Princess Marina Nicole Sturdza was a Romanian princess and humanitarian activist.
15 Facts About Marina Sturdza
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Marina Sturdza is an aristocrat and member of the House of Sturdza.
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Marina Nicole Sturdza was born a princess in Romania on 25 April 1944, in Brasov, Transylvania.
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One year after King Michael's abdication in 1947, Marina Sturdza's parents fled Romania under pseudonyms.
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Marina Sturdza's grandmother put her on a train to Switzerland.
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Marina Sturdza was sedated so as not to speak Romanian and thus betray her national origin when meeting a diplomat by the Swiss border, where she was reunited with her parents in Zurich.
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The family later moved to Canada; her mother and stepfather worked in a piggery in Saskatchewan, where Marina Sturdza resided in a single-room schoolhouse.
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Marina Sturdza became a fashion and culture as columnist for two American newspapers, The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star and briefly worked for Oscar de la Renta.
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Marina Sturdza supported a number of child welfare and palliative care programs for children in her home country.
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Marina Sturdza was president of strategic planning agencies Marina Sturdza Enterprises and Summits International, which specialised in Eastern Europe.
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Marina Sturdza was patron of a number of charities and humanitarian causes concerning the region, including Hope and Homes for Children.
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Marina Sturdza was on the board of Pro Patrimonio, the Romanian national trust.
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In 1970, Marina Sturdza married journalist Denis Harvey; the couple later divorced.
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Marina Sturdza was multilingual and spoke at least 6 different languages.
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Marina Sturdza died in New York City on 22 October 2017 from cancer-related causes.