HM Queen Anne de Romania, Princess of Denmark and of Bourbon-Parme
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http://www.blouseroumaine.com/orderthebook_p1.html

Regina Anna de Romania, Printesa de Danemarca si de Bourbon-Parma se trage, asa cum spune numele, din Bourboni, care au fost regii Frantei si Spaniei, mai precis din ramura spaniola a Bourbonilor care erau si Duci de Parma.

Pornind pe linie directa ascendenta a familiei de Bourbon-Parma, deci pe linie barbateasca, ajungem la Ferdinand I de Bourbon, Duce de Parma (1751-1802) nepotul lui Filip V regele Spaniei si Duce de Anjou (1683, Versailles – 1746 Madrid).

Acest Ferdinand I Infante de Spania (1751-1802), care preceda cu sase generatii pe Ana de Bourbon-Parma a noastra [sper si a domniei tale], era casatorit cu Printesa Louise Elisabeth de France (1727-1759), fiica lui Ludovic XV regele Frantei si a sotiei lui Maria Leczynska (1703-1768) regina Frantei, care la randul ei era fiica lui Stanislas Lesczynski regele Poloniei si Duce de Lorena (1677-1766).
Acum, ca sa ajungem la Movilesti trebuie sa trecem pe ramurile femeiesti:

Bunica materna a lui Stanislas Lesczinski (socrul lui Ludovic XV) era Maria Ana Printesa Jabolonowska (1643-1687) nascuta contesa Kasanowska, iar bunica materna a acesteia din urma era Domnita Maria Movila ( 1591-1638) (fata lui Ieremia Voda), domnita moldoveanca al carui sot era Contele Stefan Potocki, Palatin de Wroclaw si prin care casatorie era cunoscuta in Polonia drept Marya Mohylanka.
Aceasta inseamna, bine inteles, ca prin stramosii ei Movilesti, Regina Anna de Romania se trage, prin Iermia Voda Movila, chiar din Petru Rares si din Stefan cel Mare si Sfant, iar prin acesta din urma din Dragos Voda primul descalecator al Moldovei.

Despre domnita Maria Movila contesa Potocka ne vorbeste istoricul Constantin GANE (1885-1962) in celebra lui lucrare “Trecute Vieti de Doamne si Domnite”.
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“Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women”

Presented and Selected by Constantin ROMAN

Anthology E-BOOK (11BM)

DISTRIBUTION: Online with credit card

LINK: CUMPARA:  www.blouseroumaine.com/orderthebook_p1.html

CONTENTS:

2,250,000 words, 1,100 pages, 160 illustrations in text, 160 critical biographies, 60 social categories/professions, 600 quotations (mostly translated into English for the first time), 4,000 bibliographical references (including URLs, discography, exhibitions and performance credits), 6 Indexes (alphabetical, by profession, timeline, quotations, geographical  place names,  and surnames)

AUTHOR: Constantin Roman is a Scholar with a Doctorate from Cambridge and a Member of the Society of Authors (London). He is an International Adviser, Guest Speaker, Professor Honoris Causa and Commander of the Order of Merit.

INDEX BY PROSFESSION: 60 CATEGORIES by Call, Profession or Social Status

Academics (22), Actresses (9), Anti-Communist Fighters (14), Architects/Interior Designers (2), Art Critics (9), Artist Book Binders (1), Ballerinas (6), Charity Workers/Benefactors (20), Communist Public Figures (2), Courtesans (3), Designers (2), Diplomats (4), Essayists (11), Ethnographers (6), Exiles & First-generation Romanians born abroad (87), Explorers (1), Feminists (12), Folk Singers (1), Gymnasts, Dressage Riders (2), Historians (5), Honorary Romanian Women (15), Illustrators (3), Journalists (13), Lawyers (4), Librarians (3), Linguists (2), Literary Critics (1), Media (15), Medical Doctors/Nurses (5), Memoir Writers (16), Missionaries and Nuns (4), Mountainéers (2), Museographers (1), Musical Instruments Makers (1), Novelists (24), Opera Singers (16), Painters (14), Peasant Farmers (6), Philosophers and Philosophy Graduates (4), Pianists (6), Pilots (4), Playwrights (5), Poets (29), Political Prisoners (30), Politicians (5), Revolutionaries (2), Royals and Aristocrats (34), Scientists (8), Sculptors (4), Slave (1), Socialites/Hostesses (20), Spouses/Relations of Public Figures (51), Spies (2), Tapestry Weavers (4), Translators (25), Unknown Illustrious (6), Violinists (4), Workers (3)

