In 1922, she and Ferdinand were crowned in a specially-built cathedral in the ancient city of Alba Iulia, in an elaborate ceremony which mirrored their status as queen and king of a united state.

As a result, Marie moved away from Bucharest and spent the rest of her life either in the countryside or at Balchik Palace, her summer residence in Southern Dobruja by the Black Sea.

Several biographies of the royal family described Marie either as a drunkard or as a promiscuous woman, referring to her many alleged affairs and to orgies she had supposedly organised before and during the war.

[17] The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh frequently received members of the royal family at Eastwell Park, inviting them for breakfast nearly daily,[18] and in 1885 Marie and Victoria Melita served as bridesmaids at the wedding of their aunt Beatrice and Prince Henry of Battenberg.

[35] Marie grew into a "lovely young woman" with "sparkling blue eyes and silky fair hair"; she was courted by several royal bachelors, including Prince George of Wales, who in 1892 became second in line to inherit the throne.

[39] Around this time, King Carol I of Romania was looking for a suitable bride for his nephew, Crown Prince Ferdinand, in order to secure the succession and ensure the continuation of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

Possibly motivated by the prospect of removing tensions between Russia and Romania on the subject of control over Bessarabia, the Duchess of Edinburgh suggested that Marie meet Ferdinand.

"[41] German Empress Frederick, Marie's aunt, wrote to her daughter, Crown Princess Sophia of Greece, that "Missy is till now quite delighted, but the poor child is so young, how can she guess what is before her?

"[42] In late 1892, King Carol visited London in order to meet the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Victoria, who eventually agreed to the marriage and appointed him a Knight of the Garter.

The civil ceremony was performed in the Red Hall of the castle by Karl von Wendel, the German Emperor being the first of the witnesses present to sign the marriage act.

The King is a great tyrant in his family, & has crushed the independence in Ferdinand so that no one cares about him, & his beautiful & gifted little wife, I fear, gets into scrapes, & like a butterfly, instead of hovering over the flowers, burns her pretty wings by going rather near the fire!

[84] As a result of the war, Romania gained possession of Southern Dobrudja, including the coastal town of Balchik (Balcic), which Marie would come to cherish in 1924 and use to host her residence, called The Quiet Nest.

[99] After the conclusion of the Russian Revolution in early November 1917 and the victory of the Bolsheviks, Romania became, in the words of diplomat Frank Rattigan, "an island surrounded on all sides by the enemy, with no hope of assistance from the Allies".

"[109] After the assembly, Ferdinand and Marie returned to Bucharest, where they were met by general mirth: "a day of 'wild, delirious enthusiasm', with the bands crashing and the troops marching and the people cheering".

[110] Around this time, Marie became infected with the Spanish flu, with symptoms peaking a week after Alba Iulia; her diary describes "a changed being, miserable and weak, brought to the brink of despair by so much headache and terrible sickness that sapped me of my strength".

Because Ferdinand had refused to sign the Treaty of Bucharest and because Romania had been hostile towards the Central Powers until the end of the war, its place among the winning countries during the Paris Peace Conference was guaranteed.

[113] Brătianu's rigidity, combined with French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau's reluctance to overlook Ferdinand's acceptance of the Treaty of Bucharest, led to open conflict and the Romanian delegation left Paris, much to the dismay of the "Big Four".

Hoping to acquire as much goodwill for Romania as possible, Marie became acquainted with many important political figures of the time, including Lord Curzon, Winston Churchill, and Waldorf and Nancy Astor.

American President Woodrow Wilson remained unimpressed by Marie, and her comments on Russian laws dealing with sexual relations, which were considered inappropriate, did not help.

[117] This led Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, who briefly lived in Bucharest, to conclude that "by her charm, beauty, and ready wit, [Marie] could obtain anything she desired".

After inviting George and his two sisters, the Princesses Helen and Irene, to lodge with them at Sinaia, Marie organised numerous activities for the young couple and was delighted at the prospect of marrying off her daughter, whose character was severely flawed.

The ceremony was conducted by the Metropolitan of All Romania, Miron Cristea, but it was not performed inside the cathedral as Ferdinand, a Roman Catholic, refused to be crowned by a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Upon her arrival, Marie was welcomed enthusiastically with the "whistle of steamers, roar of guns in white smoke puffs against gray fog, voices cheering in a stinging rain".

Marie was also fairly popular within suffragette circles, where she was viewed as "a woman whose wits had devised many a coup d'état, whose brains had thought out many a difficult problem for her people, who had used the gifts given her to further every good purpose".

[137] At the White House, the official dinner was marked by awkward moments, due to the morose attitude of President Calvin Coolidge and his wife Grace; Marie lingered less than two hours.

[144] Marie's popularity was severely affected during Michael's reign and, after refusing to be part of the regency council in 1929, she was accused by the press, and even by Princess Helen, of plotting a coup.

'"[149] In 1976, William McElwee Miller published a polemical book against the religion,[154] which included selections from a letter written in 1970 by Marie's daughter Ileana denying any such conversion had taken place.

[176] Her popularity was dimmed by two slanderous campaigns: that conducted by the Central Powers during World War I;[177] and that led by Communist officials after Romania's transition to a Socialist Republic in 1947.

[190] That year, when the castle was legally restored to Princess Ileana's heirs, the Culture Ministry moved the collection of her items to a nearby building, Vama Medievală, which is also open to visitors.

[195] During her visit to the United States, when she presided over a ball at the New York Ritz-Carlton, one observer remarked: "There was a heavy chain of diamonds, broken at intervals with squares of massive design.