Princess Ileana of Romania (1909-1991), lived through two world wars, the communist takeover of her country and finally its liberation. Living a royal and privileged life, but also knowing poverty, she lived as an orthodox nun and founded a convent in Pennsylvania in the later years of her life.
Ileana was the youngest daughter of six children of the Romanian King Ferdinand I (1865-1927) and his wife Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh (1875-1938), the eldest daughter of Duke Alfred of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and the Russian Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna Romanova. She was thus a great-granddaughter of the British Queen Victoria and the Russian Tsar Alexander II on her mother's side.
She received the title "most beautiful child in Europe" among others. because she had blue eyes, which was rare for a Romanian.
Just like your great-grandmother Victoria, the love for dogs ran in the family. Her mother Marie had her beloved borzois, cocker spaniel, a few other hounds and even a large Romanian Bukovina Shepherd Dog.
Between 1919-1926, Ileana received two white Spitz puppies:
Ileana married Archduke Anton of Austria-Tuscany (Anton Habsburg-Lorraine) in 1931. After the marriage, the couple was forced to live outside of Romania out of political considerations. This was very painful for Ileana, because she had a deep connection to her homeland.
Pictures showing them in their national costume in Romania with the spitz:
It's unclear what became of the second Spitz. After getting married and having to leave the country, it stands to reason that she left the Spitz behind.
Ileana continued her mother's charitable work by caring for wounded Romanian soldiers in Germany during World War II. Inexorably linked to Romania, she settled in the country with her family during the Antonescu regime and opened the “Queen's Heart” hospital in Bran. Shortly after the abdication of King Mihai (her nephew) in 1947, they had to leave the country and even their property was confiscated.
The family initially resided in Switzerland and Argentina, moving to the United States with their children in the early 1950s. With the sale of her jewelry, Ileana financed the purchase of a house in Newton, Massachusetts. The couple divorced in 1954, her second marriage to Stefan Nikolas Issarescu also failed and they divorced in 1965.
In 1967, Ileana founded a Romanian Orthodox monastery and wrote numerous religious, spiritual books that are now considered important literature of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
As a nun, she gave herself the name Mother Alexandra. She managed to visit the chapel in Bran one last time before she passed away on January 21, 1991.
Sources:
Hannah Pakula: The Last Romantic: Biography of Queen Marie of Roumania, Phoenix House (1996)
Ileana of Austria-Tuscany: I Live Again Princess Of Romania Archduchess Of Austria, Rinehart & Company Incorporated (1952)
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