The Queens of Poetry (part 3)

She was not only a queen of poetry, but also a queen of many arts, journalism, charity and... Romania!
Pauline Elisabeth Ottilie Luise zu Wied (December 29 1843 - March 3 1916) was the Queen Consort of King Carol I of Romania, widely known by her literary name of Carmen Sylva.

Born in Neuwied, she was the daughter of German Prince Hermann of Wied and his wife Marie, daughter of Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau (and sister of Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg). She was a prospective bride for Edward VII of the United Kingdom, then Prince of Wales. She first met the future king of Romania at Berlin in 1861, and was married to him on 15 November 1869 in Neuwied. Her only child, a daughter, Maria, died in 1874. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 she devoted herself to the care of the wounded, and founded the Order of Elizabeth (a gold cross on a blue ribbon) to reward distinguished service in such work. She fostered the higher education of women in Romania, and established societies for various charitable objects. Because of this, the people called her 'The mother of the wounded'. She was the 835th Dame of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa.

Early distinguished by her excellence as a pianist, organist and singer, she also showed considerable ability in painting and illuminating; but a lively poetic imagination led her to the path of literature, and more especially to poetry, folklore and ballads. In addition to numerous original works she put into literary form many of the legends current among the Romanian peasantry.


Literary activity
As "Carmen Sylva", she wrote with facility in German, Romanian, French and English. A few of her voluminous writings, which include poems, plays, novels, short stories, essays, collections of aphorisms, etc., may be singled out for special mention:
* Her earliest publications were 'Sappho' and 'Hammerstein', two poems which appeared at Leipzig in 1880.
* In 1888 she received the Prix Botta, a prize awarded triennially by the Académie française, for her volume of prose aphorisms 'Les Pensees d'une reine' (Paris, 1882), a German version of which is entitled Vom Amboss (Bonn, 1890).
* 'Cuvinte Sufletesci', religious meditations in Romanian (Bucharest, 1888), was also translated into German (Bonn, 1890), under the name of Seelen-Gespräche.

Several of the works of Carmen Sylva were written in collaboration with Mite Kremnitz, one of her maids of honor; these were published between 1881 and 1888, in some cases under the pseudonyms Dito et Idem. These include:
* Aus zwei Welten (Leipzig, 1884), a novel
* Anna Boleyn (Bonn, 1886), a tragedy,
* In der Irre (Bonn, 1888), a collection of short stories
* Edleen Vaughan, or Paths of Peril, a novel (London, 1894),
* Sweet Hours, poems (London, 1904), written in English.

The Queens of Poetry (part 2)

Anna, Marquise Mathieu de Noailles (born Anna Elisabeth Bibesco-Bassaraba, Princess de Brancovan; 1 November or 15 November 1876 – 30 April 1933 (56 years), Romanian-French writer.

Born in Paris and a descendant of the Bibescu and Craioveşti families of Romanian boyars, she was the daughter of Prince Grégoire Bibesco-Bassaraba, a son of Wallachian Prince Gheorghe Bibesco de Brancovan and Zoe Brâncoveanu. Her Greek mother was the former Ralouka (Rachel) Musuru, a well known musician, to whom the Polish composer Ignacy Paderewski dedicated several of compositions. In 1897 she married Marquis Mathieu Fernand Frédéric Pascal de Noailles (1873-1942), the fourth son of the 7th Duke de Noailles. The couple soon became the toast of Parisian high society. They had one child, a son, Count Anne Jules de Noailles (1900-1979).

Representing the 'parnasianism' and the literary Belle Époque, Anna de Noailles wrote novels, an autobiography, and a number of poems. She was elected as a member of the prestigious 'Académie Royale Belge de Langue et de Littérature Françaises' and awarded by the 'French Academy', who awarded her with the 'Grand Prix pour literature'. At the beginning of the 20th century, her salon on the Avenue Hoche attracted the intellectual, literary and artistic elite of the day including Francis Jammes, Paul Claudel, Colette, André Gide, Frédéric Mistral, Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, Paul Valéry, Jean Cocteau, Alphonse Daudet, Pierre Loti, Paul Hervieu, Maurice Barrès, and Max Jacob.


So popular was Anna de Noailles that various notable artists of the day painted her portrait, including Antonio de la Gandara, Kees van Dongen, Jacques Émile Blanche, and the British portrait painter Philip de Laszlo. In 1906 her image was sculpted by Auguste Rodin, and can be seen today in the Musée Rodin in Paris. She died in 1933 and was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Anna de Noailles was the first woman to become a 'Commander of the Legion of Honor', and the Académie Française named a prize in her honor.

The Queens of Poetry (part 1)

Elena Văcărescu or Hélène Vacaresco (September 21, 1864, Bucharest - February 17, 1947, Paris) - Romanian-French writer, twice a laureate of the Académie Française.

Through her father, Ioan Văcărescu, she descended from a long line of boyars of Wallachia (the Văcărescu family), including Ienăchiţă Văcărescu, the poet who wrote the first Romanian grammar. She was also a granddaughter of Romanian poet Iancu Văcărescu. Through her mother, Eufrosina Fălcoianu, she descended from the Fălcoianu family, a prominent group in the times of Prince Michael the Brave.

She spent most of her youth on the Văcărescu estate near Târgovişte. Elena first got acquainted with the English literature through her English governess. She also studied French literature at Sorbonne in Paris, where she met Victor Hugo, whom she later mentioned in her memoirs. She attended courses of philosophy, aesthetics and history, and also studied poetry under the guidance of Sully Prudhomme. Another influence on her early life was the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878 that also involved Romania - the country declared independence from the Ottoman Empire, and joined Imperial Russia's camp. Elena's father fought in the war, experience which influenced her first book (published in 1886).

The meeting that changed her life was that with Elisabeth of Wied, Queen of Romania, wife of King Carol I. The Queen invited her to the palace in 1888. Interested in Elena Văcărescu's literary achievements, she became much more interested in the person of the poet. Having not yet recovered from the death of her only daughter in 1874, Elizabeth transferred all her maternal love on Elena. In 1889, due to the lack of heirs to the Romanian throne, the King had adopted his nephew Ferdinand of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen who, due to his loneliness in a strange country, grew close to Elena, fell in love with her, and eventually expressed the desire to marry her. But, according to the 1866 Constitution of Romania, the heir to the throne was not allowed to marry a Romanian. The result of the affair was that the Queen (who had encouraged the romance) was exiled to Neuwied for two years, Elena was exiled to Paris for life, while Ferdinand was sent off in search for a new bride (which he eventually found in Marie of Edinburgh).

Văcărescu was the Substitute Delegate to the League of Nations from 1922 to 1924. She was a permanent delegate from 1925 to 1926. She was again a Substitute Delegate to the League of Nations from 1926 to 1938.


She was the only woman to serve with the rank of ambassador (permanent delegate) in the history of the League of Nations. She was co-founder of 'The International Institute for Intelectual Cooperation' (today UNESCO).

In 1925 she was welcomed as a member of the Romanian Academy. She translated into French, works of Romanian poets such as Mihai Eminescu, Lucian Blaga, Octavian Goga, George Topîrceanu, Ion Minulescu and Ion Vinea. Just before her death, Văcărescu was a member of the Gheorghe Tătărescu-headed Romanian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War II.

In 1946 she became the first woman officer of the French 'Légion d'honneur'. She initiated the 'Femina' Prize for Poetry, now one of the most important literary prizes.

She is interred in the Văcărescu family crypt in the Bellu cemetery in Bucharest.