NOTE:
Most of the above 160 Romanian women, in the best tradition of versatility, are true polymaths and therefore nearly each one of them falls in more than just one category, often three or more. This explains why adding the numbers of the 60 individual categories bears no relation to the actual total of the above 160 women included in Blouse Roumaine.
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LIST OF 160 CRITICAL BIOGRAPHIES (each supported by Quotations and Bibliography)

AA *Gabriela Adamesteanu *Florenta Albu *Nina Arbore *Elena Arnàutoiu *Ioana Raluca Voicu-Arnàutoiu, *Laurentia Arnàutoiu *Mariea Plop – Arnàutoiu *Ana Aslan *Lady Elizabeth Asquith Bibescu

BB *Lauren Bacall *Lady Florence Baker *Zoe Bàlàceanu *Ecaterina Bàlàcioiu-Lovinescu *Victorine de Bellio *Pss. Marta Bibescu *Adriana Bittel *Maria Prodan Bjørnson *Ana Blandiana *Yvonne Blondel *Lola Bobescu *Smaranda Bràescu *Elena Bràtianu *Élise Bràtianu *Ioana Bràtianu *Elena Bràtianu- Racottà *Letitzia Bucur

CC *Anne-Marie Callimachi *Georgeta Cancicov *Madeleine Cancicov *Pss. Alexandra Cantacuzino *Pss.Maria Cantacuzino (Madame Puvis de Chavannes) *Pss. Maruca Cantacuzino-Enesco* Pss. Catherine Caradja *Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu *Marta Caraion-Blanc, *Nina Cassian, *Otilia Cazimir *Elena Ceausescu *Maria Cebotari *Ioana Celibidache *Hélène Chrissoveloni (Mme Paul Morand)*Alice Cocea *Irina Codreanu *Lizica Codreanu *Alina Cojocaru *Nadia Comàneci *Denisa Comànescu *Lena Constante *Silvia Constantinescu *Doina Cornea *Hortense Cornu *Viorica Cortez*Otilia Cosmutzà *Sandra Cotovu *Ileana Cotrubas *Carmen-Daniela Cràsnaru *Mioara Cremene *Florica Cristoforeanu *Pss. Elena Cuza

DD *Hariclea Darclée *Cella Delavrancea *Alina Diaconú *Varinca Diaconú *Anca Diamandy *Marie Ana Dràgescu *Rodica Dràghincescu *Bucura Dumbravà *Natalia Dumitrescu

EE *Micaela Eleutheriade *Queen Elisabeth of Romania (‘Carmen Sylva’) *Alexandra Enescu *Mica Ertegün

FF *Lizi Florescu, *Maria Forescu *Nicoleta Franck *Aurora Fúlgida

GG *Angela Gheorghiu *Pss Grigore Ghica *Pss. Georges Ghika (Liane de Pougy) *Veturia Goga *Maria Golescu *Nadia Gray *Olga Greceanu *Pss. Helen of Greece *Nicole Valéry-Grossu *Carmen Groza

HH *Virginia Andreescu Haret *Clara Haskil *Lucia Hossu-Longin

II *Pss. Ileana of Romania *Ana Ipàtescu *Marie-France Ionesco *Dora d’Istria *Rodica Iulian

JJ *Doina Jela *Lucretia Jurj

KK *Mite Kremnitz

LL *Marie-Jeanne Lecca *Madeleine Lipatti *Monica Lovinescu *Elena Lupescu

MM *Maria Mailat *Ileana Màlàncioiu *Ionela Manolesco *Lilly Marcou *Silvia Marcovici *Queen Marie of Romania *Ioana A. Marin *Ioana Meitani *Gabriela Melinescu *Veronica Micle *Nelly Miricioiu *Herta Müller *Alina Mungiu-Pippidi *Agnes Kelly Murgoci

