King Carol II

Son of Prince Ferdinand and Princess Maria, Carol was born on October 3, 1893 at Sinaia, being the first Romanian King to be born in Romania. He was baptized, according to the Constitution in orthodox rite. I n Carol's early years, King Carol I took care of his education, preparing him for his duties as heir of the throne. The young Carol proved to be an intelligent student with an overflowing personality. Troubles however, were just around the corner. Once King Ferdinand acceded to the throne, Carol becomes at 21 the heir of the throne. At the same age he becomes senator by law in the Romanian Parliament. During the WWI, while the government and the Roy al Family were in refuge at Iasi, he deserts from the army and run away with his mistress, Ioana (Zizi) Lambrino, daughter of an army major. They secretly married in Odessa. A huge scandal followed. Carol was sent to the Horaita-Neamt Monastery and later the Court of Ilfov declared the marriage null. Despite all these, Carol continued to see his lover and thus Mircea, the illegitimate son of Carol was born in 1920. Carol was sent away in a long trip to end the relationship with Ioana Lambrino. One year later, Carol met Elena, the daughter of King George and Queen Sofia of Greece. They married the same year and on October 25 their son Mihai, future King of Romania, was born. The relations between Prince Carol and Pr incess Elena ruined short after that and they distanced from each other. Soon after that Carol meets Elena (Magda) Wolf Lupescu. He falls in love with her. She will dominate his entire life from then on. They ran to Paris to live together. Carol takes the name of Carol Caraiman. Another scandal follows. This time King Ferdi nand decides to withdraw Carol's privileges and names Mihai as his successor to the throne. In 1927 King Ferdinand dies. Mihai becomes King of Romania and the Regency is formed to rule until Mihai will be 21. The Regency was formed of Prince Nicolae - Mihai's uncle, Miron Cristea - The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and Gheorghe B uzdugan - the president of the High Court of Justice. Not long after that the later one passed away and George Sarateanu took his place. In 1930 however, Carol returns and just two days later, on June 8 Carol is proclaimed King of Romania in front of the Parliament. The return of Carol was greatly facilitated by the political situation in the country. Under the reign of King Ferdinand the universal vote was introduced. This led to a proliferation of political parties. Before that, there were two political parties in Romania: the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. After the WWI the situation changed. The Conservative Party was disintegrated and dozens of other parties took its place. The Liberal Party that formed the government, led by Ionel Bratianu opposed for a while to Carol's return. Shortly after Ferdinand's death, Bratianu passed away too. The government lost its influence in the political arena. The Regency had little influence too. In 1928 the Peasants Party took the power, against the liberals. Despite its popularity, the new government could not do much to improve the political situation, being faced with the consequences of the world economic crisis. On this background the idea that Carol would be the person who could end the fights between the parties and the political instability. On June 6, 1930 Carol returns incognito to Bucharest and two days later the Parliament abrogates the laws that forbad e Carol to become the heir of the throne. He became King Carol II of Romania. It was the first time in history that the father succeeded his son to the throne. Despite the promises made to the Prime Minister, Carol does not end the relationship with Elena Lupescu. He brings her back to Romania and forces Queen Elena to leave the country. Carol's reign lasted for ten years, between 1930 and 1940. These years meant for Romania a strong economic growth following the world economic crisis on one hand. On the other hand, Carol's reign brought the disintegration in 1938 of the parliamentaria n democracy in Romania. The establishment of Carol's Royal Dictatorship was facilitated by both the internal and international political situation. In the 30's dictators already ruled most of the countries on the continental Europe. In Romania the people were strongly disappointed by the political parties. In addition right wing extremist movements flourished in those times. The most important one was The Legionary Movement, led by Horia Sima and Corneliu Zelea-Codreanu. Violence was a current practice to end political arguments. Two Prime Ministers were killed by the legionnaires under the reign of Carol II. Meanwhile a new war was about to emerge in Europe. Under these circumstances in 1938 Carol established a personal dictatorship regime without much opposition. He outlawed all the political parties, establishing a new unique one. His dream to be "The King of National Resurrection" was not to become real ity. He surrounded himself with a camarilla of dubious persons, most of them introduced by his mistress Elena Lupescu. The following two years brought a lot of bad fortune to Romania. In 1940, following a treaty between Hitler's Germany and Stalin's USSR, Romania lost Basarabia and Northern Bucovina to USSR and northwestern Transilvania to Hungary. All this happened wi thout a single gun to be fired. Carol found himself without internal or external political support, facing rallies throughout the country militating against him. The people considered him responsible for the loss of the above-mentioned territories and for the violence in the political life in the country. Thus, in September 1940 Carol gives up most of his decision-making powers in favor of General Ion Antonescu who becomes the head of state. More than that, the next day, on September 6, 1940 Antonescu for ces Carol to abdicate and Mihai becomes for the second time King of Romania. He was only 19. Antonescu is the actual new ruler of Romania. Carol leaves Romania for good on September 7, 1940 together with his mistress Elena Lupescu, in a special train. He took with him lots of treasures from Romania, among which there were 41 paintings by artists such as Tizian, El Greco, and Grigorescu. H e lived for several years in some South American countries. After that he settled in Portugal. During the WWII and immediately after that he had some unsuccessful attempts to regain the throne, contacting even the Soviets. They only caused some trouble to King Mihai during the negotiations with the allies. The Romanian political personalities an d parties, with the esception of Gh. Tatatrescu, did not give any support or attention to Carol on these attempts. After all, Carol marries Elena Lupescu in 1949. He dies in 1953 of cancer. Elena Lupescu who outlived him for almost 25 years inherited his huge fortune. Carol II rests in the chapel of Portugal Kings in Estoril.