Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen of Romania Consort of King Ferdinand I of Romania, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and of the Tsar Alexander II, mother of King Carol II and grandmother of King Mihai I de Romania mother of Maria Queen of Yugoslavia and of Elisabeta Queen of Greece, Dowager Queen Mother of Romania, (1927-1938), benefactor, patron of the arts, writer, diplomat as unofficial negotiator at the Treaty of Versailles, honorary Romanian by marriage and vocation
On being a stranger: Once I was a stranger to this people; now I am one of them, and, because I came from so far, better was I able to see them with their good qualities and with their defects. (Queen Marie of Romania, My Country)
Queen Marie of Romania was born at Eastwell Park in Kent, Princess of Great Britain. Her father was the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Victoria’s second son, and her mother was the Grand Duchess Marie Romanovna, only surviving daughter of Tzar Alexander II of Russia. This made Princess Marie a niece of King Edward VII and first cousin of both the Czar Nicholas II of Russia and of King George V as well as of the German Emperor William II. She was supposed to have been married to her cousin later to become king George V of Great Britain, should it not have been for the fierce opposition of her Russian mother who disliked everything to do with the British royal family.