Elisabeth of Wied
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Elizabeth of Wied (December 29, 1843 - November 2, 1916) was the Queen Consort of King Carol I of Romania, widely known by her literary name of Carmen Sylva. She was the daughter of German Prince Hermann of Wied and his wife Marie of Nassau-Weilburg. She was a prospective bride for Edward VII of the United Kingdom, then Prince of Wales. She first met the future king of Romania at Berlin in 1861, and was married to him on the November 15, 1869. Her only child, a daughter, Maria died in 1874.
In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 she devoted herself to the care of the wounded, and founded the Order of Elizabeth (a gold cross on a blue ribbon) to reward distinguished service in such work. She fostered the higher education of women in Romania, and established societies for various charitable objects.
Early distinguished by her excellence as a pianist, organist and singer, she also showed considerable ability in painting and illuminating; but a lively poetic imagination led her to the path of literature, and more especially to poetry, folk-lore and ballads. In addition to numerous original works she put into literary form many of the legends current among the Romanian peasantry.
[edit] Literary activity
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As "Carmen Sylva", she wrote with facility in German, Romanian, French and English. A few of her voluminous writings, which include poems, plays, novels, short stories, essays, collections of aphorisms, etc., may be singled out for special mention:
- Her earliest publications were "Sappho" and "Hammerstein", two poems which appeared at Leipzig in 1880.
- In 1888 she received the Prix Botta, a prize awarded triennially by the Académie française, for her volume of prose aphorisms Les Pensees d'une reine (Paris, 1882), a German version of which is entitled Vom Amboss (Bonn, 1890).
- Cuvinte Sufletesci, religious meditations in Romanian (Bucharest, 1888), was also translated into German (Bonn, 1890), under the name of Seelen-Gespräche.
Several of the works of "Carmen Sylva" were written in collaboration with Mite Kremnitz, one of her maids of honor, who was born at Greifs-wald in 1857, and married Dr Kremnitz of Bucharest; these were published between 1881 and 1888, in some cases under the pseudonyms Dito et Idem. These include:
- Aus zwei Welten (Leipzig, 1884), a novel
- Anna Boleyn (Bonn, 1886), a tragedy,
- In der Irre (Bonn, 1888), a collection of short stories
- Edleen Vaughan, or Paths of Peril, a novel (London, 1894),
- Sweet Hours, poems (London, 1904), written in English.
| Styles of Queen Elisabeth (as consort) | |
|---|---|
| Reference style | Her Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
Among the translations made by "Carmen Sylva" are:
- German versions of Pierre Loti's romance Pecheur d'Islande
- German versions of Paul de St Victor's dramatic criticisms Les Deux Masques (Paris, 1881-1884);
- and especially The Bard of the Dimbovitza, an English translation of Elena Văcărescu's collection of Romanian folk-songs, etc., entitled Lieder aus dem Dimbovitzathal (Bonn, 1889), translated by "Carmen Sylva" and Alma Strettell.
The Bard of the Dimbovitza was first published in 1891, and was soon reissued and expanded. Translations from the original works of "Carmen Sylva" have appeared in all the principal languages of Europe and in Armenian.
[edit] The Văcărescu affair
In 1881, due to the lack of heirs to the Romanian throne, King Carol I adopted his nephew, Ferdinand. Ferdinand, a complete stranger in his new home, started to get close to one of Elizabeth's ladies in waiting Elena Văcărescu. Elizabeth, very close to Elena herself, encouraged the romance, although she was perfectly aware of the fact that a marriage between the two was forbidden by the Romanian constitution.
The result of this was the exile of both Elizabeth (in Neuwied) and Elena (in Paris), doubled by a trip of Ferdinand's through Europe, in search of a suitable bride (which eventually was Marie of Edinburgh). The affair helped reinforce Elizabeth's image as a dreamer and eccentric.
[edit] External links
eo:Carmen Sylva fr:Carmen Sylva nl:Elisabeth zu Wied pt:Carmen Sylva ro:Elisabeta de Neuwied sv:Elisabet av Wied
