King Ferdinand of Romania (Nando)

[palimpsest]

Marthe wasn't a beauty.



Copyright © Victoria & Albert Museum

[Finelly]

True.  Yet she was very attractive to men and women.  Charming, well-read, chic, with charisma!

[palimpsest]

OK, he had a great wife, everybody agrees on that, but what about him?


Copyright © Humanitas

[palimpsest]

Missy's handwriting.


Copyright © Humanitas

[palimpsest]

Missy and Nando as Crown P.


Copyright © Humanitas

[Marc]

Are there any colour portraits of King Ferdinand or of other Roumanian royals-I have only seen colour ones of Missy,Carmen Silva and Mignon...but nobody else?Maybe from some Roumanian books?

[palimpsest]

I haven't seen either, but I just find this one on the web.

[Prince_Christopher]

I think he was controlled by many different people throughout his life.

[Finelly]

I don't think he had a strong personality.  He seemed to just be led into things:  becoming the heir to the Romanian throne, marrying Missy, etc.  SO overshadowed by Missy that he kind of fades into the background of history.

He was way more sexual than Missy, and had a number of affairs.  I don't think he was a particularly involved parent.  He had a difficult time standing up to advisors and the King.  Probably to Missy, too.

But I think he was duty-oriented and it was utterly appalling to him when Carol turned out the way he did...didn't quite know what to do.

[Prince_Christopher]

Yes, I agree, Finelly.

I know the Duchess of Coburg was concerned at one point about the frequent pregnancies of Missy early in their marriage and wrote Nando, basically telling him to slow down.

He probably would have been happier had he found a simple wife and remained an unimportant prince in Sigmaringen.

[palimpsest]

However, he has done his duty as a king, even if he wasn't interested in politics. He was probably grateful that Missy was.

[Prince_Christopher]

You are right, Palimpsest.

[ilyala]

i think he was a great constitutional monarch. yes, he was weak, but a constitutional monarch is not supposed to influence politics he's just supposed to be there, and he was there in the way he was supposed to be... by the time he came to inherit the throne the country was doing well enough on its own thanx to his uncle... yes it still needed guidance but not from the king... he was just supposed to make it look good and he did that

[TampaBay]

He reminds me of his son Nicholas in this picture.  Does anyone have a picture of Prince Nicholas of Romania in his later years?

Tampabay  

[ilyala]

he was good looking in his youth and somewhat nice looking at old age... i understand he lost most of his looks after he recovered from typhoid fever...  :-/


and i would love to see a photo of an older nicholas i only know photos of him young