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Her Eternal Crown: Queen Marie of Romania and the Baha’i Faith, Della L Marcus, pp277-9
The Guardian wishes me now to request you to kindly prepare a detailed article concerning the late Queen Marie of Romania, which he wishes to reproduce, together with some other material regarding her, in the next issue of ‘The Bahà’i World’. He would like you to send him the article in about a month’s time, and if not he can wait a month more. As you have already contributed articles to the previous volumes of the Biennial (Volumes II, III, IV, V, VI and VII), and these have been widely appreciated by the friends, he thinks you would be encouraged to undertake writing the article in question.
As material for your study he would suggest the following:
1. The Queen’s own statements published in Volume VII of ‘The Bahà’i World’, pages 498-501.
2. Tribute paid to Her Majesty by the Guardian and reproduced in Volume II of The Bahà’i World, pages 173-174.
3. Article by Miss Martha Root in ‘Bahà’i World’ Volume VI, pages 580-583.
4. Enclosed article by Mrs McNeill, a childhood friend of the Queen, published in ‘World Order’ magazine.
5. Enclosed letter addressed to the Guardian by Her Majesty, dated August 27, 1926. Special reference should be made to that letter in view of the far-reaching significance of its references to the Faith.
The Guardian would further recommend that the following facts and data should be incorporated into your article:
1. The late Queen Marie was the granddaughter of both Queen Victoria and Czar Alexander II of Russia, to both of whom Bahá’u’lláh revealed Tablets in which He appreciatively referred to them, unlike His Tablets to Napoleon III, and His references to the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of Austria in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. The illuminated copy of Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet to Queen Victoria was presented to her by Lady Blomfield in London.
2. The Queen and her daughter intended to visit the Bahà’i Shrines in Bahji and on Mount Carmel, and they reached Haifa with that intention, but were deterred from doing so, as testified by the Queen herself in the following passage of a letter she wrote Miss Martha Rootron June 28, 1931: ‘Both Ileana and I were cruelly disappointed at having been prevented going to the holy Shrines and of meeting Shoghi Effendi, but at that time we were going through a cruel crisis and every movement I made was being turned against me, and being politically exploited in an unkind way. It caused me a good deal of suffering and curtailed my liberty most unkindly . . . But the beauty of truth remains and I cling to it through all the vicissitudes of a life become rather sad.
3. In July 1938, in connection with the Queen’s death, the Guardian on behalf of all the Bahà’is sent a message of condolences to her daughter, the Queen of Yugoslavia, to which Her Majesty replied expressing ‘sincere thanks to all Bahà’i followers.
4. Bahà’is in various countries held memorial gatherings in her honour. In the U.S.A. flowers were sent for the memorial service in Washington. The letter sent on behalf of the American National Spiritual Assembly to the Romanian Minister in Washington is enclosed for your information.
5. The Queen has made unequivocal assertion in one of her seven statements of her faith of the divine authority of both Bahá’u’lláh and the Prophet Muhammad, as a result of her study of the Bahà’i Writings. The Guardian wishes you to quote the passage in one of the seven statements referring to Prophet Muhammad.
6. The following passage from another letter addressed by the Queen to Miss Martha Root, dated June 8, 1926, should be incorporated in toto in your article: ‘The beautiful truth of Bahá’u’lláh is with me always, a help and inspiration. What I wrote was because my heart overflowed with gratitude for the revelation you brought me. I am happy if you think I helped. I thought it might bring truth nearer because my words are read by so many.’
With renewed thanks from the Guardian for your invaluable help, and with his warmest love and greetings . . .
1940-02-27 to Townshend to write tribute to Marie for BW w/ suggestions
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