Marie of Romania in the context of "Prince Nicholas of Romania"

Alba Iulia (Romanian pronunciation: [ˌalba ˈjuli.a] ; German: Karlsburg or Carlsburg, formerly Weißenburg [ˈvaɪsn̩bʊʁk] ; Hungarian: Gyulafehérvár [ˈɟulɒfɛɦeːrvaːr]; Latin: Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the river Mureș in the historical region of Transylvania, it has a population of 64,227 (as of 2021).

During ancient times, the site was the location of the Roman camp Apulum. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1526 and 1570 it was the capital of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom from which the Principality of Transylvania emerged by the Treaty of Speyer in 1570 and it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania until 1711. At one point it also was a center of the Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan of Transylvania with suffragan to Vad diocese. On 1 December 1918, the Union of Transylvania with Romania was declared in Alba Iulia, and Romania's King Ferdinand I and, in 1922 Queen Marie were crowned in the Alba Iulia Orthodox Cathedral.

Ferdinand I (Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad; 24 August 1865 – 20 July 1927), nicknamed Întregitorul ("the Unifier"), was King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, and Infanta Antónia of Portugal, (daughter of Queen Maria II of Portugal and of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Kohary). His family was part of the Catholic branch of the Prussian royal family Hohenzollern.

In 1886, Ferdinand became heir presumptive to the Romanian throne, following the renunciation of his father (in 1880) and older brother. From the moment he settled in Romania, he continued his military career, gaining a series of honorary commands and being promoted to the rank of corps general. He married in 1893 Princess Marie of Edinburgh, granddaughter of both Queen Victoria and Emperor Alexander II.

The Treaty of Bucharest (1918) was a peace treaty between Romania and the opposing Central Powers following the stalemate reached after the campaign of 1917. This left Romania isolated after Russia's unilateral exit from World War I (see the Armistice of Focșani and Treaty of Brest-Litovsk).

Following the Central Powers' ultimatum issued during the meeting [ro] between King Ferdinand I of Romania and Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Ottokar Czernin on 27 February [O.S. 14 February] 1918 at the Răcăciuni railway station, Ferdinand summoned a Crown Council [ro] on 2 March [O.S. 17 February] in Iași, the Romanian capital-in-exile. After long and difficult discussions, which lasted three days, and despite the strong opposition of Queen Marie and General Constantin Prezan, the Crown Council decided to accept the ultimatum and send envoys to Buftea to negotiate a preliminary peace treaty. The preliminary peace treaty was concluded on 5 March [O.S. 20 February] 1918, by which Romania agreed to border rectifications in favor of Austria-Hungary, to cede the whole of Dobruja to Bulgaria, to demobilize at least eight divisions, to evacuate the Austro-Hungarian territory still in its possession, and to allow the transport of Central Powers troops through Western Moldavia and Bessarabia towards Odessa.