Zizi Lambrino | |
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 Lambrino with her son | |
| Born | 3 October 1898 |
| Died | 11 March 1953 (aged 54) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Carol Lambrino |
Joanna Marie Valentina "Zizi" Lambrino (3 October 1898 – 11 March 1953) was the first wife of the later King Carol II of Romania. They had one son, Carol, born in 1920, in Bucharest.
Lambrino was born in Roman, Kingdom of Romania in 1898 to a Phanariot Greek family of former noble Byzantine origins, the Rangabe-Lambrino family. [1] She was the daughter of Romanian Colonel, later General, Constantin Lambrino (d. 1916) and his wife, Euphrosine Alcaz (1875–1930). Joanna Lambrino met the Crown Prince Carol, a Hohenzollern who was the son of King Ferdinand of Romania and Queen Marie of Romania, in Iaşi in the Kingdom of Romania in 1918, during the First World War. The Romanian royal court had adjourned from Bucharest to Iaşi, to keep its distance from a German invasion. Journalist A.L. Easterman would later write that "Carol fell violently in love and was at no pains to dissemble it", despite the obvious disapproval of the royal court for his bestowing his affections on a commoner. Even so, there are several photographs of Zizi Lambrino and Prince Carol at the royal family residences and together with other members of the Romanian royal family. Lulu, Zizi's brother, was one of Carol's best friends and they corresponded with each other throughout their lives.
Some say their union was opposed by his parents, but Carol "smuggled" her across the former Russian frontier and they were officially married in the Orthodox Cathedral of Odesa, Ukraine, on 31 August 1918,[ which calendar? ] in the presence of witnesses. [2] Carol's parents were furious. The king ordered him to be kept in close confinement in Bistrița Monastery for seventy-five days. Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu practically accused Carol of treason. Prince Carol threatened to renounce his right of royal succession and, indeed, when in August 1919 the Romanian Supreme Court ruled the marriage unconstitutional, unlawful and annulled it, Carol signed documents of renunciation. However, as Easterman describes it, "intriguers... cunningly... [threw] other young and attractive women in his view and society" and eventually "corroded his relations with his wife..."
Carol and Zizi Lambrino had one son, Mircea Gregor Carol Lambrino (8 August 1920 – 27 January 2006). Carol and the Romanian government continued to pay Lambrino's maintenance and that of her son in their French exile.
Zizi Lambrino died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, France, on 11 March 1953. [3] Her former husband, the now ex-King Carol II, died in exile in Estoril, Portugal, shortly after on 4 April 1953.
Zizi Lambrino's personal papers (including diaries, correspondence and photographs related to her marriage to Carol II of Romania) are preserved in the "Jeanne Marie Valentine Lambrino Papers" collection in the Hoover Institution Archives (Stanford, California, US). [4]
Her son, Mircea Gregor Carol Lambrino, was named in memory of Prince Mircea of Romania (1913–1916), Carol's youngest brother, who had died four years previous to the former's birth, but he would later be known as "Carol" rather than "Mircea." Mircea/Carol married three times, firstly (1944–1950) to Opera singer Hélène Nagavitzine (aka. Léna Pastor); they had one son, Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern. He next married Jeanne Williams (1960–1977); they had one son, Ion Nicolas George Alexander Hohenzollern (born 1961 in Dorset, England). He married his third wife, Antonia Colville, in 1984 and they remained married until he died in 2006.
In response to a suit by her grandson Paul, a Romanian Court determined in 1996 that her marriage was legal. This places a shadow over the status of Carol II's son, the de facto King of Romania Michael, because if Carol's marriage to Zizi Lambrino was never properly ended, that could invalidate his later royal marriage to Helen of Greece and Denmark, Michael's mother.
ChivalricOrders.org sees this shadow as very slight: "The legality of the annulment of the marriage was not only unchallenged at the time, but significantly, after eventually becoming King, Carol II did not attempt to undo this act nor declare his son Mircea legitimate. Neither did he ever name Mircea as his heir..."; further, "the annulment" although contested by Carol at the time was "... eventually acknowledged by Carol II himself who remarried twice."
Michael I was the last King of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947.
Carol II was King of Romania from 8 June 1930, until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. As the eldest son of King Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I, in 1914. He was the first of the Hohenzollern kings of Romania to be born in the country, as both of his predecessors had been born in Germany and came to Romania only as adults. As such, he was the first member of the Romanian branch of the Hohenzollerns who spoke Romanian as his first language and was also the first member of his royal family to be raised in the Orthodox faith.
Ferdinand I, nicknamed Întregitorul, was King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, and Infanta Antónia of Portugal,. His family was part of the Catholic branch of the Prussian royal family Hohenzollern.
