Carol II 15 October [ O. As the eldest son of King Ferdinand I , he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I , in He was the first of the Hohenzollern kings of Romania to be born in the country, as both of his predecessors had been born in Germany and came to Romania only as adults. As such, he was the first member of the Romanian branch of the Hohenzollerns who spoke Romanian as his first language and was also the first member of his royal family to be raised in the Orthodox faith.
Carol's life and reign were surrounded by controversy and accusations of lack of duty, due to his desertion from the army during World War I. Another controversy was his marriage to Zizi Lambrino , which resulted in two attempts by Carol to give up the rights of succession to the royal crown of Romania, both of which were refused by his father, King Ferdinand.
After the dissolution of his marriage, he met Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark , daughter of King Constantine I of Greece , married her in March , and later that year had a son, Michael. But due to Carol's continued affairs with Elena Lupescu he was obliged to renounce his succession rights in and leave the country. His name was subsequently removed from the royal house of Romania by King Ferdinand I. Michael, aged 5, inherited the throne on the death of King Ferdinand in Princess Helen eventually divorced Carol in In the political crisis created by the deaths of Ferdinand I and Ion I.
Carol II weakened the parliament of Romania, often appointing minority factions of historical parties to the government and attempting to form nationally concentrated governments, such as the Iorga-Argetoianu government. He also allowed for the formation of a corrupt parliament chamber around him, under the patronage of Elena Lupescu. A political crisis followed the December elections, where no party achieved an absolute majority and a coalition could not be formed because of disagreements between the National Liberal Party and the National Peasants' Party and Iron Guard whom they would have needed to form a Coalition Government.
Following this crisis Carol established a royal dictatorship in by removing the constitution , abolishing all political parties, and forming a new single party, the National Renaissance Front , which consisted mostly of former members of the National Peasants' Party and National Christian Party who had been patronized by the king. The National Renaissance Front was the last of several attempts to counter the popularity of the fascist Iron Guard.
