King Carol II of Romania

 

Carol II (15 October 1893 [O.S. 3 October 1893] – 4 April 1953) reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. He was the eldest son of Ferdinand I and 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; both of his predecessors had been born in Germany and only came to Romania 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 the royal family to be raised in the Orthodox faith.^[1]

Carol was also a fan of football, being the Romanian Football Federation's president for almost one year from 1924 until 1925.^[2][3]

Carol's first controversy was his desertion from the army during World War I, followed by his marriage to Zizi Lambrino, which resulted in two attempts to give up the rights of succession to the royal crown of Romania, refused by King Ferdinand.

After the dissolution of his marriage, he traveled the world, culminating in a meeting with Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark, daughter of King Constantine I of Greece. They married in March 1921, having a child in the same year, Prince Michael. His continued affairs with Elena Lupescu obliged him to renounce his succession rights in 1925 and leave the country. His name was removed from the royal house of Romania by King Ferdinand. Carol moved to France with Lupescu, under the name Carol Caraiman. Michael, aged 5, inherited the throne on the death of King Ferdinand in 1927. Princess Helen eventually divorced Carol in 1928.

Carol was allowed to return to Romania in 1930 and his name was restored by the royal house of Romania, dethroning his own son. His reign was marked at the beginning by the effects of the Great Depression. Carol II weakened the party system, often appointing minority factions of historical parties to the government and attempting to form nationally concentrated governments, such as the Iorga-Argetoianu government. He also allowed the formation of a corrupt chamber around him, under the patronage of Elena Lupescu. Taking advantage of the political crisis of the December 1937 elections, where no party achieved an absolute majority and a coalition could not be formed due to disagreements between the National Liberal Party and those that could have formed a majority with them, the National Peasants Party and the Iron Guard, Carol established a royal dictatorship in 1938 by removing the 1923 constitution and abolishing the political parties, replaced by a single party, the National Renaissance Front, mostly composed of former members of the National Peasants Party and National Christian Party patronized by the king. The National Renaissance Front was the last of several attempts to counter the popularity of the fascist Iron Guard.

Following the start of World War II, Carol II reaffirmed the Polish–Romanian alliance; the military assistance was however declined by Poland, who wished to follow the Romanian Bridgehead plan that required a neutral Romania. Following the fall of Poland and the involvement of the USSR, Carol II maintained a neutrality policy. After the fall of France, Carol II's policy changed towards re-alignment with Nazi Germany in hopes of gaining a German guarantee. He was however not aware of the secret clauses of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact that would see Romania lose significant parts of its territory. The year 1940 marked the fragmentation of Greater Romania by the loss of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to USSR, Northern Transylvania to Hungary and Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria. Although a German guarantee was finally achieved, the situation had a disastrous effect on the reputation of Carol II. The reorientation of Romania's foreign policy towards Nazi Germany could not save his regime and he was forced to abdicate by General Ion Antonescu, newly appointed prime minister, and was succeeded by his son Michael.^[4] He was allowed to leave the country with a special train loaded with fortunes, an assassination attempt was made by the Iron Guard, who fired on the train. After World War II, Carol II wanted to return to the helm of the country and dethrone his son again, but was stopped by the Western Allies. He eventually married Elena Lupescu and died in exile.