NN *Mabel Nandris *Anita Nandris-Cudla *Lucia Negoità *Mariana Nicolesco *Countess Anna de Noailles *Ana Novac

OO *Helen O’Brien *Oana Orlea

PP *Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu *Milita Pàtrascu *Ana Pauker *Marta Petreu *Cornelia Pillat *Magdalena Popa *Elvira Popescu

RR *Ruxandra Racovitzà *Elisabeta Rizea *Eugenia Roman *Stella Roman *Queen Ana de România, *Pss. Margarita de România *Maria Rosetti *Elisabeth Roudinesco

SS *Annie Samuelli *Sylvia Sidney *Henriette-Yvonne Stahl *Countess Leopold Starszensky *Elena Stefoi *Pss. Marina Stirbey *Sanda Stolojan *Cecilia Cutzescu-Storck

TT *Maria Tànase *Aretia Tàtàrescu *Monica Theodorescu *Elena Theodorini

UU *Viorica Ursuleac

VV *Elena Vàcàrescu *Leontina Vàduva *Ana Velescu *Marioara Ventura *Anca Visdei *Wanda Sachelarie Vladimirescu *Alice Steriade Voinescu

WW *Sabina Wurmbrand

ZZ *Virginia Zeani

© copyright Constantin ROMAN, 2001-2009, all rights reserved

A Spanish grandee and Ambassador to the Court of St James’s once compared the success of an Anthology to that of a culinary chef d’oeuvre: for Santiago de Mora Figueroa y Williams, Marques of Tamarón, a great Anglophile but also a refined European:

The perfect anthology, like the perfect hors d’oeuvre, should turn us into gluttons. The many small dishes add up to a balanced and nourishing meal, but they are so exquisite that they whet one’s appetite for more. And the anthology should also include unexpected delicacies, things that even the literary gourmet had not heard about.

On a deeper reflection, Tamarón’s metaphor encapsulates perfectly well the ethos of the ‘Blouse Roumaine’. Yet, as an Anthology of Romanian women, this corpus was initially conceived to connect with a French painting of Henri Matisse – the eponymous canvas, ‘La Blouse Roumaine’ (1940), which hangs today in the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris: for every and each biography contained in this Women’s Anthology is like a minutely embroidered stitch on an ethnic tapestry, such as we have admired, not so long ago in the Retrospective exhibition of Matisse’s collection of textiles, presented at the Royal Academy in London and later also shown in New York. For those of us who missed this exhibition the analogy to the current book is like a roll call of women presented in a sequence of biographical cameos. These sketches are displayed like a series of miniatures in a virtual National Portrait Gallery: they are all glittering stars from Western galaxies and Eastern nebulae, in all 160 of them…

The manuscript gestation involved a work of love and dedication, spanning over several years, a creation which gradually came to life very much like in the Marques of Tamarón’s definition – a “menu of diverse and delicious hors d’oeuvres, visually appealing” but at the same time teasing the imagination and stimulating the taste: for such choice not only offers food for thought as well as for the heart, but also food for academic appetite, extending the frontiers of taste beyond the familiar courses of history, politics, literature, music, film, theatre, feminism or science – for ‘Blouse Roumaine’ is at the same time a trans-disciplinary book.

This subjective if somewhat esoteric compilation of impressionistic essays is preceded by a historical, cultural and political overview of Romanian society. This introductory social fresco sets the tone of the narrative which is perceived through a European looking glass, allowing the reader to consider Romania not in its exotic isolation, but as part of a much broader ‘concert of nations’ and therefore evaluate it within a familiar territory. These will be countries such as France, Italy or Britain which for the last two hundred years were the playground of Romanian aristocrats (Bibesco, Noailles, Ghika, Brancovan, Cantacuzène)

and lately the land of exile of many an uprooted artist and writer (Brancusi, Ionesco, Cioran, Eliade, Georges Enesco, Dinu Lipatti, Clara Haskil, Nadia Gray, Elvire Popesco, Hélène Vacaresco).

The Anthology is complemented by texts often published for the first time in English and sourced from over 4,000 French, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German references. Six hundred quotations convey the narrative an arcane erudition inviting the reader on a joyful pursuit of an abstruse and little-explored subject. This is virgin territory offering sheer delight.

