King Ferdinand, who now succeeds his uncle on the throne of Rumania,
was born in August, 1865, and, like his predecessor, is a Hohenzollern
and a Roman Catholic.
Among his near relatives are the King of the Belgians and his
namesake, Tsar Ferdinand of the Bulgarians, who are both first
cousins, and his niece, Queen Augustina Victoria, the consort of Dom
Manoel. Through his mother, the Princess Antonia, who was born an
Infanta of Portugal, King Ferdinand is kin with all the house of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, to which his consort, the new Queen Mary,
belongs as daughter of the late Duke of Edinburgh.
Her Majesty is thus first cousin to King George and to the Czar, as
also to Princess Nicholas of Greece. Her three sisters are married
respectively to the Grand Duke Cyril of Russia, Prince Ernest, the
eldest son of the mediatized Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and to
the Infante Alfonso d'Orléans of Spain.
Their Majesties have six children, of whom the Crown Prince Carol, who
celebrates his 21st birthday this week, and the Princess Elizabeth,
born in 1894, are of marriageable age. The youngest, Prince Mircea,
who bears a historic Rumanian name closely connected with Silistria,
was born during the Balkan war at the beginning of 1913. King
Ferdinand's family is a remarkable example of religious
differences--his Majesty is a Roman Catholic, the Queen is a Lutheran,
and their children are members of the Orthodox Church of Rumania.
The Rumanian Minister has received a copy of a proclamation published
in The Official Gazette stating that the new King will follow in the
footsteps of the late monarch and will accomplish the ideals of the
Rumanian race.