| Elisabeth of Romania | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Queen consort of the Hellenes | |||||
| Tenure | 27 September 1922 – 25 March 1924 | ||||
| Born | 12 October 1894 Peleş Castle, Sinaia, Kingdom of Romania | ||||
| Died | 14 November 1956 (aged 62) Villa Rose Alba, Cannes, France | ||||
| Burial | Hedinger Church, Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| |||||
| House | Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | ||||
| Father | Ferdinand I of Romania | ||||
| Mother | Marie of Edinburgh | ||||
Elisabeth of Romania (Elisabeth Charlotte Josephine Alexandra Victoria) Romanian: Elisabeta, Greek: Ελισάβετ; 12 October 1894 – 14 November 1956) was the second child and eldest daughter of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania. She was Queen of the Hellenes from 27 September 1922 until 25 March 1924 as the wife of King George II.
Elisabeth was born when her parents were crown prince and crown princess of Romania. She was raised by her great-uncle and great-aunt, King Carol I and Queen Elisabeth. Princess Elisabeth was an introvert and socially isolated. She became crown princess of Greece when she married George in 1921, but she felt no passion for him and underwent the political turmoil in her adopted country after World War I. When her husband succeeded to the Greek throne in 1922, Elisabeth was involved in assisting refugees who arrived to Athens after the disaster of the Greco-Turkish War. The rise of the revolutionary climate, however, affected her health and with great relief she left the Kingdom of Greece with her husband in December 1923. The royal couple then settled in Bucharest, and George was deposed on 25 March 1924, upon the abolition of the Greek monarchy.
In Romania, Elisabeth and George's relationship deteriorated, and they divorced in 1935. Very close to her brother Carol II of Romania, the former queen amassed an important fortune, partly due to financial advice given by her lover, the banker Alexandru Scanavi. After the death of her mother in 1938 and the abdication of King Carol II in 1940, Elisabeth took up the role of First Lady of Romania. At the end of World War II, she established close links with the Romanian Communist Party and openly conspired against her nephew, the young King Michael I, earning the nickname of "Red Aunt" of the sovereign. However, her communist links did not prevent her from being expelled from the country when the Romanian People's Republic was proclaimed in 1947. Elisabeth moved to Switzerland and then to Cannes, in southern France. She had a romantic relationship with Marc Favrat, a would-be artist almost thirty years younger, whom she finally adopted just before her death in 1956.[1]
- ^ Smith, Connell (5 December 2017). "How this painting by a 'toy boy' to a Romanian princess ended up in a Saint John auction". CBC News. Retrieved 17 June 2019.