Thursday, June 28, 2012

Helene Vacaresco extracts her revenge

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 June 28, 1892

The Romanian aristocrat whose "love affair" with Crown Prince Ferdinand "caused such a disturbance in Romanian politics a short time ago" has now taken her revenge, according to the New York Times, which based its report on an article in the Independence Belge, based in Brussels.

Helene Vacarescu has been sending to Princess Marie of Edinburgh, the Crown Prince's fiancee, "every two or three days a love letter written to her by the Crown Prince during their courtship."



Queen Elisabeth of Romania, the wife of King Carol, has "vainly entreated" Miss Vacarescu to surrender the correspondence."  Helene has refused her request and continues to send the letters to Princess Marie. 

A well-educated young woman, Helene had written her first book in 1886, which had caught the attention of Queen Elisabeth, who wrote under the nom de plume, Carmen Sylva.  The queen invited Helene to Bucharest, where the two women became close friends.  Helene became a second daughter to the queen, whose only daughter, Princess Marie, had died in 1874.

Although the  Romanian Constitution did not permit the heir to marry a Romanian,  Queen Elisabeth encouraged a romance between Helene and Crown Prince Ferdinand.

Ferdinand fell in love with Helene and wanted to marry her.  But marriage was out of the question. When King Carol found out about his wife's intrigues, she was packed off to her maternal home at Neuwied for two years, and Helene was sent into exile to Paris. 

The Crown Prince was obliged to find a royal bride, and he settled on Princess Marie of Edinburgh, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

The Duke of Edinburgh, Marie's father, has requested the Romanian government to interfere in the matter."

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