The reports drawn up by the members of the Russian Legation to Bucharest analysed several aspects of the Romanian state with King Carol I being a major topic thereof. Given that the Romanian sovereign belonged to the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty, he was often perceived by the Russian diplomats accredited in the kingdom to the north of the Danube as making a strong contribution to the intensification of German and Austro-Hungarian influence in Romania, especially between 1888 and 1893 when RussianRomanian relations were particularly tense. Although not unanimously, most reports depicted the Romanian king as a ruler who could not adapt to his new country, often describing him as a “foreigner” or a “German” with some even predicting his abdication. Since the king was a decisive factor in the promotion of Romania’s foreign policy, he was often described as a worthy representative of Germanophilia and hostile to Russia. As a Catholic in a country whose population was overwhelmingly Orthodox, the Romanian sovereign was often shown as an “agent of Catholicism” in Romania although there were also cases when the reports emphasised the balance that he was able to strike between Catholicism and Orthodoxy.
Source: Arhire S. (2022). The Image of King Carol I of Romania as Reflected in the Russian Diplomatic Reports, 1888–1898. Bylye Gody. 17(3): 1325-1334
Source web-site: https://bg.cherkasgu.press/journals_n/1662034736.pdf
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