King Carol Ii Essays - House Of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

King Carol Ii The country I chose for my internet project is Romania and the subject dealt with is the reign of King Carol II. In all my findings in the different web sites searched they all portrayed him as the most disputed among the four Kings of Romania. Although not a particularly good leader for Romania he played a very important part in Romania's history during a very turbulent time period. His controversial reign ultimately gave rise to a personal, corporatist dictatorship. Much of his life was caught in turmoil and his domestic life was a constant source of scandal. The oldest son of King Ferdinand I, Carol was born on October 3rd, 1893 at Sinaia, being the first Romanian King to be born in Romania. In his early years, King Carol I took care of his education, preparing him for his duties as heir of the throne. As a young man he proved to be an intelligent student with an overflowing personality. Troubles for the young man soon to be king were not in the too distant future however. Once King Ferdinand acceded to the throne, Carol at 21 became the heir of the throne. At this same age he becomes senator by law in the Romanian Parliament. During WWI, while the government and the Royal Family were in refuge at Iasi, Carol deserts from the army and ran away with his mistress, Ioana Lambrino, daughter of an army major. They later secretly married in Odessa. A huge scandal soon followed and Carol was sent to the Horaita-Neamt Monastery and later the Court of Ilfov declared the marriage null. Despite all of this, Carol continued to see his lover, from this relationship Mircea the illegitimate son of Carol was born in 1920. Carol was sent away in a long trip to end the relationship with Ioana Lambrino. One year later, Carol met Elena, the daughter of King George and Queen Sofia of Greece. They married the same year and on October 25 their son Michael, future King of Romania, was born. The relations between the two dissolved shortly after the birth of their son and they distanced themselves from each other. Soon after that Carol meets Elena Wolf Lupescu. He eventually falls in love with her. From then on Elena dominates Carol his entire life from then on. They ran to Paris to live together. Carol takes the name of Carol Caraiman. Another scandal soon follows and King Ferdinand decides to withdraw Carol's privileges and names Michael as his successor to the throne. In 1927 King Ferdinand dies, leaving Michael to become King of Romania. Being only four years old a Regency is formed to rule until Michael is 21. The Regency is formed of Prince Nicolae- Michael's uncle, Miron Cristea- The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and Gheorghe Buzdugan- the president of the High Court of Justice. Not long after this Gheorghe Buzdugan passed away and George Sarateanu took his place. In 1930 Carol returns and just two days later, June 8 Carol is proclaimed King of Romania. The return of Carol was facilitated by the political situation in the country. Under his reign King Ferdinand had introduced the universal vote. This led to a proliferation of political parties in Romania: the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. After WWI the situation changed. The Conservative Party ceased to exist and dozens of other parties took its place. The Liberal Party that was responsible for the formation of this government, led by Ionel Bratianu opposed Carol's return for a short time. But shortly after Ferdinand's death, Bratianu passed away too. The government then lost its influence in the political arena, and the Regency had little influence in the political arena as well. In 1928 the Peasants Party took the power, against the liberals. It became a popular new form of government but despite this the new government could not do much to improve the political situation, being faced with the consequences of the world economic crisis. With the idea that Carol would be the person that could end the fights between the parties and the political instability. On June 6, 1930 Carol returned to Bucharest and two days later the Parliament rids the