(b. Sinaia, 15 Oct. 1893; d. Paris, 4 Mar. 1953) Romanian; King 1930 – 40Carol II was the eldest son of King Ferdinand of Romania. He married Princess Hélène of Greece in 1921. In 1925 Ferdinand disinherited him because of his dissolute behaviour and he went to France with his Jewish mistress, Magda Lupescu. Carol's 6-year-old son Michael succeeded Ferdinand in 1927. In 1930 Carol returned to Romania and was proclaimed King with the support of the premier, Iuliu Maniu. Lupescu followed him in 1931, to the annoyance of Romania's politicians. From 1930 to 1937 Romania was nominally a democracy, while Carol tolerated Codreanu's Fascist-style Iron Guard. Concerned at the Iron Guard's power, Carol set up a royal dictatorship in 1938, with his own Fascist-style party, the Front of National Rebirth. He executed Codreanu and the Iron Guard leaders. Carol believed that he could maintain Romania's independence by playing the Western Powers off against Germany. In 1940 Hitler forced Carol to cede territory to the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and Hungary. This undermined his position in Romania. He was deposed by Antonescu with German support, abdicating in favour of his son Michael on 6 September 1940. He went into exile, accompanied by Magda Lupescu, whom he married in 1947.
Carol II of Romania
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| Carol II | |
|---|---|
| King of the Romanians | |
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| Reign | 8 June 1930–6 September 1940 |
| Predecessor | Michael I |
| Successor | Michael I |
| Spouse | Zizi Lambrino Helen of Greece and Denmark Magda Lupescu |
| Issue | |
| Carol Lambrino Michael of Romania |
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| Father | Ferdinand of Romania |
| Mother | Marie of Edinburgh |
| Born | 15 October 1893 Sinaia, Romania |
| Died | 4 April 1953 (aged 59) Estoril, Portugal |
| Burial | 1953 2004 Estoril, Portugal (1953) Curtea de Argeş, Romania (2004) |
Carol II (15 October/16 October 1893 – 4 April 1953) reigned as King of Romania from June 8, 1930 until September 6, 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand I, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria. He was the first of the Romanian royal family who was baptized in the Orthodox rite.[1]
Carol was born in Peleş Castle. In November 1914, Carol joined the Romanian Senate, as the 1866 Constitution guaranteed him a seat there upon reaching majority.[2] Known rather for his romantic misadventures than for any leadership skills, Carol (Romanian for "Charles") was first married in the Cathedral Church of Odessa, Ukraine, 31 August 1918, in contravention of royal law, to Joanna Marie Valentina Lambrino, ("Zizi" Lambrino) (1898–1953), daughter of a Romanian general; they had one son, Mircea Gregor Carol Lambrino, and the marriage was annulled by decision of the Ilfov Tribunal in 1919. He next married, in Athens, Greece, on 10 March 1921, Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark (who was known in Romania as Crown Princess Elena), but the marriage soon collapsed in the wake of the king's affair with Elena "Magda" Lupescu (1895?–1977), the Roman Catholic daughter of a Jewish pharmacist and his Roman Catholic wife. Magda Lupescu had formerly been the wife of Army officer Ion Tâmpenu. As a result of the scandal, he renounced his right to the throne on 28 December 1925 in favour of his son by Crown Princess Helen, Michael (Mihai), who became King in July 1927. Helena divorced Carol in 1928. Carol also had a son and a daughter by his mistress Maria Martini, a high-school student.
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Rule
Returning to the country unexpectedly on 7 June 1930, Carol reneged on the renunciation and was proclaimed King the following day. For the next decade he sought to influence the course of Romanian political life, first through manipulation of the rival Peasant and Liberal parties and anti-Semitic factions, and subsequently (January 1938) through a ministry of his own choosing (the National Renaissance Front), with a constitution (27 February) reserving ultimate power to the crown. In 1938, he banned the Iron Guard, which he had supported in the 1930s.
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Carol also sought to build up his own personality cult to counter the growing influence of the Iron Guard, for instance by setting up a paramilitary youth organization known as Straja Ţării in 1935.
An excellent fictionalized account of life in Bucharest in the final years of Carol's reign can be found in Olivia Manning's novels The Great Fortune and The Spoilt City.
He was the 892nd Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1938.
Exile
Forced under first Soviet and subsequently Hungarian, Bulgarian, Italian and German pressure to surrender parts of his kingdom to foreign rule, he was outmaneuvered at last by the pro-German administration of Marshal Ion Antonescu, and abdicated in favour of Michael, settling ultimately in Portugal.
Carol and Magda Lupescu were married in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 3 June 1947, Magda taking the title of Princess Elena von Hohenzollern. Carol remained in exile for the rest of his life. He was never to see his son, King Michael, after his 1940 departure from Romania. Michael refused to meet his father ever again.[3]
Remains returned to Romania
Carol died and was buried in Estoril, Portugal, in 1953; his remains were returned to Romania in 2003, at the Curtea de Argeş monastery. They lie outside the cathedral that is the burial place of most Romanian kings. Neither of his sons participated in either ceremony. His younger son and successor, King Michael, was represented by his daughter, Princess Margarita, and her husband, Radu Duda, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen. His eldest son, Carol Lambrino was forbidden (since 1940) to enter Romanian territory.
Foreign honors
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The UK awarded Carol the Order of the Garter.
Ancestry
References
- ^ King Carol II
- ^ "Ce citeau românii acum 68 de ani?", Ziua, November 29, 2007.
- ^ (Romanian) Monique Urdareanu on Elena Lupescu and Carol II, Ziua, January 14, 2006
See also
External links
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Carol II of Romania
Cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern
Born: October 15 1893 Died: April 4 1953 |
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| Preceded by Michael |
King of Romania 1930-1940 |
Succeeded by Michael |
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 | Political Biography. A Dictionary of Political Biography. Copyright © 1998, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
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