Bright Monday marked the 125th birth anniversary of Queen Mother Helen, the grandmother of Her Majesty Crown Princess Margareta. On this occasion, the Custodian of the Romanian Crown and His Royal Highness Prince Radu attended a memorial service officiated at Cernica Monastery.
The memorial service was officiated by the monastery’s abbot, Protosyncellys Vasile Pîrjol. Chanting at the chant stand was the Tronos Byzantine Choir of the Patriarchal Cathedral, led by Archdeacon Mihail Bucă.
Queen Helen was born on May 3, 1896 in Athens, with the rank of Princess of Greece and Denmark. She was the eldest daughter of King Constantine I of Greece and Queen Sophia of Prussia.
“My mother’s relatives thought about God more than all the people I knew. I don’t know how to say it better, they were connected to life, not through material goods, but through their faith,” King Michael remembered in an interview given to writer Mircea Ciobanu.
Queen Helen married King Carol II in 1921. Between 1924 and 1930 she was Regent of the Throne, and in the ensuing turbulent years she was long separated from her son.
Removed from Romania by King Carol II, she lived for four decades at Villa Sparta in Florence, where King Michael spent his summer holidays.
Queen Helen received the title of “Righteous among the Nations” for rescuing Jews from deportation to Nazi extermination camps.
In the same interview given to the writer Mircea Ciobanu and published in the volume Conversations with King Michael I of Romania, the King said about his mother, Queen Elena: “Talking to my mother meant more to me than many theology books.”
In 2019, the Queen was reburied at the New Archdiocesan Cathedral at Curtea de Argeș, which also serves as Royal Necropolis, together with his son, King Michael.
Photography courtesy of The Royal Family / Daniel Angelescu
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