ROMANIA. PERTICARI-DAVILA (Elena). Daughter of Doctor Davila - Lot 194

ROMANIA. PERTICARI-DAVILA (Elena). Daughter of Doctor Davila, physician to King Carol I of Romania, Dame d'Honneur of the Court, confidante of Queen Marie of Yugoslavia. Correspondence to Madame Mallet. Bucharest, Sinaia, Izvor, Izvoru, 1914-1920, 1930-1940. 57 l.a.s., 3 to 8 pages per letter, mostly in-4 format; enclosed a few envelopes. Very abundant correspondence evoking the Romanian Court and the intimacy of the royal family during the First World War and the 1930s. These letters offer a valuable insight into feelings and concerns about Romania's situation in the face of German and Italian hegemony, particularly after 1936, deploring the inaction of England and France. Among the letters that set the tone: "(...) When I think of the young people who have already had a war, of their children who are breathing and growing in all serenity, my heart bleeds (...).and with this blow of the sledgehammer that we have all just received and which is terribly similar to that of 1914. I know that in France, the only idea is to avoid war, but if we hold out a finger to them, the whole hand will go, and everything else will be caught up in it! As far as I'm concerned, I don't have much confidence in Russia, which will swallow us whole when it gets the chance, with the dream of Constantinople before its eyes. These people are killing on one side, Hitler on the other, with civilization, of which France represents the highest step, caught between the two (...)". Mention of various personalities, including General Angelesco, the Ghika, Cantacuzène, Perticari and Petrescu families; Description of several Court receptions and events, inauguration of the bust of Dr. Davila, the King's return from a hunting season in Transylvania; description of the Queen's habits at Pelisor and Sinaia, meals with Queen Elizabeth, King George and cousin Hohenzolern [Prince Frederick]; citing the Queen's memoirs, which she deems "puerile very often inaccurate (...)." Queen's comments on the King's action in 1914. To Bran: "I am writing to you from this enchanting medieval castle (...) so full of flowers, all animated by the presence of the Queen, the Archdukes Antoine (...) the Archduchess Ileana (...) The Queen (Marie de Roumanie) has been good enough to invite me for three days and I am sure to prosper while I am with her. (...). The Queen is superb of spirit and I may say of youth (...)". She goes on to detail her daily schedule. On the succession of King Carol and the transition of the government, which wishes to change the constitution; Germany guarantees the country's borders and attempts an economic rapprochement; fears about the situation in Spain and Mussolini's claims in the Adriatic. The Queen was deeply affected by the death of her sister; fear of communist movements advocating a "Soviet paradise", etc.