To mark to mark the 100th anniversary of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie’s coronation, HISTORY Channel will broadcast the acclaimed documentary “Marie – Heart of Romania” on Saturday, October 15, at 22:00.
The documentary presents to the public the extraordinary story of the political role and the interesting private life of Queen Marie of Romania. Granddaughter of Queen Victoria, she married the Crown prince of Romania in 1893. We will see how she ruled the country during the horrors of the First World War, until the victory at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The film doesn’t avoid the less glamorous aspects of The Queen’s life. Her son, Carol, despised his parents and when he became King, he banished Marie from the court. And when the communists came to power, they erased her from history.
The film tells the story of a very important era in Romania’s history, seen from the perspective of Queen Marie. Born a British princess, Her Majesty was at the center of the struggle for the achievement of the Great Union of 1918 and for the creation of modern Romania. Her destiny, of one of the most famous women in Europe of the interwar era, was influenced by events that happened in the royal palaces of Romania, in the salons of Paris, on the streets of New York, in the Kremlin and even in the Wild West. The film is narrated by actor Marcel Iureș.
“Who in Romania today can resist a woman who was brave, beautiful, and doubled the size of her adopted nation? That was Queen Marie, a century ago,” commented John M. Florescu, the executive producer of the documentary.
The documentary was made over 2 years with filming in 9 countries, with research done in 14 national archives. It offers the audience the chance to hear the original voice of the Queen and to see original footage and images of the era, colourized with the help of modern technology and by involving an interdisciplinary team of experts to capture as accurately as possible the reality of those times.
“Marie – Heart of Romania” is an independent production of Chainsaw Film Productions and enjoys the support of the Romanian Academy and the Romanian Cultural Institute.
Ioan Aurel Pop, president of the Romanian Academy, said after the official release of the documentary: “This film not only brings Queen Marie back to our attention, but brings her back to life, exactly as she was and how we Romanians should be. This is a landmark film.”
Broadcast in 42 countries, including on HISTORY Channel and HISTORY2 channels, the film “Marie Heart of Romania, along with the documentaries “The King Who Betrayed Hitler” and the newest documentary “The Last King Behind the Iron Curtain”, is part of the National HISTORY Tour, an itinerant event supported by the HISTORY Channel touring across 25 towns and cities to all corners of Romania to live audiences at no charge, bringing to the Romanian audience a wide slice of Romanian history from 1860-2017.
“Queen Marie – Deeds and words”, an original HISTORY Channel podcast on Queen Marie’s historical role and personality
HISTORY Channel has also released a special podcast on the life and historical events in which Queen Marie took part herself. The audio miniseries “Queen Marie – Deeds and words” consists of 5 episodes created by historian Mihaela Simina, joining two interconnected components: quotes (including novelties) that belong to Queen Marie and evocations of events and moments in which the Queen took part.
The 5 episodes are published weekly on the main streaming platforms and YouTube every Friday from 16:00, with the last episode published the day before the Coronation Centenary.
The podcast evokes important moments from Queen Marie’s life, starting from her childhood to the moment she arrived in Romania, highlighting unique details about the Queen’s historical presence at the Peace Conference in Paris, as well as the difficult moments of the War, recorded in her well-known diaries. The mini-series concludes with less known behind-the-scenes details from the Coronation ceremony in Alba Iulia.
Mihaela Simina is a historian, author, and publicist with an in-depth knowledge of the history of the Royal Family of Romania. Graduated in history, specializing in international relations, Mihaela Simina is co-author, together with Adrian Cioroianu, of the volumes “Marie of Romania. Queen who loved life and homeland” (2015), and “Michael I of Romania. A king with honour, loyalty, and faith” (2016), both published by Curtea Veche Publishing, as part of the “Our Kings and Queens” collection. She is also the editor of the Queen Marie. Orange blossoms album, published by Libris Editorial, Brasov, (2018). She is currently the author of the column “Emphasis on history” in the weekly Dilema Veche and a collaborator of the Historia magazine.