Princess Elizaveta of Romania, spouse of King George II of Greece

[Romanov_fan]

Thanks for the post of those letters of Elisabetha's. It sounds like the marriage was like many arranged royal marriages at first; that is, fairly happy. Later on, it went downhill. Elisabetha sounds fairly normal and human here. She may have been better when she was young. I suppose I can see why George married her, although I suppose he regreted it later, as well.

[Marina_Cummings]

carol insisted that every nanny/tutor/governess be named by political criteria. things like, what king they had raised, nationality, etc...

and here i bring out my pakula book again :

Thankyou so much for all that information, how absolutely AWFUL for Marie!!! What a nightmare! No wonder the kids turned out as they did!  

[crazy_wing]

Thanks for the post of those letters of Elisabetha's. It sounds like the marriage was like many arranged royal marriages at first; that is, fairly happy. Later on, it went downhill. Elisabetha sounds fairly normal and human here. She may have been better when she was young. I suppose I can see why George married her, although I suppose he regreted it later, as well.

I have to agree with you too.  She sounds very normal in the letters.  I feel sorry for her after reading them.  The letters show that she tried to make things work out but at the end, things turn out quite badly.  Maybe if they had children or Georgie didn't become a king, they would've been happier.  

[ilyala]

here's a cute quote about elizabeth as a child, from missy's memoires:

her father (the duke of coburg) had come to visit her in romania:


'at that time i had only two children, carol and elizabeth.i was very proud of them and they shared with us every hour of the day. elizabeth, who was around 3, was like her grandfather, very quiet; she rarely showed what she felt or desired, and her moves were very decided and precise. her face was very round, her features very small, very regulate and of a very pure classicism, her look was very strong, sometimes severe, her mouth little and tight. she was actually a very weird little human, but very attractive in her childish way.

this child was filled with great love for her grandfather; with him she communicated without words and felt like her place was at his side.

i still see her today dressed in a small and funny romanian costume, dressed like a little peasant, with her cheeks looking even rounder, stepping silently after papa and pulling after her a little chair made of straws, ridiculously small, watching carefully - to see where he would sit - the moves of the old gentleman who had so unexpectadly entered her life. after papa chose the chair and corner he liked, elizabeth sat her little chair next to him and sat there in the most complete silence, but very satisfied, like she had found her best mate. from time to time she caught a look over the newspaper, but she understood that she should not expect anything else from him and these two weird friends exchanged no words. but as soon as papa moved, the little girl followed him with her chair, ready to sit next to him, wherever he chose to sit. elizabeth rarely showed excessive love for anyone, that's why we made great fun while watching these maneuvres.'

[Romanov_fan]

Yes, thanks for more interesting letters of Elisabetha's. At the begining things were ok. Later on not- The things Crazy_Wing stated are accurate. Elisabetha was obviously someone who had some potential, even if later she was quite bad, and even if her essential personality was this way.  One wishes that she had continued in a more normal royal vein, even if her main care was for herself. Missy frequently despaired about Elisabetha.

[grandduchessella]

Thanks for the post of those letters of Elisabetha's. It sounds like the marriage was like many arranged royal marriages at first; that is, fairly happy. Later on, it went downhill. Elisabetha sounds fairly normal and human here. She may have been better when she was young. I suppose I can see why George married her, although I suppose he regreted it later, as well.

The sad thing was, it wasn't a straight-up arranged marriage. George was really in love with her and anxious to marry her despite his mother's reservations. Missy may have seen the dynastic benefits to it but at the time, Greece wasn't that popular on the royal stage while Romania was, so the benefit was more to Greece.

[Romanov_fan]

Yes, that does make it even more sad, that it was not wholly arranged. I suppose George regretted it in the end, although at the begining things seemed much more promising. There were some wholly arranged matches that turned out better, in my opinion.

