| Anne | |
|---|---|
| Queen consort of Romania | |
| Spouse | Michael of Romania |
| Issue | |
| Princess Margarita Princess Elena Princess Irina Princess Sophie Princess Maria |
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| Full name | |
| French: Anne Antoinette Françoise Charlotte | |
| House | House of Bourbon-Parma House of Romania |
| Father | Prince René of Bourbon-Parma |
| Mother | Princess Margrethe of Denmark |
| Born | 18 September 1923 Paris, France |
Queen Anne of Romania (née Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma on 18 September 1923), is the wife of the former King Michael of Romania.
She is a niece of Empress Zita of Austria and a great niece of Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia.
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Anne Antoinette Françoise Charlotte was born in Paris, France, the daughter of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Margrethe of Denmark. With her three brothers she spent her childhood in France. In 1939 her family fled from the Nazis and escaped to Spain. From there they went on to Portugal and then to the United States.
She attended the Parson's School of Design in New York from 1940 to 1943. She also worked as a sales-person at Macy's department store. In 1943 she volunteered for military service in the French Army. She served in Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Luxembourg and Germany, driving ambulances, and received the French Croix de guerre.
In November 1947 Anne met King Michael I of Romania who was visiting London for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom) to Prince Philip of Greece, Michael's cousin and childhood playmate. In fact, a year previously Queen Mother Elena had invited Anne, her mother, and brothers for a visit to Bucharest, but the plan did not come off.[1] Meanwhile, Michael had glimpsed Anne in a newsreel and requested a photograph from the film footage.[1]
She did not want to have to accompany her parents to London for the royal wedding so as to avoid meeting King Michael in official surroundings. Instead, she planned to stay behind, go alone to the Paris railway station and, pretending to be a passerby in the crowd, privately observe the king as his entourage escorted him to his London-bound train.[1] However, at the last moment she was persuaded by her cousin, Jean of Luxembourg to come to London, where he planned to host a party. Upon arrival, she stopped by Claridge's to pay respects to her parents, and found herself being introduced unexpectedly to King Michael. Abashed to the point of confusion, she clicked her heels instead of curtseying, and fled in embarrassment. Charmed, the king saw her again the night of the wedding at the Luxembourg embassy soirée, confided in her some of his concerns about the Communist takeover of Romania and fears for his mother's safety, and nicknamed her Nan.[1] They saw each other several times thereafter on outings in London, always chaperoned by her mother or brother.
A few days later, she accepted an invitation to accompany Michael and his mother when he piloted a Beechcraft aeroplane to take his aunt, the Duchess of Aosta, back home to Lausanne.[1] Sixteen days after meeting, Michael proposed to Anne while the couple were out on a drive in Lausanne. She accepted and, although Michael gave her an engagement ring a few days later, he felt obliged to refrain from a public announcement until he informed his government, despite the fact that the press besieged them in anticipation.[1]
Michael returned to Romania, where he was told by the prime minister that a wedding announcement was not "opportune". Yet within days it was used as the government's public explanation for Michael's sudden "abdication", when in fact the king was deposed by the Communists on 30 December.[1] Anne was unable to get further news of Michael until he was deported. But they finally rendez-voused in Davos on 23 January 1948.[1]
As a Bourbon, Anne was bound by the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, which required that she receive a dispensation to marry a non-Catholic Christian (Michael is Orthodox). At the time, such a dispensation was normally only given if the non-Roman Catholic partner promised to allow the children of the marriage to be raised as Roman Catholics. Michael refused to make this promise since it would have violated Romania's monarchical constitution, and would be likely to have a detrimental impact upon any possible restoration.[1] The Holy See (which handled the matter directly since Michael was a member of a reigning dynasty) refused to grant the dispensation unless Michael made the required promise.
