Editing Ferdinand I of Romania (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Prince Ferdinand of Romania.jpg|thumb|left|Ferdinand as a teenager, 1878]]
Prince Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was born in [[Sigmaringen]] in southwestern Germany. The name was later shortened simply to Hohenzollern after the extinction of the [[Hohenzollern-Hechingen]] branch in 1869. The princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen had ruled the [[Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen|principality]] until 1850, when it was annexed to [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]].

Ferdinand I was the son of [[Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen]], and [[Infanta Antónia of Portugal]] (1845–1913), daughter of [[Queen Maria II of Portugal]] and [[Ferdinand II of Portugal|Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]], heir to the Hungarian magnates of [[Koháry]] on his mother's side.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/204443/Ferdinand-I | title = Ferdinand I | access-date = 28 March 2013}}</ref>

Following the renunciations, first of his father in 1880 and then of his elder brother [[Prince Wilhelm of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen]] in 1886, young Ferdinand became the heir-presumptive to the throne of his childless uncle, King [[Carol I of Romania]], who would reign until his death in October 1914.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://visit.peles.ro/king-ferdinand-i/ |title=The Royals: King Ferdinand I |access-date=28 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504152624/http://visit.peles.ro/king-ferdinand-i/ |archive-date=4 May 2013}}</ref> In 1889, the Romanian parliament recognized Ferdinand as a prince of Romania. The Romanian government did not require his conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy from Catholicism, as was the common practice prior to this date, thus allowing him to continue with his born creed, but it was required that his children be raised Orthodox, the state religion of Romania. For agreeing to this, Ferdinand was [[excommunicated]] from the Catholic Church, although this was later lifted.

Ferdinand's mother's first cousin Tsar [[Ferdinand I of Bulgaria]] sat on the throne of the neighbouring Bulgaria beginning in 1887, and was to become the greatest opponent of the kingdom of his Romanian cousins. The neighboring [[Emperor Francis Joseph]], monarch of [[Austria-Hungary]] and as such, ruler of [[Transylvania]], was Ferdinand's grandmother's first cousin.

Ferdinand, a complete stranger in his new home, started to get close to one of [[Elisabeth of Wied|Queen Elisabeth]]'s ladies in waiting, [[Elena Văcărescu]]. Elisabeth, the Queen consort of Romania, very close to Elena herself, encouraged the romance, although she was perfectly aware of the fact that a marriage between the two was forbidden by the Romanian constitution (according to the [[1866 Constitution of Romania]], the heir-presumptive to the throne was not allowed to marry a Romanian).

The affair caused a sort of dynastic crisis in 1891. The result of this was the exile of both Elisabeth (in [[Neuwied]]) and Elena (in [[Paris]]), as well as a trip by Ferdinand through Europe in search of a suitable bride, whom he eventually found in [[Queen Victoria]]'s granddaughter, Princess [[Marie of Edinburgh]].