[ilyala]

Thanks for the post of those letters of Elisabetha's. It sounds like the marriage was like many arranged royal marriages at first; that is, fairly happy. Later on, it went downhill. Elisabetha sounds fairly normal and human here. She may have been better when she was young. I suppose I can see why George married her, although I suppose he regreted it later, as well.

The sad thing was, it wasn't a straight-up arranged marriage. George was really in love with her and anxious to marry her despite his mother's reservations. Missy may have seen the dynastic benefits to it but at the time, Greece wasn't that popular on the royal stage while Romania was, so the benefit was more to Greece.

unlike ileana, for example, missy had not planned necessarilly a dynastic marriage for elizabeth. at that point in time i think she was simply happy that someone was still willing to marry her, someone decent (even more than decent). remember that elizabeth was pretty old at the time of her marriage and not really someone very desired on the marriage market. george was probably even more than what missy expected.

when george's father died and he became king, missy was pretty worried about what that would mean for her daughter. indeed, elizabeth seemed to not be very eager about the whole deal.

[Romanov_fan]

I'm sure she was happy that Elisabeth married somebody. Mentally and Physically, Elisabeth was not the most desirable Princess on the marriage market, and there was less opportuities than there would have been before World War. Although she was the oldest and defintely a legitimate daughter of Ferdinand, she did not have many attractions. I suppose that it was surprising that it would be a love match, but why else would they have married?

Perhaps had Elisabeth and George had children, as Elizabeth talks about in the letter, they might have had a happier marriage or her a happier life. But with her utter lack of care for anybody but herself, I don't think she would have made a good mother. The letters do make Elisabeth sound normal, although she sounds selfish in that one.

[TampaBay]

I did not know any of Elizabeth's letters still existed.

I think the problem was her marriage "down" to a poorer court.

Even Crown Princess Helen marvelled at the "luxury" of the Romanian Court compared to the Greek Court.

TampaBay

[TampaBay]

Thank you for the exerts from these letters.  I am seeing a side of Elizabeth I never knew existed.  What book are these letters from?

TampaBay

[ilyala]

i don't mean to sound cruel but there are parts of these letters that, combined with what i know of her, make me think that she blamed her meanness on others. her mother preferred ileana, so she closed off. mignon could have a child she couldn't afford(why? i can't believe the greek royal family wouldn't have helped support an heir to the throne!) so she closed off and became the woman we know. no offense but that sounds like a good excuse... but an excuse nevertheless.

when missy went to visit mignon after peter's birth, she found mignon ill and elizabeth openly flirting with alexander. now, if that is not a mean way to respond to inner jealousy, i don't know what is.

[trentk80]

Thank you for the exerts from these letters.  I am seeing a side of Elizabeth I never knew existed.  What book are these letters from?

TampaBay

These letters are from a four-part article called "Elisabeta of the Hellenes: passionate woman, reluctant queen", written by John Wimbles. You can buy it through Royalty Digest.

[Marlene]

Although George was linked to Elisabeth for some time -- going back to world war i, his first real love was Countess Zia Torby but Grand Duke Michael had an aversion to Balkan royals.   Queen Sophie did not consider Zia to be good enough for George. George and Zia remained friends and had a long correspondence.

Thanks for the post of those letters of Elisabetha's. It sounds like the marriage was like many arranged royal marriages at first; that is, fairly happy. Later on, it went downhill. Elisabetha sounds fairly normal and human here. She may have been better when she was young. I suppose I can see why George married her, although I suppose he regreted it later, as well.

The sad thing was, it wasn't a straight-up arranged marriage. George was really in love with her and anxious to marry her despite his mother's reservations. Missy may have seen the dynastic benefits to it but at the time, Greece wasn't that popular on the royal stage while Romania was, so the benefit was more to Greece.

[TampaBay]

trentk80,

Thank you so much for all your informative postings.  I am greatly enjoying learning about a side of Elizabeth I never new existed.

Sincerely,

TampaBay

Keep those great postings coming!