The Visit of the Royal Family to Transylvania in the Context of the Year 1919 (I)
Rezumat
Abstract: The visits made in the interwar period by representatives of the royal family to the United Provinces with the Country in 1918 had a certain significance. The physical presence of the members of the Romanian dynasty was an act of affirmation of legitimacy and suzerainty over the territory acquired in 1918. The Romanian press in Transylvania and memorial oeuvres have extensively reflected and emphasized the importance of the visit of the Royal Family, following its route, which included numerous localities, from the outposts of the Romanian army at Békéscsaba (in Hungary) to Braşov. As far as Transylvania is concerned, this was all the more necessary given that, after World War I, a sudden campaign of unprecedented vehemence and magnitude was launched by Hungarian political circles, asking for the support of the international public opinion and of the governments of Western countries for the revision of the Treaty of Trianon, which had “mutilated” the borders of the Hungarian state, aiming at the restitution of Transylvania, unjustly “wrested” from Hungary’s body. The use of symbolic registers with grandiloquent connotations was a fairly common practice at such events at the time. The presence of the royal authority in Transylvania was stated by a symbolic gesture. The emblematic figure of Michael the Brave, who for the first time in history achieved the union of the Romanian territories and the reawakening of his qualities in the person of King Ferdinand I, or of his heir, Prince Carol, were the symbolic leitmotif of all trips.
Keywords: Romanian dynasty, World War I, Ferdinand I, Transylvania, royal family.
Acknowledgement: This work is supported by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization through Program 1 – Development of the national research – development system. Subprogram 1.2 – Institutional performance – Projects for financing excellence in RDI, contract no. 28 PFE/30.12.2021.
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