Carol II of Romania

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Carol II
King Carol II, c. 1935
King of Romania
Reign	8 June 1930 – 6 September 1940
Predecessor	Michael I
Successor	Michael I
Prime Minister	See list Gheorghe Mironescu, Iuliu Maniu, Nicolae Iorga, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, Ion G. Duca, Constantin Angelescu, Gheorghe Tătărescu, Octavian Goga, Miron Cristea, Armand Călinescu, Gheorghe Argeşanu, Constantin Argetoianu, Ion Gigurtu, Ion Antonescu
Born	(1893-10-15)15 October 1893 Peleș Castle, Sinaia, Kingdom of Romania
Died	4 April 1953(1953-04-04) (aged 59) Estoril, Portuguese Riviera, Portugal
Burial	Royal Pantheon, Portugal (1953) Curtea de Argeș Cathedral, Romania (2003) The New Archbishopric and Royal Cathedral in Curtea de Argeș, Romania (2019)
Spouses	Zizi Lambrino ​ ​ (m. 1918; ann. 1919)​ Helen of Greece and Denmark ​ ​ (m. 1921; div. 1928)​ Magda Lupescu ​ ​ (m. 1947)​
Issue	Carol Lambrino Michael I of Romania
Names Carol Caraiman
House	Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Father	Ferdinand I of Romania
Mother	Marie of Edinburgh
Religion	Romanian Orthodox

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

Carol's life and reign were surrounded by controversy and accusations of lack of duty, due to his desertion from the army during World War I. Another controversy was his marriage to Zizi Lambrino, which resulted in two attempts by Carol to give up the rights of succession to the royal crown of Romania, both of which were refused by his father, King Ferdinand.^[2]

After the dissolution of his marriage, he met Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark, daughter of King Constantine I of Greece, married her in March of 1921, and had a child in the same year, that being King Michael of Romania. But due to Carol's continued affairs with Elena Lupescu he was obliged to renounce his succession rights in 1925 and leave the country. His name was subsequently removed from the royal house of Romania by King Ferdinand I. After his removal from the Royal House, 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.

In the political crisis created by the deaths of Ferdinand I and Ion I. C. Brătianu and the ineffective regency of Prince Nicholas of Romania, Miron Cristea, and Gheorghe Buzdugan, Carol was allowed to return to Romania in 1930, and his name was restored by the royal house of Romania, dethroning his own son. The beginning of Carol’s reign was marked by the negative economic effects of the Great Depression. Carol II weakened the parliament of Romania, 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 for the formation of a corrupt parliament chamber around him, under the patronage of Elena Lupescu. A political crisis followed the December 1937 elections, where no party achieved an absolute majority and a coalition could not be formed because of disagreements between the National Liberal Party and the National Peasants Party and Iron Guard whom they would have needed to form a Coalition Government. Following this crisis Carol established a royal dictatorship in 1938 by removing the 1923 constitution, abolishing all political parties, and forming a new single party, the National Renaissance Front, which consisted mostly of former members of the National Peasants Party and National Christian Party who had been 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, which 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 between Germany and the Soviet Union that would see Romania lose significant parts of its territory. The year 1940 marked the fragmentation of Greater Romania by the seceding of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the 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, however, would not prevent his regime from collapsing and he would be forced to abdicate by General Ion Antonescu, the newly appointed and Nazi-backed prime minister, who was succeeded by his son Michael.^[3] After his abdication, Carol was permitted to leave the country with a special train loaded with his personal fortunes, which he had acquired during his time as king, and an attempt on his life was made by the Iron Guard, who had fired on the train in hope of killing the former king. 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. For the rest of his life, he traveled the world, finally marrying Elena Lupescu while living in Brazil in 1947. After settling in the Portuguese Riviera, Carol II at the age of 59, died peacefully in exile and his son Michael I, refused to attend his funeral out of disgust for the treatment of his mother, Princess Helen by his father.