| Excerpt |
The “Royal House” archival fund preserved at the National Archives of Romania contains several letters addressed by Elena Lupescu (also known as “Duduia”) to her parents in 1926, when she was accompanying Prince Carol in his self-imposed exile. The correspondence surprisingly reveals Elena Lupescu’s interest in philately. There exists no document or account to attest the fact that Duduia was a philatelist. So where did her sudden passion for stamps come from? The article tries to prove that, realizing the importance of philately to Carol, Elena tried to get closer to him by pretending to be interested in stamp collecting. Once their relationship became solid, her interest in stamps disappeared. It only reappeared after the death of Carol II, when she inherited the former king’s collection. |
