Page 6 - Romania 100

But what remains important from this interview is the leading mission assumed by Queen Mary, inconceivable to the Queen of Romania at the time of King Carol I, and which best expresses itself in the equally prophetic statement: "Whatever the sacrifices and pains we will have to assume for Romania, we will carry them with elegance because we know that this is our destiny." An extraordinary destiny recorded later on the frontispiece of the north facade of the Arc of Triumph in Bucharest: "After centuries of painful Christian sufferings and heavy battles for the preservation of the national being, after the defence of human civilization full of sacrifices, the justice for the Romanian people was accomplished through the sword of King Ferdinand, with the help of the entire nation and the thought of Queen Mary. "
Now let's read the interview with Queen Mary of Romania a few weeks before her country's entry into the Great War:
A conversation with HM Queen Mary
Bucharest, August 9, 1916
Miss Rosamunde Boultbee1, correspondent of “Daily News” of Toronto, Canada, has recently
had the honour to be received by Her Majesty the Queen in a longer audience. The journalist reported this as follows:
It was my great honour to be received by HM the Queen of Romania, and I had the feeling that I had crossed the threshold of one of the happiest royal houses of Europe. After asking for the audience,
I received from the Queen’s Lady in waiting a letter with a black mourning border in which I was told that H M The Queen would receive me at Cotroceni Palace at a certain time; the letter also contained the prescription to present myself in mourning dress with black veil. The entire court is mourning after the death of Queen Elizabeth 2 and every visitor to the royal palace, even if they are there only for a few minutes, must conform to this prescription.
On my way to the palace I met Romanian peasant
2 On March 2, 1916 The royal court’s mourning lasted six months.
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men and women cutting the grass along the
alley, dressed in their picturesque costumes. The castle itself is in the middle of a splendid park on
a height outside Bucharest. Around the building there is a courtyard that extends over a large area. Cotroceni Palace was once a monastery. The royal palace is located right in the centre of Bucharest. The late king and queen of Romania have lived there. The current royal couple has established residence at Cotroceni Palace when they came
as newlyweds in Bucharest and they have special feelings for this residence, so the royal family is accustomed to using the palace in Bucharest only for official solemnities. The military court and the administration have their headquarters at the Royal Palace in Bucharest.
Upon my arrival at Cotroceni Palace I was led by a footman dressed in a bright livery in a sumptuous lounge, where the lady in waiting of H M The Queen3 received me and led me to the Queen’s personal apartment.
The room is not very large, but I rarely had the impression of such a perfect taste as here. Paneling are of the highest quality and velvet upholstered chairs invite you to sit for chatting. Paintings, some are made by children of the royal family, adorn the walls.
The Queen entered and greeted me very kindly: ”I am glad to see you in my house.” The lady in waiting left the room and for half an hour I was
3 At that time the first lady in waiting of the Queen Mary was Elena Mavrodi, see Almanach de Gotha, 1916, p. 1060.
1 About Rosamunde Boultbee’s work, see Marjory Lang, Women Who Made the News. Female Journalists in Canada 1880-1945, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1999, p. 280.