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Carol II, king of Romania (1930–40), whose controversial reign ultimately gave rise to a personal, monarchical dictatorship. The eldest son of King Ferdinand I, Carol became crown prince upon the death of his great uncle, King Carol I (October 1914).

The kingdom existed from 1881, when Carol I of Romania was proclaimed king, until 1947, when the last king, Michael I of Romania, was forced to abdicate and the Parliament proclaimed Romania a republic. Soon after, upon the establishment of the constitution of 13 April 1948, Romania became a people's republic, a state that lasted until 1989 .

King Carol spent his last years in exile in Mexico and Brazil before buying a villa at Estoril in Portugal. His sudden death there of a heart attack, aged fifty-nine, removed from the scene a Ruritanian figure, who was appropriately the subject of a biography by Barbara Cartland.

Carol II of Romania was born on 15 October 1893, at Sinaia, in the Peles castle, as the first son of Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern – Sigmaringen and of Marie of Edinburgh. For the Romanian people , whose destiny was placed in the monarchy hands, his birth represented a long – awaited moment.

Carol II ( 15 October 1893 [ O.S. 3 October 1893] – 4 April 1953) was the King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. As the eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I, in 1914.