2. Born in Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, the Roman Catholic Prince Ferdinand Viktor Albert
Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. 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 principality until 1850, when it was annexed to 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 Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg
and Gotha, heir to the Slovakian-originated Hungarian magnates of Kohary on his mother's side.[1]
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.[2] 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.
3. World War I
• Though a member of a cadet branch of Germany's ruling Hohenzollern imperial family, Ferdinand
presided over his country's entry into World War I on the side of the Triple Entente powers against
the Central Powers on 27 August 1916. Thus he gained the nickname the Loyal, respecting his
oath when sworn in before the Romanian Parliament in 1914: "I will reign as a good Romanian."
• As a consequence of this "betrayal" toward his German roots, Kaiser Wilhelm II had Ferdinand's
name erased from the Hohenzollern House register.
• Despite the setbacks after the entry into war, when Dobruja and Wallachia were occupied by the
Central Powers, Romania fought in 1917 and stopped the German advance into Moldavia. When
the Bolsheviks sued for peace in 1918, Romania was surrounded by the Central Powers and
forced to conclude the Treaty of Bucharest, 1918. However, Ferdinand refused to sign the treaty.
When the Allied forces advanced on the Thessaloniki front, they knocked Bulgaria out of the war,
and Ferdinand ordered the re-mobilization of the Romanian Army. Romania re-entered the war on
the side of the Triple Entente.
• The outcome of Romania's war effort was the union of Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania
with the Kingdom of Romania in 1918. Ferdinand became the ruler of a greatly enlarged
Romanian state in 1918–1920 following the Entente's victory over the Central Powers, a war
between the Kingdom of Romania and the Hungarian Soviet Republic, and the civil war in Russia.
He was crowned King of Romania in a spectacular ceremony on 15 October 1922 at the courtyard
of the newly opened "Coronation Cathedral" in the historic princely seat of Alba Iulia, in
Transylvania.
• A new period of Romanian history began on the day of the Union of Transylvania with Romania
(Great Union Day, Marea Unire). This period would eventually come to an end with the
international treaties that led up to World War II. These ceded parts of Romania to its neighbors.
As such, they are widely seen as an attempt to provoke the country into taking sides and joining
the war
4. Honours:
• National honours:
• Romania: Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Carol I
• Romania: Sovereign Knight with Collar of the Order of Michael the Brave, 1st Class
• Romania: Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Star of Romania
• Romania: Sovereign Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania
• Romania: Sovereign Knight of the Medal of Military Virtue
• Foreign honours:
• Austria-Hungary: 1, 174th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
• Denmark: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Elephant
• France: Grand Cross of the Légion d'Honneur
• German Empire German Imperial and Royal Family: Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order
of the Black Eagle
• Kingdom of Italy: Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation
• Kingdom of Italy: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
• Kingdom of Italy: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy
• Malta: Knight of the Order of St. John
• Poland: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Military Virtue
• Sweden: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Seraphim
• United Kingdom: 868th Knight of the Order of the Garter
• United Kingdom: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
• United Kingdom: Recipient of the Royal Victorian Chain
• United Kingdom: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
• Kingdom of Yugoslavia: Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the Star of Karađorđe
![Born in Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, the Roman Catholic Prince Ferdinand Viktor Albert
Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. 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 principality until 1850, when it was annexed to 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 Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg
and Gotha, heir to the Slovakian-originated Hungarian magnates of Kohary on his mother's side.[1]
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.[2] 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.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)