Radio România Internațional

Tag: QUEEN

  • Queen Marie of Romania

    Queen Marie of Romania

    A street on the left bank of the
    river Seine in Paris has been named after Queen
    Marie of Romania. The plaque reading The Queen Marie of Romania promenade was
    unveiled by the Custodian of the Crown of Romania Margareta, who paid tribute
    to her grandmother in a speech on this occasion:




    For us, Europeans, Queen Marie of
    Romania is a precious example of patriotism, strength and professionalism,
    competence and loyalty. Thanks to her humanitarian and diplomatic efforts in
    the service of her country, during the First World War and the Paris Peace
    Conference, we gained the recognition and affection of the entire world. It is
    all the more important that France and Paris pay homage to Marie of Romania, to
    her personal example, the love for her country and her attachment to the values
    of humanity.




    Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria
    was born on the 29th of October 1875 in England. She was the
    daughter of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna
    of Russia. In January 1863 she married Ferdinand, the crown prince of Romania,
    whom she gave six children. She was queen of Romania between 1914 and 1927 and
    took an active involvement in political life. Before and after WWI, she
    dedicated her time and energy to the soldiers wounded in battle, coordinating
    the collaboration with the Red Cross, organising field hospitals and raising
    funds for the ambulance service, all of which earned her the nickname the soldier
    Queen and mother to the wounded. Historians recognise her enormous
    contribution to the achievement of the Great Union of 1918, when all Romanian
    historical provinces that had until then been part of the Russian and
    Austro-Hungarian empires came together under Bucharest’s control. Queen Marie
    died on the 18th of July 1938 in Sinaia.




    The initiative to name a street
    after her in Paris belonged to Romania’s embassy in the French capital with the
    help of the France-Romania friendship parliamentary group in the National
    Assembly and the Paris City Hall.

  • September 3, 2019

    September 3, 2019

    REPATRIATION The remains of Queen Helen, mother to King Michael I of Romania, will be repatriated this autumn and taken to the new Archdiocesan and Royal Cathedral in Curtea de Argeş, following a decision of the Custodian of the Romanian Crown, Princess Margareta, made public on Tuesday. Seventy-one years after Queen Helens exile and 37 years after her death, Princess Margareta decided to bring back to Romania the remains of her grand-mother. Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark was the daughter of King Constantine I of Greece and Queen Sophia of Prussia. In 1921 she married crown prince Carol in Athens, whom she divorced in 1928. In 1940 she became Queen Mother of Romania. She died in November 1982, in Lausanne, Switzerland. Unlike King Michael I, Queen Helen never saw her country again after her forced exile.




    EXERCISE The Romanian Navy organises as of today the Romanian-Ukrainian exercise “Riverine 2019, on the River Danube, the segment between Tulcea (Romania) and Izmail (Ukraine), with approx. 300 marines from the 2 countries taking part. The exercise is designed to improve cross-border cooperation between Romania and Ukraine in the naval field on the River Danube. Until September 7, inspection and towing exercises as well as emergency intervention drills will be organised.




    FESTIVAL In Bucharest the George Enescu International Festival continues with a concert by the London Philharmonic Orchestra together with the Academic Choir of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation. Two other performances take place in Cluj-Napoca and Sibiu. The central theme of this years edition of the festival is “The World in Harmony, and the artistic director is Vladimir Jurowski. Until September 22, Bucharest and 10 other cities in Romania and 5 other countries (Germany, France, Italy, Canada and the Rep. of Moldova) will host performances associated to the Festival. In Bucharest, over 2,500 of the most valuable musicians of the world will hold 84 concerts and recitals.




    PROGRAMME The EU programme designed to encourage children to eat fruit, vegetables and dairy at school continues in 2019. Of the total budget of 250 million euro, Romania will receive this academic year over 17 million euro. Last year, more than 20 million children in the EU benefited from this programme implemented in schools, whose goal is to promote healthy eating habits.




