A religious and military ceremony took place at the Otopeni International Airport on Friday for Queen Mother Helen, whose remains were flown to Romania aboard an aircraft of the Romanian Air Force.
The Romanian Orthodox Church was represented by Metropolitans Nifon of Targoviste and Joseph of Western and Southern Europe, and the patriarchal auxiliary bishop Varlaam of Ploiesti, who officiated a memorial service for Queen Helen.
The ceremony was attended by Custodian of the Romanian Crown Princess Margareta, Prince Radu, Princesses Sofia and Maria, lawyer Ioan Luca Vlad, and Constanta Iorga, members of the Royal House.
From Elisabeta Palace, the funeral cortege travelled further to Curtea de Arges. On Saturday, at 13:00, the re-burial ceremony of Queen Mother Elena’s remains was performed at the local New Archdiocesan and Royal Cathedral.
Born in 1896, Helen of Greece and Denmark was the daughter of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife Sophia of Prussia.
She was the sister of kings George II, Alexander and Pavlos of Greece. She married Romania’s King Carol II, the son of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie, in Athens, in 1921. The couple divorced in 1928.
She became the Queen Mother of Romania during the reign of her son, King Michael (1940–1947). She left the country as her son was forced to abdicate. She passed away on November 28, 1982, in Lausanne.
Photogaphy coutesy of Lumina Newspaper / Mihnea Păduraru
