German princess who became the Queen of Romania as the wife of King Carol I. She was widely known by her literary name of Carmen Sylva. She wrote in German, Romanian, French and English. Her voluminous writings included poems, plays, novels, short stories, essays, and collections of aphorisms. Translations from the original works of “Carmen Sylva” have appeared in all the principal languages of Europe.
Born at Schloss Monrepos in Neuwied, she was the daughter of Hermann, Prince of Wied, and his wife Princess Marie of Nassau. She had two brothers, Wilhelm, Prince of Wied (22 August 1845 – 22 October 1907) who married Princess Marie of the Netherlands, and had issue; and Prince Otto of Wied (22 November 1850 – 18 February 1862).
Elisabeth first met Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Berlin in 1861. In 1869, Karl, who was now Prince Carol of Romania, traveled to Germany in search of a suitable consort. He was reunited with Elisabeth, and the two were married on 15 November 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 founded the National Society for the Blind and was the first royal patron of the Romanian Red Cross.
In 1881, due to the lack of heirs to the Romanian throne, King Carol I adopted his nephew, Ferdinand, who eventually married Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Marie of Edinburgh.
Carol I died on 10 October 1914. Elisabeth died on 2 March 1916 at age 72 in Curtea de Arge? (Bucharest).
Link to Wikipedia biography