    EARTH Romanian students won one gold and 3 silver medals in this years edition of the International Earth Science Olympiad held in Daegu, South Korea between August 26 and September 3. The International Earth Science Olympiad encourages cooperation between students from various countries, by setting up international teams that receive research topics on environment issues in a specific geographic area and must come up with a project with proposed solutions to the respective issues. Taking part in this 13th International Earth Science Olympiad were 163 students from 41 countries.




    SPENDING EU citizens spent an average 377 euro for a holiday, and Romanians rank at the bottom of the list with around 135 euro earmarked for a vacation, according to data released by Eurostat on Tuesday. The biggest holiday spenders in the EU are the citizens of Luxembourg, with an average 769 euro for a holiday in 2017.




    TENNIS The young Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu, of Romanian descent, qualified into the quarter-finals of the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the year, after defeating the American Taylor Townsend in 3 sets. It is the first time that Andreescu (aged 19, number 15 in the world) takes part in the US Open, and also her first Grand Slam quarter-final. Taylor Townsend (116 WTA), had previously outplayed 2 Romanians, Simona Halep and Sorana Cîrstea. In the quarter-final Andreescu will take on Belgiums Elise Mertens (26 WTA).


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • 11 August, 2016

    11 August, 2016

    FUNERAL – Queen Anne, consort to the last Romanian sovereign, Michael I, is laid in state in the Throne Room of the Royal Palace in Bucharest. On Wednesday, at the former summer residence of Romanian royalty, Peles Castle, in Sinaia, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti, and Romanian PM Dacian Ciolos were among the many officials paying their respects. The funeral is scheduled for Saturday in Curtea de Arges, where the first king of Romania, Charles I, is buried. King Michael will be unable to attend the funeral due to ill health. The queen died on August 1st aged 92 in Switzerland, after a battle with cancer.



    REPORT – British TV channel Sky News stands by its report on alleged weapon smuggling in Romania. A spokesperson for the channel said that the journalist who investigated the story was one of the most experienced investigative TV reporters. He said that the material was not staged. The British broadcasting oversight authority has been notified several times with regard to the report. British journalists claim that they were pointed to an isolated area of Romania after two months of negotiations, where they met weapon smugglers, who allegedly brought in weapons from Ukraine, to be sold in western Europe and the Middle East. As a result, the Romanian organized crime main unit started an investigation. The head of the unit, Daniel Horodniceanu, said that so far the report appears to have been staged. The go-between who introduced the reporters to the alleged weapon smugglers is a Romanian national who has been living in Britain for seven years. He told investigators that the TV channel paid people to act in the documentary, and that he was told the documentary would specify that it was a work of fiction. The Romanian embassy in London emphasized that the report was not accurate, and was prone to portray Romania in a negative light in Britain.



    OLYMPICS – Romanian athletes will compete in fencing, tennis, rowing and swimming in the 31st edition of the Summer Olympic Games in Rio. Romanian fencers stand a chance of winning the first medal for the country. Romania’s team is considered the favorite for the silver. An eagerly expected game is the tennis match between the Romanian pair Horia Tecau- Florin Mergea and US pair Jack Sock/ Steve Johnson. The Romanians are considered favorites for winning. Following are the mixed doubles games played by the Romanian pair Florin Mergea/Monica Niculescu and David Ferrer/Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain, and Romanians Horia Tecău/Irina Begu – Lukasz Kubot/Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. In rowing, the womens coxed eight team competes in the second qualifying rounds, while the womens double sculls and the light paired oars boats fight for a medal as well. In swimming, Romania has one representative in the 50m event, In handball, having lost the two fixtures against Angola and Brazil, Romanias womens national handball teams this past Wednesday outperformed Montenegro, 25-21. If they want to make headway into the semifinals, the Romanians are in dire need of a win against Spain and at least a draw against Norway in the final round.



