Queen of Romania Takes U.S. by Storm

Queen Marie of Romania arrives in NYC 10/18/26This kinda baffles me. Apparently, Queen Marie of Romania was kind of a royal celebrity in the early 20th century - maybe like Princess Diana of Wales was in the late 20th century.Born Princess of Edinburgh to Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, she married Prince Ferdinand of Romania and ascended to the throne in 1914 - just in time for WWI.
She adopted the Romanian people & became a bit of a war hero - a Soldier Queen. She oversaw the 4th Rosiori Regiment, worked to devise a defense against the German army, secured a military loan from the U.S. and, after the war, she attended the Paris Peace Conference & expanded Romania's land by 80%, taking back land from Hungary & Russia and uniting the Romanian speaking peoples once again.Marie embraced her new country and with her charm, beauty & leadership she became an international role model for women. One of the first women to appear on the cover of Time magazine, she was the first queen to appear on a cover in 1924. Dubbed the most beautiful queen in Europe, she also endorsed beauty products, further cementing her influence with women of all strata.
So, when she landed in the US, she was an instant hit.The Queen of Romania traveled through the US & Canada for a month at a fairly grueling pace. The entire trip is summarized here. She dedicated museums and made radio broadcasts, visited Indian Reservations & military installations.
It seems pretty weird nowadays that an eastern European royal could cause such a stir in the U.S. but a lot of that is due to the Soviet occupation & subjugation of eastern European nations after WWII. Prior to the war, eastern Europe was not far behind western Europe, but after being a battlefield for Germany & Russia & the consequent decades of Commieism established under the fairly psychotic Stalin, these countries fell behind economically & culturally and fairly disappeared from the western world - hid behind the Iron Curtain.
There's more on this woman's celebrity here