Les Fiançailles du Roi Alexandre de Yougoslavie avec la Princesse Marie de Roumania célébrées à Bucarest

[Les Fiançailles du Roi Alexandre de Yougoslavie avec la Princesse Marie de Roumania célébrées à Bucarest] (FR 1922). Queen Marie of Romania, Princess Ileana of Romania. Photo: Gaumont-Pathé Archives, Saint-Ouen, Paris. Please click to enlarge the photo to the max!

[The Celebration of the Engagement of King Alexander of Yugoslavia with Princess Marie of Romania in Bucharest] (FR 1922) prod: Gaumont. copia/copy: DCP, 1'30"; did./titles: FRA. fonte/source: Gaumont-Pathé Archives, Saint-Ouen, Paris.
    Grand piano: Meg Morley.
    Teatro Verdi, Pordenone, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Ruritania 2, 13 Oct 2023.

Jay Weissberg (GCM 2023): " The engagement of Princess Marie of Romania to King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was announced on 10 January 1922 at a gala dinner in Romania’s fanciful Peleș Castle. As a dynastic alliance it made sense and was seen by many as cementing the Little Entente, a treaty created between 1920 and 1921 as a mutual protection pact between Czechoslovakia, Romania, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (as the country was called before being officially named Yugoslavia); it’s safe to say that like most royal pairings, it was not a love match. "

" The Westminster Gazette (7.1.1922) reported on rumors even before the announcement, leading the journalist to write, “Diplomatic marriages have played their part in Balkan affairs in the past, but their stabilising influence has not been very marked… A strong bond uniting Serbia and Roumania would be something for which we might all be thankful; and if only Bulgaria were in some way concerned it would be a godsend.”

" This newsreel’s opening intertitle declares that it’s shot in Bucharest, so this scene must have taken place once the royals returned to the capital. It opens with King Ferdinand of Romania and his son-in-law-to-be King Alexander stepping into an open carriage, followed by Queen Marie of Romania, draped in winter furs, entering a second carriage with her daughter Princess Marie and son Prince Carol, the disastrous future king of Romania. The marriage took place in Belgrade in June, when the Romanian royals sailed along the Danube to Belgrade in stately fashion, which was also well-covered by the newsreel cameramen. After the wedding, Vogue (15.9.1922) wrote optimistically, “In accordance with an old Roumanian custom, the future queen wears in her bridal coiffure a web of gold, an ornament which symbolizes the many joyful hours spun for her by the Fates.” For more information on this peculiar couple, see last year’s Giornate catalogue. " – Jay Weissberg

AA: Beautiful visual quality in this newsreel about the royal wedding.