Indeed, the first Romanian king Charles I was by faith a Roman Catholic, while most Romanians are Orthodox Christians.
On this day former Romanian Domnitor (prince, ruler) Charles I proclaimed himself king. That is how the Kingdom of Romania was formed, a trend which the neighboring Balkan countries tried to follow. Thus neighboring Serbia became a kingdom a year later, when Prince Milan Obrenović was declared king.
The new Romanian king Charles I was not at all of Romanian origin. He belonged to the German dynasty of Hohenzollern – Sigmaringen, and was born and raised in Germany. He became the Romanian ruler upon the recommendation of the French Emperor Napoleon III. It is interesting that, at the time he came to power in Romania, he couldn’t speak Romanian. Indeed, by faith he was a Roman Catholic (Romanians are mostly Orthodox Christians). Charles’s advantage was the fact that he had French blood, and spoke the French language (Romania was under the influence of French culture at that time).
