís]]
[[Category:English people of Russian descent]]
[[Category:Former Romanian Orthodox Christians]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Romanian Academy]]
[[Category:House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church]]
[[Category:People from Ashford, Kent]]
[[Category:Queens consort]]
[[Category:Romanian Bahá'ís]]
[[Category:Romanian diarists]]
[[Category:Romanian memoirists]]
[[Category:Romanian philanthropists]]
[[Category:Romanian people of English descent]]
[[Category:Romanian people of Russian descent]]
[[Category:Romanian royal consorts]]
[[Category:Romanian writers]]
[[Category:Women diarists]]
[[Category:Romanian women philanthropists]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Crown of India]]
[[Category:Ladies of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Red Cross]]
[[Category:Dames of Justice of the Order of St John]]
[[Category:Dames Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Romania)]]
[[Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of St. Sava]]
[[Category:Dames of the Order of Saint Isabel]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)]]
[[Category:Romanian queen mothers]]
[[Category:Daughters of dukes]]
[[Category:Daughters of British dukes]]
[[Category:Bahá'í royalty]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Saint Catherine]]