Ferdinand I of Romania
Ferdinand (Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad; 24 August 1865 - 20 July 1927), also known as Întregitorul (the "Unifier"), ruled Romania from 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold II of Portugal and Infanta Antónia of Portugal, the daughter of Ferdinand II of Portugal and Maria II of Portugal. His ancestors belonged to the Catholic branch of the Prussian royal family Hohenzollern.
Following the renunciation of his father (in 1880) and older brother, Wilhelm (in 1886), to the rights of succession to the royal crown of Romania, Ferdinand became Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Romania in 1889. He continued his military career in Romania, gaining a series of honorary commands and being promoted to the rank of corps general. In 1893, he married Princess Maria Alexandra Victoria of Romania, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Emperor Alexander II, and daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia.
Following the death of his uncle, King Carol I, Ferdinand became King of Romania on October 10, 1914, under the name Ferdinand I. During World War I, he ruled Romania, siding with the Triple Entente against the Central Powers. As a result, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany had his name removed from the royal house of Hohenzollern. At the end of the war, Romania emerged as a much-enlarged kingdom as Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transylvania, as well as parts of Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș, joined the Kingdom of Romania in 1920, and Ferdinand was crowned King of "Greater Romania" in a grand ceremony in 1922. Following the establishment of Greater Romania, Romanian society underwent a series of major transformations, most notably the implementation of agrarian reform and the universal vote. In 1925, his eldest son, Prince Carol, renounced his right to the royal crown of Romania, causing a dynastic crisis because the next prince in line of succession was 4-year-old Prince Michael. This compelled Ferdinand to remove Prince Carol's name from the Romanian royal family.
Ferdinand died of cancer in 1927, and his grandson Michael took his place under a regency formed by three people: Prince Nicholas of Romania, Prince Carol's younger brother; patriarch Miron Cristea; and president of the Supreme Court of Justice Gheorghe Buzdugan.
