VISITS OF QUEEN MARIA (1875–1938) TO CHISINAU

During the interwar period, the sovereigns of the Romania Royal House have undertakenof five official visits to Bessarabia. As for Queen Maria, she visited Chișinău three times. The visits were undertaken in 1920, 1925 and 1927, on the occasion of certain events, the queen accompanying King Ferdinand I, but also being accompanied (on her last trip) by Princess Ileana, the younger daughter of the sovereigns. With reference to Queen Maria’s impressions from the three visits to Bessarabia, these do not seem to be unilateral. If the territory, without a doubt, was Romanian (with a Romanian population), certain local ities of Bessarabia taking her mind to the expanses of Iași, then the habitat of the Bessarabians reminded the queen of Russian novels. At the same time, although Chisinau impressed her with its large and beautiful buildings in the Russian style, it still had, according to the sovereign, the appearance of a small provincial town. At the same time, the worst impressions left the queen with the several banquets, of provincial origin, organized by the local authorities in honor of the royal family arriving in Chisinau.