Reactions after Queen Anne’s Death
Romanians are mourning Queen Anne, the wife of the former sovereign of Romania Michael I.
Roxana Vasile, 02.08.2016, 12:59
August 1st 2016 will go down in history as a sad day for the Romanian people and the Royal House of Romania. Anne, the wife of the former sovereign of Romania Michael I, died in a hospital in Switzerland. Daughter of Prince Rene of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Margaret of Denmark, Anne was born on September 18th 1923 in Paris. Anne could count both the last king of France, Charles X, and the first king of the French, Louis Philippe I, among her ancestors. On the maternal side, she was the great-granddaughter of King Christian IX of Denmark.
She spent her childhood in France and in 1939, when the war broke out, she followed her family to Spain and then America. There she studied art and, in order to earn a living, also worked as a shop assistant. In 1943 she enlisted as a volunteer in the French army. She traveled alongside her regiment to Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Luxembourg and Germany, and was awarded the French War Cross.
Anne met her future husband. Michael I, in London in November 1947, at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain and Prince Philip of Greece. Had Romanian society not been faced with the scourge brought by Soviets in 1948, the wedding would have taken place in Bucharest, to be joyfully celebrated by the entire nation. Unfortunately, the King was forced to abdicate so the wedding took place in Greece. The two sovereigns were married 70 years, of which 40 spent far from the country, in Britain and Switzerland. In Romania, the royal family returned only after the anti-communist revolution of 1989.
Historian Adrian Niculescu with more: “Queen Anne played the role of wife of an exiled king, and what she mainly did was build a family. Her role was institutional, but her main contribution was to morally support King Michael.
“Queen Anne was one of the most important symbols of wisdom, dignity and moral conduct, said Romanias president Klaus Iohannis in a message of condolences. In turn, the Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has stated that the Queen was “a symbol of nobility, discretion and dignity. The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church Daniel and many political leaders and public figures have too conveyed messages of condolences.
The honorary president of the National Liberal Party Mircea Ionescu Quintus, now aged almost 100, was profoundly marked by the passing of Queen Anne, whom he knew in person: “I talked to her and I understood that, although she was not a crowned queen in this country, she was a queen, not just because she was born royalty, but because she really had the demeanor of a queen and this is the memory of her that I mostly cherish. I am very sad that shes gone and I am sad for the King, whos now left alone.
The leader of the Social – Democrat senators, Mihai Fifor, has also voiced his regret for the death of Queen Anne: “The fourth queen of Romania, Her Majesty Queen Anne has died leaving behind nothing but light. We are sad and there is nothing we can do but express our sympathy for His Majesty King Michael I and the entire Royal House. Our hearts go out to them.
At the former Sovereigns request, his wifes funeral will be held in southern Romania, at the Curtea de Arges Monastery, which hosts the Romanian Royal sepulchres.
(Translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)