| Styles of Queen Anne of Romania |
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|---|---|
| Reference style | Her Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
Queen Helen and the Duchess of Aosta (an Orthodox married to a Catholic Prince) met with the fiancée's parents in Paris, where the two families resolved to take their case to the Vatican in person. In early March, the couple's mothers met with Pope Pius XII who, despite the entreaties of the former Queen Regent and the fact that Princess Margrethe of Bourbon-Parma pounded her fist on the table in anger, refused permission for Anne to marry Michael.[1]
It has been surmised that the Pope's refusal was, in part, motivated by the fact that when Princess Giovanna of Savoy wed King Boris III of Bulgaria in 1930, the couple had undertaken to raise their future children as Roman Catholics, but had baptized them in the Orthodox faith in deference to Bulgaria's state religion.[1] However, Michael declined to make a promise he could not keep politically, while Anne's mother was herself the daughter of a mixed marriage between a Catholic Princess (Marie d'Orléans) and a Protestant (Prince Valdemar of Denmark), who had abided by their pre ne temere compromise to raise their sons as Protestant and their daughter, Margrethe, as Catholic.[1]
The engaged couple resolved to proceed. Anne's paternal uncle, Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma, issued a statement objecting to any marriage conducted against the will of the Pope and the bride's family. It was he, not the Pontiff, who forbade Anne's parents to attend the wedding.[1] Michael's spokesman declared on 9 June that the parents had been asked and had given their consent, and that the bride's family would be represented at the nuptials by her maternal uncle, Prince Eric of Denmark, who was to give the bride away.[1]
The wedding was held in Athens, in the throne room of the Royal Palace, where the ceremony was performed by Archbishop Damaskinos, and King Paul of the Hellenes served as koumbaros.[1] Michael's father, ex-King Carol II of Romania, and his sisters, Princesses Ileana and Elisabeta were notified, but not invited.[1] One of the bridesmaids was Sofia of Greece, a princess who would later convert to Catholicism to marry Juan Carlos of Spain, later becoming Queen Consort of Spain.
As no papal dispensation was given for the marriage, when it was celebrated according to the rites of the Eastern Orthodox Church on 10 June 1948 in Athens, Greece, it was deemed invalid by the Roman Catholic Church. But the couple would eventually wed again, on 9 November 1966 at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Charles in Monaco, thus fulfilling obligations to both faiths.[1]
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HM The King |
Anne is by tradition known as Her Majesty Queen Anne of Romania, although she married Michael after the loss of his throne. Anne and Michael have five daughters:
For further details about the princesses: see ([1]).
After their marriage, Anne and Michael lived first at Villa Sparta, the home of Michael's mother outside Florence, Italy. In 1949 they moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, and in 1951 to England, where they lived at Bramshill House, Hampshire, and later at Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire. In 1955 they returned to Switzerland and settled in Versoix near Geneva.
In 1992 Anne and Michael visited Romania for three days; it was Anne's first visit to the country. From 1993 to 1997, despite repeated attempts, Michael was refused entry to Romania by the hostile crypto-Communist Romanian government. During these years Anne visited the country a number of times representing her husband. Since 1997, there have been no restrictions on Anne and Michael's entry into Romania. Elisabeta Palace was put at their disposal by the government, and they recuperated from the state some proprieties among which are Săvârşin Castle and Peleş Castle.[1]
Queen Anne and King Michael celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in June 2008 with a series of public events in Romania, including a reception at the Athenee Palace Hilton Hotel in Bucharest, a performance by Romania's National Philharmonic Orchestra, and a formal dinner at Sinaia. Attendees included ex-King Constantine II of the Hellenes and his wife Queen Anne-Marie, née Princess of Denmark, ex-King Simeon of Bulgaria and his queen, Margarita of Bulgaria, Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia, Aimone, Duke of Aosta, Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este, Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria, née Princess of Luxembourg, Prince Philip of Bourbon-Parma, Queen Sofia of Spain (Anne's attendant at the original wedding), as well as the couple's two eldest daughters and a couple of their grandchildren.[1]
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Queen Anne of Romania
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: 18 September 1923 |
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| Titles in pretence | ||
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| Loss of title Monarchy abolished in 1947
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— TITULAR — Queen consort of Romania 10 June 1948 – present |
Incumbent |
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