    ANKARA – At least eight people were killed and dozens wounded in two bombings by the PKK in Turkey. The attacks targeted police cars in south eastern Turkey, the majority Kurdish area of the country. Clashes resumed last year between Turkish security forces and the PKK, after a cease fire. The worst violence in the last 20 years ensued, resulting in hundreds of casualties among security forces.



    ISIS – Between 2002 and 2015, terror groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda perpetrated over 4,900 attacks worldwide, leaving over 33,000 dead, according to a study run by the University of Maryland in the US. 80% of the attacks were committed using explosives, and only 16% using firearms. The most devastating attack, according to the study, occurred in June 2014 in Iraq, when 1,600 Iraqi army recruits were abducted in Tikrit to later be killed.

  • 3 August, 2016

    3 August, 2016

    MOURNING — The government in Bucharest discusses today a draft executive order to declare August 13 a national day of mourning. This is the day when Queen Anne will be laid to rest. She was the consort of King Michael I, the last king of Romania. According to the schedule issued by the Romanian royal house, the coffin will first be taken to Peles Caste in Sinaia, the former royal summer residence, then to Bucharest, to the Throne Room of the former Royal Palace. The funeral is scheduled for 13 August at the Curtea de Arges Monastery, the necropolis of Romanian royalty. The royal family has announced they would be in deep mourning for seven days after the funeral, and mourning for 40 days. Three books for mourners will be available for 40 days. One is at Peles Castle, and two in Bucharest. President Iohannis and premier Ciolos, Patriarch Daniel, head of the Orthodox Church, as well as political leaders and public figures, have transmitted condolences. Former president Emil Constantinescu has also sent condolences. Back in 1996, he was the first Romanian leader to issue the royal couple passports.



    ECONOMY — Retail in Romania is up 16% in June as compared to the same month in 2015, the highest growth in an EU member country, according to Eurostat. Retail has grown in the EU by 2.4%. At the same time, Romanian banks are among the most profitable in Europe. According to the European Banking Authority, Romanian banks in the first quarter registered an average profitability of 13.5%, as compared to the European average of almost 6%. Economists say this happens because guarantees and interest rates are 50% higher in Romania than in the rest of Europe. Romanian banks have registered profits of over one billion lei in the first three months of the year, the equivalent of 222 million Euro.



    TRANSPORTATION — Road transporters in Romania hold talks with the government about insurance costs. Employer associations in transportation have called on the government to freeze rates at the level they were in June, 8,500 lei per year for a truck (around 2000 Euro) and 3,000 lei per year (around 700 Euro) for a coach. If an agreement is not reached, transporters threaten national protests in September. In related news, 155 employers working in two mines in western Romania, which are set to close in two years time, were announced they would be laid off. The miners will receive compensation in various forms for two years, in addition to unemployment benefits.



    FOOTBALL – Romanian champions Astra Giurgiu and vice-champions Steaua Bucharest today play their fixtures, which are crucial in the Champions League’s third preliminary round. Astra travel to Denmark for their fixture against FC Copenhagen, following a 1-all draw on home turf, while in Bucharest, Steaua take on Czech contenders Sparta Prague, after a 1-all draw in the first leg of the tie, away from home. In Europa League’s third preliminary round, Pandurii Targu Jiu and Viitorul Constanta sustained severe first leg defeats. On home ground, Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv overpowered Steaua, 3-1, while Belgium’s Gent trounced Viitorul Constanta, 5-nil. Another Romanian squad, CSMS Iasi was ousted from the Europe League’ s second preliminary round by Croatia’s Hajduk Split.



    US MEETING — The interim speaker of the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest, Florin Iordache, and Romanian Ambassador to Bucharest, Hans Klemm, discussed on Tuesday the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. On this occasion, Iordache said that the partnership, in place since 1997, could expand to cover the economy, cybersecurity and science. The Romanian official said that Romania was a staunch ally of the US, and a pillar of security in the region. The American diplomat saluted Romanias contribution to regional and global security, its economic growth, and the increasingly successful fight against corruption. According to the US Embassy, the two officials have scheduled periodic meetings.