DID YOU KNOW ? The marriage of a deserter prince and a commoner caused a scandal during the First World War

Listening to the story about Mary of Romania, you may have wanted to know more about her son, Crown Prince Carol. In this bonus episode of "At the heart of history", the history specialist Jean des Cars tells you how and why he almost did not participate with them in the victory parade in Bucharest on December 1, 1918. 

A few days before the victory parade on December 1, 2018, Crown Prince Carol, son of King Ferdinand and Queen Mary, was still detained in a monastery, in the north of Romania. He had been sentenced by his father and the government to 75 days in prison for desertion and crossing the Russian border without authorization in the last days of the war. A prince inheriting in prison that day was serious ...
Crown prince Carol had always been an incorrigible seducer. His parents had tried, unsuccessfully, a few months before the outbreak of the war, to marry him to the eldest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the Grand Duchess Olga of Russia. They had resigned themselves to letting him live his life as long as it did not lead to unfortunate consequences.
Their son had behaved very bravely at the front. But when he was on leave in Iassy, ​​in the north of Romania where the authorities had retired, he led a happy life, between cafes and dancing parties. And there he fell head over heels in love with the lovely Zizi Lambrino, daughter of an officer in the Romanian army. Carol had decided to marry her. But knowing that his parents would oppose an unequal marriage, he had found nothing better than to leave Romania with her. He had deserted.
75 days in prison
They passed through the Austrian lines which occupied part of Russia. Finally, the two fugitives had arrived in Odessa, on the shores of the Black Sea. The lovers married there on August 31, 1918. Let us remember that Russia was then in the midst of a Bolshevik revolution and that the imperial family had been executed on July 17. Needless to say, the king and queen are horrified when they learn of their son's marriage.
While Romania is winning the war, the king and the queen negotiate with their son to force him to return to his country. It took more than ten days. Carol finally agrees to return by the train sent to her by the King her father. He learns then learns his sentence to 75 days in prison for desertion. On September 11, he was interned in a monastery while Zizi Lambrino returned to his family. She is desperate.
Carol will finally be released in time to participate in the victory parade. Her marriage was annulled by the Bucharest court on January 18, 1919 for "lack of legal publication". The crown prince will continue to live for some time with Zizi, the time to give him a child he will not recognize. 

Carol will then marry the beautiful Princess Hélène, daughter of the King of Greece, for the latter's great misfortune ... She will give him a son, Michel, the last king of Romania. A very bulky inheritance prince who will still pose many problems to his parents and, later, become sovereign, to his country.

Want to listen to the other episodes of this podcast?

>> Find them on our Europe1.fr site and on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Dailymotion and YouTube, or your usual listening platforms.

>> Find here the user manual to listen to all the podcasts of Europe 1

"At the heart of history" is a Europe 1 Studio podcast

Author and presentation: Jean des Cars 

Project manager: Adèle Ponticelli

Realization: Laurent Sirguy and Guillaume Vasseau

Diffusion and edition: Clémence Olivier

Graphics: Europe 1 Studio

Bibliography: Marie, Queen of Romania  History of my life  (First French edition Plon, 1938. Reissue Lacurne, Paris, 2014). Jean des Cars,  The Scepter and the Blood , Kings and  Queens in the turmoil of the two World Wars  (Perrin, 2014). Guy Gauthier,  The Eagles and the Lions,  history of the Balkan monarchies (France-Empire, 1996).