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Dracula and Transylvania’s Bran Castle, where he supposedly lived, may be the prime draw for the average tourist to Romania, but the average Romanian living under the communist regime of Ceausescu had no idea who Bram Stoker’s fictional vampire was.
They would, however, have been familiar with a real inhabitant of Bran Castle: Marie of Romania, grand-daughter of Queen Victoria, niece of Tsar Alexander II, and glamorous enough to attract Dorothy Parker’s ironic wit.
“And love is a thing that can never go wrong, and I am Marie of Romania,” she quipped.
Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh became Marie of Romania after, guided by her family, she rejected a proposal from her first cousin the future King George V.
Instead, she was married to Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Romania, and became the last Queen consort of a country whose history she shaped by persuading her diffident, indecisive husband to side with the allies against Germany in World War I.
She was also the mother to six children, the first born nine months after the couple’s marriage; she nursed soldiers, many with cholera or typhus; and she won over the citizens of her adoptive country by mastering their language and customs.
Her talents did not end there. She was artistic, literary and her aesthetic taste meant she transformed the royal couple’s homes. Apart from Bran Castle, which only tourism has associated with Dracula, they included the slightly less visited Peles and Pelisor Castles in the mountain resort of Sinaia.
Hall of Honour
All bear the stamp of the royal architect, the Czech Karel Liman, but Pelisor, built as a gift for the young heirs to the throne between 1899 and 1902, lays claim to being Romania’s only museum of “art nouveau” as a result of Marie of Romania’s choice of interior design and furnishings.
Gold Bedroom
Pelisor is also now the resting place of her heart, which, at her request was removed from her body following her death at the age of 62 in 1938.
The silver casket that enclosed it was in Bran Castle until 1940 after being rescued from Balchik on the Black Sea hours before Bulgaria reclaimed that part of the southern coast.
Now, draped in the Romanian and British flags, the casket is in the golden room, arguably the most extraordinary room of the Pelisor Castle with its golden, arched ceiling.
The Golden Room.
Every room, however, is exquisitely appointed and furnished with the flair and daring a royal budget allowed.
Marie’s painting studioQueen Marie’s apartment
The contrast with the Gothic horror that allegedly went before and the mass uniformity of housing under the Ceausescu regime that followed is extreme.
Marie of Romania and the Pelisor Castle,
Sinaia, Romania.
Dracula and Transylvania’s Bran Castle, where he supposedly lived, may be the prime draw for the average tourist to Romania, but the average Romanian living under the communist regime of Ceausescu had no idea who Bram Stoker’s fictional vampire was.
They would, however, have been familiar with a real inhabitant of Bran Castle: Marie of Romania, grand-daughter of Queen Victoria, niece of Tsar Alexander II, and glamorous enough to attract Dorothy Parker’s ironic wit.
“And love is a thing that can never go wrong, and I am Marie of Romania,” she quipped.
Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh became Marie of Romania after, guided by her family, she rejected a proposal from her first cousin the future King George V.
Instead, she was married to Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Romania, and became the last Queen consort of a country whose history she shaped by persuading her diffident, indecisive husband to side with the allies against Germany in World War I.
She was also the mother to six children, the first born nine months after the couple’s marriage; she nursed soldiers, many with cholera or typhus; and she won over the citizens of her adoptive country by mastering their language and customs.
Her talents did not end there. She was artistic, literary and her aesthetic taste meant she transformed the royal couple’s homes. Apart from Bran Castle, which only tourism has associated with Dracula, they included the slightly less visited Peles and Pelisor Castles in the mountain resort of Sinaia.
All bear the stamp of the royal architect, the Czech Karel Liman, but Pelisor, built as a gift for the young heirs to the throne between 1899 and 1902, lays claim to being Romania’s only museum of “art nouveau” as a result of Marie of Romania’s choice of interior design and furnishings.
Pelisor is also now the resting place of her heart, which, at her request was removed from her body following her death at the age of 62 in 1938.
The silver casket that enclosed it was in Bran Castle until 1940 after being rescued from Balchik on the Black Sea hours before Bulgaria reclaimed that part of the southern coast.
Now, draped in the Romanian and British flags, the casket is in the golden room, arguably the most extraordinary room of the Pelisor Castle with its golden, arched ceiling.
Every room, however, is exquisitely appointed and furnished with the flair and daring a royal budget allowed.
The contrast with the Gothic horror that allegedly went before and the mass uniformity of housing under the Ceausescu regime that followed is extreme.
Barbara Lewis © 2024.
By Barbara Lewis • architecture, history, year 2024 • Tags: architecture, Barbara Lewis, history