Scholarly record
FOREIGN POLICY STRATEGIES OF THE ROYAL HOUSE OF ROMANIA IN INTERWAR PERIOD
Abstract
If during King Carol I`s reign the foreign policy was, by tradition, a domain managed exclusively bythe King, after Carol I`s death, this part of politics was transferred to the political parties. In this sense, the implication of the Royal House tends to be secondary. In spite of all this, the changes which were made, between the germanophile vision and the ententophilevision, put Romania in a better position at the Peace Conference. The English origins of Queen Mary proved to be salutary for the Great Romania. Not surprisingly, Ionel Bratianu admits that “Queen Mary`s few days' contribution was muchmore important than the Romanian Diplomacy`s several months' activity”. On the other hand, Romanian diplomatic role at the end of the second interwar decade was, also, decided by the monarch, Carol II in this case. Basically, the early '20s represent a true marital conquest of the Balkans. Not surprisingly, some contemporaries saw imperialist tendencies in these matrimonial combinations, comparing Queen Mary with her grandmother, Queen Victoria of Great Britain and labelling her as the ”the mother-in-law of the Balkans.” Moreover, during the interwar years, around the Royal House of Romania some possible dynastic unions were initiated: Romanian-Hungarian, Romanian-Polish and even Romanian-Bulgarian but they were not developed. Soon, however, the entire structure based on dynastic marriages collapsed. Elisabeth divorced George II of Greece, King Alexander of Yugoslavia was killed in Marseille in 1934, while the future king Carol II and Hellen separated so that he could live with Elena Lupescu. If, during the reign of the couple Ferdinand-Maria, the Royal House of Romania gained Europe's respect, after Prince Carol's renunciation of the throne and after the death of King Ferdinand, the Royal House was no longer so important externally. Last but not least, Carol's love affairs, the exile of Hellen, the queen mother, and the relationship with Elena Lupescu contributed to the isolation of Romania from the European royal houses. Starting from what we have mentioned above, our analysis will be based on three directions of the Royal House`s foreign policy: - The first one is based on state visits as official policy - The second one includes unofficial visits, discussions, correspondence etc. - The third one is based on marriages between children of Royal Families
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