Ferdinand of Romania

Ferdinand or Ferdinand I (August 24 1865-July 20 1927) was the king of Romania from October 10 1914 until his death.

Born in Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen became heir to the throne of his childless uncle, King Carol I of Romania in November 1888, following the renunciations of his father and elder brother.

In 1893, Crown Prince Ferdinand married Princess Marie of Edinburgh, daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia. Her paternal grandparents were Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Her maternal grandparents were Alexander II of Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. The couple had three sons (one of whom died in infancy) and three daughters.

Ferdinand succeeded his uncle as King of Romania on 10 October, 1914, reigning until his death on 20 July, 1927.

Though a member of a cadet branch of Germany's ruling Hohenzollern imperial family, he presided over his country's entry into World War I on the side of the Triple Entente powers against the Central Powers on 27 August 1916. The outcome of Romania's war effort was the union of Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania in 1918.

Despite Romania's disastrous defeat during the closing months of 1916, he became ruler of a greatly enlarged Romanian state in 1918-1920 following the Entente's victory over the Central Powers, a war between the Kingdom of Romania and the Hungarian Soviet Republic, and the civil war in Russia, and was crowned king of Romania in a spectacular ceremony on 15 October 1922 at the historic princely seat of Alba Iulia.

Domestic political life during his reign was dominated by the conservative Liberal party led by the brothers Ion and Vintila Bratianu. The acquisition of Transylvania ironically enlarged the electoral base of the opposition, whose principal parties united in January 1925-October 1926 to form the National Peasant Party.

Ferdinand died in 1927, and was succeeded by his grandson Michael, under a regency. The regency had three members, one of whom was Ferdinand's second son, Prince Nicholas.

Although it is said that during his life King Ferdinand was not a very strong-minded person and had no will, he remains Romania's most important monarch, a true ruler of "Romania Mare", who, opposite to Carol I, loved Romanian people and their country with all his heart.

See also:

• Kings of Romania