Blue blood and ink: Romanian aristocratic women before and after world war I

Abstract

Abstract In Romania the aristocracy molded itself upon the European model in the nineteenth century. Like their European counterparts, Romanian aristocratic women were denied open political participation. However, they made rich contributions to public life, especially in the fields of social projects and cultural patronage. Some of them also influenced the political process through the hidden channels open to women – literary-political salons, cultural activities, journalism, informal networking. The most famous of them left their mark on important events: Princess Elena Vacarescu and Queen Marie during World War I and the Versailles Treaty, and Queen-mother Helen during the dark period of Jewish persecution in the 1940s. Research on this class of women (prohibited during the Communist regime) can bring about a better understanding of the modern period in Romania's history.