As we turn the pages of this book we are made witness to an exotic cavalcade of female characters who conjure the scent, colour and voices of time past to the present day, from the sunflower fields of the Danube Plains to the darkest forests of Transylvania, from the languid music of the Carpathian panpipes to the uplifting Parisian literary salons and the stages of La Scala, Covent Garden and the Metropolitan operas, or the prestigious Comédie Française and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Further afield some of these intrepid amazons reached the distant shores of the river de la Plata, or, in the 19th century discovered the sources of the White Nile.
Yet, if such momentous revelations were not surprising enough, ‘Blouse Roumaine’ would also evoke associations with scores of famous glitterati and politicians of European and American dimension… For these women of the Orient Express disembarking in Milan, Paris, London, New York or Buenos Aires, women who inspired poets and composers, who created new opera roles, these muses enthralled political eagles and aristocrats alike, caused crown heads to dream and lesser mortals to lose their heads.

Some of these women made their lovers’ suicide respectable, before they retired to the seclusion of their convent to pray for the salvation of their soul, where some of them were suspected of trying to seduce God!… Through these enchantresses come to life a choice array of foreign suitors, lovers, admirers, patrons and sometimes husbands: Lord Carnaervon, the Earl of Asquith, Lord Thomson of Cardington, Satcheverell Sittwell, Noel Coward, David Farrar, Paul Morand, Marcel Proust, Pierre Lotti, Anatole France, Puvis de Chavannes, Vincent Van Gogh, Mark Twain, Verdi, Puccini, Richard Strauss, Eric Satie and more recently Humphrey Bogart, Lord Lloyd Webber, Roberto Alagna, Michel Foucault or Jacques Lacan, to name just a few.

Princess Georges Ghika, aka Liane de Pougy

But looking at this rich social tapestry, this folk embroidery of multicoloured and infinite stitches, one is equally absorbed by the darker side of the 20th century history of women who died in prison for their political beliefs, of Passionarias       who, after the Second World War, took the armed struggle to the Carpathian mountains, women of the maquis, or simply the faceless yet equally important unknown illustrious peasant women, or middle class housewives who steeled their obstinate resolve and silent resistance against the levelling steamroller of dictatorship. 

Constantin ROMAN evokes these heroines with a melancholy acknowledgment of the brutal destruction of a society and culture. This Romanian society was alive and well and it was so aptly described before WWII by Paul Morand and Marcel Proust, by Marie of Edinburgh and Patrick Leigh Fermor, by Satcheverell Sittwell, Elizabeth and Margot Asquith, by Vineretta Singer de Polignac and Violet Trefussis, Olivia Manning, Panait Istrati or Gregor von Rezzori, Colette or Virginia Ocampo, by the Princess Hélène Chrissoveloni Soutso, Princess Marthe Bibesco,     or Countess Anna de Noailles.
This was the ‘faraway country’ which inspired Dorothy Parker’s classic verse:

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Romania.

For some of these women also represent the extravagant if exotic Romanian society evoked in the correspondence of Queen Victoria, Napoleon III, King Alfonso XIII of Spain, Don Pedro of Portugal or Ramsey MacDonald, Winston Churchill, Roosevelt, and de Gaulle. In the process we also admire portraits left to posterity by artists of   world repute such as Rodin, Zuloaga, Whistler, Singer Sargent, de Laszlo, Vuillard, Paul César Helleu, Edmond Lapeyre, Puvis de Chavannes. Many other portraits are also immortalised by the London society photographers Walter Barnett, Van Dyke, Lafayette or Russell Westwood, or brought to life by film directors such as Federico Fellini of ‘La Dolce Vita’ fame, or more recently by opera stage directors such as Francesca Zamballo, David Pountney and even and quite oddly by a young student of Edinburgh University by the name of Gordon Brown, Britain’s future Prime Minister…

Princess Antoine Bibescu by Augustus John (1919)

There is never a dull moment in this gallery of royals and aristocrats but also of ordinary but exuberant women of talent, who fascinated the British society to the point of venting
its wit in the now classic limerick about King Carol II’s mistress, a diabolically seductive and unrepentant divorcee, who kept the English gossip columnists busy for many long years:

Have you heard of Madame Lupescu
Who came to Romania’s rescue?
It’s a wonderful thing
To be under a King:
Is democracy better I ask you?

