Memorial Services were held over the weekend to commemorate two years since the passing of Queen Anne of Romania aged 92. Her husband King Michael passed at the end of last year and following his views the current custodian of the Crown of Romania is their eldest daughter Princess Margareta and her husband Prince Radu who were at some of the services. One of the services was in the small Romanian town of Făget, where the couple attended a Catholic Requiem Mass, where members of the local authority and Orthodox church were also present. Afterwards the royal couple spent some time talking with the villagers.
Prior to the service Princess Margareta and Prince Radu had attended a commemoration service in the Orthodox church in Săvârşin led by the Archbishop of Arad, who is responsible for the area. Săvârşin Castle is the country residence of the Romanian Royal Family, it was a former home of King Michael that had been seized by the communists. However, following the overthrow of the communist regime the Romanian courts decreed it should be given back to the Royal family.
A service of commemoration attended by her youngest daughter Princess Maria was also held at the Plumbuita Monastery near Colentina Bucharest. Princess Maria lives in Romania and represents the Romanian Royal family at events, it was during her time being with her father King Michael in Switzerland that he passed away.
Although Queen Anne married a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, she herself was brought up Catholic being a member of the House of Bourbon-Palma. Her mother was Princess Margaret of Denmark and her father Prince Rene of Bourbon-Palma, she had met King Michael a number of times around the wedding of Prince Phillip and Queen Elizabeth II of England. Sadly, King Michael was deposed by the communists and she never entered the country as Queen, though following her passing she was given a state funeral and she is buried at Curtea de Arges Cathedral in Romania.
