Queen Maria's heart will return to the place where it stopped beating. The silver box containing the heart of the Queen will be displayed in the Golden Room of the Pelişor castle, the Romanian Government decided yesterday.
The silver box will be draped in the Romanian and British flags, as stipulated in the late Sovereign's will. The Queen's last wish was that her heart be interred separately, in the chapel of her summer residence in Balcic. It was kept there for only two years, until 1940, when that province was ceded to Bulgaria.
She posessed a vibrant beauty and a noble soul. In wartime, she was always on the frontline, among the wounded. The people loved her and she became one of the great figures in our history. Queen maria of Romania, a direct descendant of the British Royal Family had a great heart.
This was King Mihai's wish. Two empty boxes are currently on display at the National Museum of Romanian History.
There will be a procession on the 3rd of November, a ceremony attended by members of the Royal Houses of Romania and Austria. On that day, the silver box with Queen Maria's heart in it will travel by car from the Museum to the Pelişor castle.
In her last will, however, Queen Maria wanted her heart to rest at her summer residence on the Black Sea coast.
After the province of Cadrilater was ceded to Bulgaria in 1940, Princess Ileana took the Queen's heart and placed it in another residence she held dear, a Chapel from the Bran castle, wherefrom it was later moved to the National Museum of Romanian History.