Romania, Kingdom. A 2Nd Field Hunters Regiment Of Queen Elisabeth Badge

In silver, weighing 13.1 grams, unmarked, illustrating the stylized "E" monogram of Queen Elisabeth of Romania surmounted by the royal Romanian crown with a flowing ribbon banner at its base, measuring 38 mm (w) x 65.3 mm (h), two small rings affixed to the reverse, one to the crown and one to the monogram, both rings supporting a vertically-placed elongated bar, dark patina, light contact and surface wear, near extremely fine.

Footnote:

1. The 2nd Field Hunters Regiment of Queen Elisabeth was stationed in Călărași, the capital of Călărași County in the Muntenia region of Romania.

2. Pauline Elisabeth Ottilie Luise of Wied was the first Queen of Romania as the wife of King Carol I and was widely known by her literary name of "Carmen Sylva". She was born on December 29, 1843 at Castle Monrepos in Neuwied, the daughter of Hermann, Prince of Wied, and his wife Princess Marie of Nassau. Elisabeth had artistic leanings, her childhood featuring seances and visits to the local asylum for the mentally ill.

As a young girl, sixteen-year-old Elisabeth was considered as a possible bride for the heir apparent to the British throne, the future King Edward VII. His mother, Queen Victoria, strongly favoured her as a prospective daughter-in-law, and urged her daughter Victoria to look further into her. Elisabeth was spending the social season at the Berlin court, where her family hoped she would be tamed into a docile, marriageable princess. Vicky responded, "I do not think her at all distinguée looking - certainly the opposite to Bertie's usual taste", whereas the tall and slender Alexandra of Denmark was "just the style Bertie admires". Bertie was also shown photographs of Elisabeth, but professed himself unmoved and declined to give them a second glance. In the end, Alexandra was selected for Bertie.

Elisabeth first met Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Berlin in 1861. In 1869, Karl, who was now Prince Carol of Romania, travelled to Germany in search of a suitable consort. He was reunited with Elisabeth, and the two were married on November 15, 1869 in Neuwied. Their only child, a daughter, Maria, died in 1874 at age three, an event from which Elisabeth never recovered. She was crowned Queen of Romania in 1881 after Romania was proclaimed a kingdom.

In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, also known as the Romanian War of Independence, she devoted herself to the care of the wounded, and founded the Decoration of the Cross of Queen Elisabeth, to reward distinguished service in such work. She fostered the higher education of women in Romania, and established societies for various charitable objects. She was the 835th Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa. In addition, she founded the National Society for the Blind and was the first royal patron of the Romanian Red Cross.

Early on she distinguished herself as an excellent pianist, organist and singer, also showing considerable ability in painting and illuminating; but a lively poetic imagination led her to the path of literature, and more especially to poetry, folk-lore and ballads. In addition to numerous original works she put into literary form many of the legends current among the Romanian peasantry. As "Carmen Sylva", she wrote in German, Romanian, French and English, her voluminous writings including poems, plays, novels, short stories, essays, collections of aphorisms.

In 1881, due to the lack of heirs to the Romanian throne, King Carol I adopted his nephew, Ferdinand. He was a complete stranger in his new home and started to get close to one of Elisabeth's ladies in waiting, Elena Văcărescu. Elisabeth, very close to Elena herself and encouraged the romance, although she was perfectly aware of the fact that a marriage between the two was forbidden by the Romanian constitution. 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. The affair helped reinforce Elisabeth's image as a dreamer and eccentric.

Quite unusual for a queen, Elisabeth of Wied was personally of the opinion that a republican form of government was preferable to a monarchy, an opinion which she expressed forthrightly in her diary, though she did not make it public at the time: "I must sympathize with the Social Democrats, especially in view of the inaction and corruption of the nobles. These "little people", after all, want only what nature confers: equality. The Republican form of government is the only rational one. I can never understand the foolish people, the fact that they continue to tolerate us." She died at Curtea de Argeș or at Bucharest on March 2, 1916, at the age of 72.