At the other end of this social spectrum we discover women inspired by loftier ideals: enrolling as fighter pilots during WWII, or breaking world records at parachute jumping, pioneer solo pilots across the Mediterranean, or international sports champions, opera divas, suffragettes shaking the Parisian bastions of male power in the legal profession, in architecture or international diplomacy… women with guts who inspired so many.

These colourful strong-headed and often beautiful ladies, whether of the exile or home-grown variety had all, without exception, an amazing story to tell and often a memorable quote to impart. For Blouse Roumaine is not only a celebration, it is also a memorial to the past, as the stories unfold before our eyes not just as pickings for the literary gourmet and delicacies for the academic palate, but also as an Orthodox liturgy, a Romanian Epiphany which brings alive in our mind a nearly-forgotten but fascinating history with unexpected DNA links to the Western European psyche.

The lyrical, witty, and often satirical and uncompromisingly critical narrative of the ‘Blouse Roumaine’ may appear to some readers if not controversial at least thought-provoking, as it offers forays into some of the recesses of time prior to WWII, reflecting a somewhat politically schizophrenic world of contrasts. To complement this period the reader is offered also a close look into the emotional times of modern communist Nemesis. This is the darker world of the vengeful and remorseless Ana Pauker, Elena Ceausescu and their fawning Court poets which explains the legacy of their system in the post-modern Romania.
The synthesis of such bipolar images conjured in the Blouse Roumaine remains a memorable witness to:

‘the joy and pain and privilege of a writer to save the memories and thereby the physical beauty of past glories, a task which he sets about to carry out supremely well and with an immense joie de vivre’.

. – o O o – .

‘Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women’ preceded by a historical, social and cultural overview contains 1,100 pages, 160 critical biographies, 600 quotations, six indexes and 4,000 selected credits and references.

WHAT DO ACADEMICS SAY?
http://www.blouseroumaine.com/about-the-book/what-readers-say.html

ORDER on line:
http://www.blouseroumaine.com/buy-the-book/index.html

The Author:

the Author: Constantin ROMAN

Constantin ROMAN was a Scholar of Peterhouse, the oldest Cambridge College, founded in 1284. He took his PhD in Geophysics at a time evoked in his Memoir published by the Institute of Physics Publishers (Bristol and Philadelphia, http://www.constantinroman.com/continentaldrift/

ROMAN is a Professor Honoris Causa and a Commander of the Order of Merit. He lives in London, where he is a Member of the Society of Authors, an independent consultant and a contributor to British media.

ORDER/Cumpara:
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Constantin Roman ©2000- 2010. All Rights Reserved.

Universul Familiei Regale Romane – Portrete din arhivele Britanice
Expozitie organizata la Muzeul de Istorie al Municipiului Bucuresti
de catre Dl. Russell Harris, M.Litt, (Oxon)
Aprilie 2004

Expozitia de fotografii cu portretele familiei regale a Romaniei precum si ale capetelor incoronate cu care regii Romaniei sunt inruditi, se va deschide in luna Aprilie la Muzeul de Istorie al Municipiului Bucuresti.

Acest eveniment reprezinta o premiera mondiala si are o mare insemnatate din mai multe motive. Portretele fotografice sunt de format mare, si din punct de vedere grafic au o calitate exceptionala, fiind reproduceri moderne, reproduse direct dupa negativele originale, ce se afla in arhivele fotografice a doua muzee Britanice de mare prestigiu: The National Portrait Gallery si Victoria and Albert Museum, din Londra. Aceste fotografii nu au fost publicate nicaieri, pana acuma, iar colectia prezentata la Palatul Sutu reprezinta o selectie unica, facuta de un eminent critic, cercetator si lingvist Britanic , Domnul Russell Harris.
Domnul Harris este licentiat al Universitatii din Oxford, unde a fost student la Colegiul Balliol, ctitorit in 1263 de John Balliol, regele Scotiei. In lunga sa istorie, Balliol College a avut ca studenti trei Prim Ministri Britanici (Asquith, Macmillan si Heath), pe regele Harald V al Norvegiei precum si o serie intreaga de distinse personalitati, printre care scriitorii Graham Green, Aldous Huxley si Hilaire Belloc, economistul Adam Smith, Lordul Curzon, Viceregele Indiei, Ministrul Liberal Lordul Roy Jenkins, fost Cancelar al Universitatii din Oxford, s.a.

