In the autumn of 1926, Queen Marie of Romania embarked on one of the most spectacular journeys of her life: a multi-week tour of the United States and Canada, during which she travelled thousands of miles and was greeted by enthusiastic crowds in numerous cities. Beginning on 18 October 1926, the visit would become a remarkable public relations success for Romania.
One hundred years after this historic journey, we invite you to an evening dedicated to Queen Marie, a woman who knew how to turn her public image, elegance, intelligence, and diplomatic skills into powerful tools for promoting Romania across the Atlantic.
From her triumphant reception in New York and her meeting with President Calvin Coolidge at the White House to her encounters with Romanian communities, her visit to Maryhill, and her extraordinary meetings across the American West, Queen Marie’s journey tells a story of diplomacy, image-making, communication, and national identity.
How did Queen Marie manage to win over America? What did her visit mean for Romania’s international image? And how much of this extraordinary tour was diplomacy, how much spectacle, and how much personal strategy?
We will explore these questions on Queen’s Day, Thursday, 29 October, at 7 PM, at PLAN Patru, in a conversation between two historians, Simona Preda and Anita Sterea.
Join us at PLAN Patru, a cultural space with a history of its own, for an evening dedicated to one of the most fascinating journeys in Romanian history.
Simona Preda is a historian, writer, and cultural journalist, holding a PhD in History from the University of Bucharest. She is the author of several books on history and memory, with a particular interest in the history of Romanian royalty and the ways in which it is reflected in public memory.
Anita Sterea is a historian, curator, and cultural project organiser involved in promoting cultural heritage and developing cultural education initiatives and historical tours. She is president of the Cooltural Association Nouă Ne Pasă!, through which she develops projects dedicated to heritage, history, and the cultural interpretation of Bucharest.