Carol I or Charles I of Romania, was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (Domnitor) from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He was elected Prince of the Romanian United Principalities on 20 April 1866 after the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup d'état. In May 1877, Romania was proclaimed an independent and sovereign nation. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire (1878) in the Russo-Turkish War secured Romanian independence, and he was proclaimed King on 26 March [O.S. 14 March] 1881. He was the first ruler of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty, which ruled the country until the proclamation of a socialist republic in 1947.
Elisabeth of Wied was the first Queen of Romania as the wife of King Carol I from 15 March 1881 to 27 September 1914. She had been the princess consort of Romania since her marriage to then-Prince Carol on 15 November 1869.
Marie was the last queen of Romania from 10 October 1914 to 20 July 1927 as the wife of King Ferdinand I.
Elisabeth of Romania was the second child and eldest daughter of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania. She was Queen of the Hellenes from 27 September 1922 until 25 March 1924 as the wife of King George II.
Prince Mircea of Romania was the third son and youngest child of King Ferdinand of Romania and Marie of Edinburgh and the great-grandson of Queen Victoria through his mother. He died aged 3 in November 1916.
Prince Barbu Alexandru Știrbey was 30th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Romania in 1927.
Princess Ileana of Romania, also known as Mother Alexandra, was the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand I of Romania and his consort, Queen Marie of Romania. She was a great-granddaughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia, King Ferdinand II, Queen Maria II of Portugal, and Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. She was born as Her Royal Highness Princess Ileana of Romania, Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.
Prince Nicholas of Romania, later known as Prince Nicholas of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the fourth child and second son of King Ferdinand I of Romania and his wife Queen Marie.
Magda Lupescu, later officially known as Princess Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the mistress and later wife of King Carol II of Romania.
Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern, also known as Paul Lambrino and Prince Paul of Romania, is the son of Carol Lambrino and Hélène Henriette Nagavitzine. His father was the elder son of King Carol II of Romania and Zizi Lambrino. Paul-Philippe claims that he, and not Margareta of Romania, is the rightful head of the royal house of Romania.
Helen of Greece and Denmark was the queen mother of Romania during the reign of her son King Michael I (1940–1947). Her humanitarian efforts to save Romanian Jews during World War II, led to her being awarded by the State of Israel with the honorific of Righteous Among the Nations in 1993.
Mircea Grigore Carol Hohenzollern, also known as Prince Mircea Grigore Carol al României according to his amended Romanian birth certificate or as Carol Lambrino, was the elder son of King Carol II of Romania.
Joseph Whiteside Boyle, better known as Klondike Joe Boyle, was a Canadian adventurer who became a businessman and entrepreneur in the United Kingdom. In the First World War he came to see service assisting the allied Kingdom of Romania.
The Romanian royal family constitutes the Romanian subbranch of the Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern, and was the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Romania, a constitutional monarchy in Central-Eastern Europe. The kingdom existed from 1881, when Carol I was proclaimed king, until 1947, when the last king, Michael I, was forced to abdicate and the Parliament proclaimed Romania a republic. Soon after, upon the establishment of the constitution of 13 April 1948, Romania became a people's republic, a state that lasted until 1989.
Princess Josephine Friederike Luise of Baden was Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen from 27 August 1848 to 7 December 1849 during the brief reign of her husband, Prince Karl Anton. Josephine was the second daughter of Charles, Grand Duke of Baden, and Stéphanie de Beauharnais. She was the mother of the first king of Romania, Carol I. Through her younger daughter Marie, she is the ancestress of the Belgian royal family, the grand ducal family of Luxembourg as well as the last Queen of Italy and her descendants. Through her son, Leopold, she is also ancestress of the Romanian royal family and the Serbian and Yugoslav Royal House.
Alexandru Al. Ioan Cuza was a Romanian aristocrat and politician. He was the eldest of the sons adopted by Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza and his consort, Elena Rosetti-Cuza. Public opinion and historians generally agree that both Cuza brothers were Cuza's natural sons from his mistress Maria Catargi-Obrenović, though another hypothesis has them as born to Maria from her liaison with Cezar Librecht, the Postmaster General and spy chief. His biological and his adoptive mother both belonged to the boyar aristocracy of Moldavia. Through Catargi, Alexandru and Dimitrie were half-brothers of Milan I Obrenović, the King of Serbia, and of General Radu Catargi. During his brief political activity, Alexandru was repeatedly described as a Russophile or more specifically an agent of the Russian Empire, resembling in this Maria and her father, Costin Catargi.
Ernest Urdărianu (1897–1985), was the Minister of the Court during the reign of King Carol II of Romania (1930–1940). As closest confidant of the King Urdăreanu was, alongside Madame Lupescu, the King's mistress, the third member of the triumvirate which held virtually all power in the state during the 1930s. It is alleged that he was, after the King, the most powerful and the most hated man in Romania. Following the abdication of the King in 1940, Urdăreanu left the country together with him and Madame Lupescu to seek asylum and he stayed with them for the rest of his life.
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