Expozitia dela Bucuresti este cu atat mai extraordinara cu cat ea reprezinta o initiativa particulara independenta, a Domnului Harris care a subventionat direct cheltuielile aferente acestei organizari (reproducerea fotografica, permisiunea de copyright, tiparirea si editarea catalogului expozitiei, costul calatoriilor si a transportului expozitiei, s.a.). Acest fapt este si el in sine o premiera, demonstrand pe de o parte avantajul unui spirit liber de antrepriza culturala britanica, care trebuie incurajat si felicitat si pe de alta parte receptivitatea si clar-viziunea conducerii Muzeului de Istoriei a Municipiului Bucuresti, prin persoana Directorului sau, Domnul Dr. Ionel Ionita si a echipei sale de colaboratori. Luand in consideratie cele de mai sus, este concludent ca un asemenea exercitiu, daca ar fi trecut prin angrenajul birocratic anglo-roman, ar fi fost mult mai greoi si infinit mai costisitor.
Asemenea initiative ar trebui nu numai incurajate si multiplicate dar ar trebui chiar sa serveasca de exemplu si in Romania pentru sponsorizarea unor viitoare expozitii romanesti in strainatate, de catre noua clasa sociala de afaceri romanesti, care aspira la respectabilitate si recunoastere internationala.

Din punct de vedere istoric si artistic expozitia dela Bucuresti are o mare valoare intrinseca. Asa cum arata catalogul expozitiei, tradus de catre Dana Ciobanu, negativele fotografice provin din colectiiile unor fotografi instalati la Londra la sfarsitul sec 19, inceputul secolului 20 si care au beneficiat de patronajul familiei regale Britanice si implicit a aristocratiei vremii. Atelierele fotografice din Londra ale lui Lafayette, Vandyk, Bassano si Walter Barnett au atras in curand si atentia familiilor Regale Europene, printer care si familia Regala a Romaniei (Regele Ferdinand, Regina Maria, Regele Carol II, Regina Mama Elena si Printul Nicolae). Toate portretele au o mare tinuta artistica si tehnica, iar cele mai numeroase sunt ale Reginei Maria, care a fost o clienta constanta a lui Barnett, inca din 1902 si in anii 1920 a lui Vandyk.
Publicului Roman, mai putin initiat in legaturile de alianta ale familiei Regale Romane, i se prezinta in expozitie si un tablou genealogic selectiv aratand casatoriile cu celelalte dinastii Europene si ele prezente in actuala expozitie, familii dintre care, la ora actuala, doar cea Britanica si-a pastrat continuitatea tronului.

In Februarie 2004 Domnul Russell Harris a fost invitat la New Delhi de catre British Council pentru a tine o conferinta despre Arhivele fotografice Britanice, iar in anii precedenti a organizat, la New Delhi, Chandigarh si Jaipur ca invitat la British Council o expozitie de fotografii al dinastiilor de Maharajah, provenind din aceleasi surse de arhive ca si expozitia dela Bucuresti. Domnia sa este autorul a mai multor carti si albume de specialitate, din acest domeniu, iar anul acesta este programat sa prezinte expozitii similare la Moscova si Paris.

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EDITOR’S NOTE (2009):

Read more about Romanian Royals and Aristocrats in:

Blouse Roumaine – The Unsung Voices of Romanian Women

(Centre for Romanian Studies, London, 2009)

(1,100 pages, 160 Biographies, 600 quotations)

http://www.blouseroumaine.com/buy-the-book/index.html

Illustrations:

H.M. Queen Marie of Romania (1875 – 1938)
(by Barnett, 1902)

Prince Nicolae de Romania

H.R.H. Prince Nicolae of Romania  (1903 – 1978)