The short life of Prince Mircea of Romania: christening & death
Prince Mircea - Diana Mandache collection
Prince Eitel Friedrich arrived in Bucharest on 1stFebruary to represent his father, the German Emperor Wilhelm II at the baptism of Prince Mircea, who was born to the Crown Prince & Princess of Romania on 3rdJanuary 1913 (22 December 1912, old style) at Cotroceni Palace, Bucharest. Eitel Friedrich was met at the Bucharest train station by King Carol I, the Crown Prince Ferdinand and Prince Carol, and was the guest of the King during his stay.
Mircea's birth certificate - RNA
The Christening Ceremony took place at the Royal Palace from Calea Victoriei on 2ndFebruary 1913. The godparents, in addition to the Emperor Wilhelm and King Carol, included the Empress Maria of Russia and Princess of Wied. Marie, his mother, the Crown Princess of Romania was not present owing to a threatened attack of phlebitis. Mircea was the name of a medieval Romanian prince who opposed a vigorous resistance to the Turks in the 14thcentury, andwhose troops fought side by side with the Serbians on the fatal field of Kossovo.
Sadly, little Prince Mircea had a short life and died on 20 October 1916 by typhoid fever in Bucharest, during a very dramatic time for Romania and its royal family, when the enemy troops were approaching Bucharest and fierce battles were taking place close to the city. The royal family had to hastily bury him on the grounds of Cotroncei Palace, before they went into exile to Jassy, the old capital of Moldova, the unoccupied part north-eastern Romania. I had the opportunity to see in the archives the death certificate which was partially burnt and damaged in the chaotic process of troop and government withdrawal from the threatened city, giving me a fuller picture of the dramatism of Prince Mircea’s death and the tragedy lived through by his parents, Marie and Ferdinand.
Votive painting by Artur Verona in the tomb of Prince Mircea, Bran - Photo ©Valentin Mandache
In 1941 Mircea was reburied, at the request of Princess Ileana, Marie’s youngest daughter, from the Cotroceni church to the little chapel of Bran castle, where close by was also burried the hearth of Marie. The inscription carved on the stone of his tomb states that “Mircea died October 20, 1916. in time of war, while the soldiers of Romania were sacrificing their lives for the centuries’ dream of achieving national unity. For two years he remained the sole guardian of the home of his parents[Cotroceni], over which the country’s flag had ceased to flung. Mourn for him, for he shared with us the days of suffering, but the days of rejoicing he did not live to see”. ©Diana Mandache
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