The remains of Queen Sofia's aunt have been transferred to her adopted homeland after she was buried in Switzerland in 1982
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Romania lives on Saturday a historic day with the burial in the Royal Pantheon of Cuartea de Arges of the remains of Queen Elena , transferred this week with great pomp and solemnity from the cemetery of Boix-de-Vaux, in Switzerland, where it was Inhumane in 1982. Elena, born princess of Greece and Denmark , was the mother of Miguel I, the last monarch of the Romanians, who died in 2017 without seeing her wish fulfilled for her parent to rest in her homeland of adoption. His will will come true this Saturday, October 19, in a ceremony presided over by the current Custody of the Crown, Princess Margarita, and will feature the presence of the main authorities of the former communist country and of various royals. Our protagonist was related to almost all the dynasties of the Old Continent. Sister of King Paul of Greece , was therefore the aunt of Doña Sofía, the now Queen Mother of Spain, who had a great affection for her and her son, her favorite cousin , with whom she shared the anguish of so many years of exile.
Elena was born in Athens in 1896. Her father, the future Constantine I of Greece, was the firstborn and heir of the then King George I. In his long reign of almost half a century he gave him time to see how nationalisms pushed Europe into the Great War. In fact, he was killed in 1913 after the outbreak of the First Balkan War that spread the seeds of ethnic hatred that would take over the continent. The regicide of his grandfather was one of the many dramas that marked the existence of Elena, who spent different periods of his youth in exile since they touched very convulsive times for the Greek royal family - in reality, this dynasty has not lived another thing more than convulsive times -.
During one of the stages of exile, in Switzerland, in this case to remain with her father who had been dethroned, the princess met in 1919 the heir Carlos of Romania. They married the following year in Athens. Shortly before the royal family had lived another painful tragedy: the death of one of our protagonist's brothers, who had been crowned as Alexander I. His was one of the most absurd deaths in the history of royalty, the result of Bite of a monkey while walking through the estate of the Tatoi Palace.
Already become a princess of Romania, Elena moved with her husband to live in their new homeland. Everything seemed to be going well during the first months, especially with the arrival in the world of the only child of the marriage, the future Miguel I. But Elena would soon realize the great mistake that the wedding had represented. Carlos, an inveterate womanizer, immediately threw himself into the arms of his lover Magda Lupescu - whom he would marry after Elena's divorce in 1927. For her, the prince renounced his dynastic rights and fled the country.
So, in 1927, at the death of King Ferdinand, his grandson Miguel first ascended the throne of Bucharest. He was just six years old and a Regency Council was established. Princess Elena, abandoned in a country that was still so foreign to her, demonstrated an extraordinary pundonor and exercised an admirable responsibility that earned her great popularity and recognition.
But the joys last shortly. Bored with francachelas and dolce far niente , Carlos took advantage of a palatial maneuver promoted by a sector of parliamentarians dissatisfied with the Regency and, failing his resignation, did not hesitate to dethrone his son and proclaim himself a new king. It was 1930 and he was already divorced from Elena , whom he did not hesitate to expel from Romania . The princess settled in Florence during another long life exile of 10 years, terribly hard for her because her ex-husband barely let him see little Miguel at that time, beyond brief summer periods in which the taciturn kid could move to Italy to be with her.
The tables changed again in 1940. The extraordinary difficulties of the international scene forced Carlos II to abdicate in his son and to leave Romania. Miguel's second reign began then. And one of his first decisions was to ask his mother to return to the country to be by his side and make her his main adviser in the face of the titanic task he faced. Elena, who then received the title of Queen Mother from the Cortes, was a fundamental pillar in the troubled years of her son on the throne, both during World War II and later, already with a communist regime that converted the young monarch in little more than a puppet.
Queen Elena, a woman of vast culture - perfectly managed five languages - and very fond of the arts, played a decisive role during the international contest to save the lives of at least 100,000 Romanian Jews deported to Transnistria. The State of Israel recognized her in the 1990s as Fair among the Nations in gratitude for her performance.
In December 1947, the communist Groza forced King Miguel to leave the throne. Thus began a very long exile of four decades for the Romanian royal family. Elena would not step on the country again. He settled first in the famous Villa Esparta , in Florence, which family members knew as well as his niece, Queen Sofia. In the late 70s, with a fairly delicate economic situation, he had to sell the mansion and moved to Switzerland, where he spent the last years of his life near his son.
Elena died in Lausanne in 1982, at age 86. Although it was then dismissed by a large representation of members of almost all the dynasties of the continent, and it was Saturday, October 19, when it has finally received burial with all the honors of a queen .
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