Coronation of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie of Romania, 1922

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Coronation of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie of Romania in the specially constructed Coronation Cathedral in Alba Iulia on this day in 1922. The ceremony was conducted by the Metropolitan of All Romani, but it was not performed inside the cathedral as the King, a Catholic, refused to be crowned by a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and thus placed his crown on his own head, before crowning the Queen (wearing her Crown with her Diamond Sautoir and later the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik), who had knelt before him. Immediately afterwards, cannons were fired as a sign that the first king and queen of Greater Romania had been anointed. The couple had succeeded to the Throne in 1914, but the formal Coronation had been delayed until after WWI, when Romania had gained more territory.

Royal Guests included the couple’s children Crown Prince Carol and Crown Princess Helen (in the Romanian Greek Key Tiara), Queen Maria of Yugoslavia (wearing the Yugoslavian Emerald Tiara), Queen Elisabeth of Greece (wearing Queen Marie’s Pearl Tiara), Prince Nicholas, and Princess Ileana, as well as the Queen’s sister, Princess Beatrice, Duchess of Galleria (wearing Maria Alexandrovna’s Fringe Tiara), the Duke of Galleria, the Duke of York, and the Duke of Genoa.

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