Carol II of Romania is born

Today in Masonic history the Carol II of Romania is born in 1893.

Carol (Romanian for Charles) II was a member of the royal family and reigned over Romania

Carol II started in political life in 1914 with a seat in the Romanian Senate. A seat that was guaranteed to him 1866 Constitution when he reached maturity.

Carol II was married three times. The first was to a woman called Zizi who was the daughter of Romanian General. This marriage was annulled after 8 months. The two continued to live together after the annulment. The couple had one child.

The second marriage of Carol II was to Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark, better known in Romania as Crown Princess Elena. The two were second cousins the great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria. This marriage lasted slightly longer. The two had a son Michael who would ascend to the throne when Carol renounced his thrown after a scandalous affair.

In 1930 a coup d'etat was engineered by the Prime Minister and Carol would regain the throne from his son. During his reign Carol was given the Knight of the Order of the Garter by his second cousin King George VI of Great Britain. He would also remove the more democratic government and constitution for a more authoritarian government with him having strong dictatorial powers.

Carol would leave the throne in 1940 after being forced by Soviet, Hungarian, Bulgarian and German pressure to surrender parts of his kingdom. He would abdicate the throne a second time to son Michael. He would turn over all of his powers to rule the country to the prime minister a pro-German.

Carol would go into exile, first in Mexico and then in Portugal. His third marriage would be to Elena Magda Lupescu the women he had an affair with many years earlier and who had to abdicate his throne for the first time.

This article provided by Brother Eric C. Steele.