20 feb. 2019

Alteța Sa Regală Principesa Maria a efectuat o vizită la Bruxelles, în zilele de 11 și 12 februarie 2019. A fost a doua vizită externă a Familiei Regale a României în anul 2019, după vizita Principelui Radu la Istanbul (februarie).

Principesa Maria a reprezentat pe Majestatea Sa Custodele Coroanei la evenimentele inițiate și găzduite de Organizația Europeană a Bolilor Rare(EURORDIS). Majestatea Sa Margareta a acordat în anul 2017 Înaltul Patronaj Alianței Naționale pentru Boli Rare din România.

În seara de 11 februarie, Principesa Maria a participat la o întâlnire a comitetului de conducere al Organizației Europene a Bolilor Rare. La întâlnire a participat și dna Dorica Dan, președintele ,,Alianței Naționale pentru Boli Rare din România” și membru în comitetul de conducere Eurordis.

În seara zilei de 12 februarie, la Bruxelles, Alteța Sa Regală a participat la Gala Eurordis 2019, unde au fost acordate “Black Pearl Awards”.

 

Discursul ASR Principesei Maria cu ocazia ceremoniei de acordare a premiilor anuale Eurordis, Bruxelles, 12 februarie 2019

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am thrilled to be here for the first Eurordis Black Pearl Awards. Thank you for the invitation, the importance of such a project for today’s society has not been lost on me.

My family has a strong tradition of becoming involved in the healthcare field. For example, the first Queen of Romania, Elizabeth, was a persuasive activist for social and medical projects, in the middle of the nineteenth century and seen in our country as “avant-garde”. She founded the National Society for the Blind and was the first royal patron of the Romanian Red Cross.

Queen Marie, my great grandmother, actively participated in World War I on the front, encouraging wounded soldiers, not to fear the showers of bullets raining down on them.  Not to fear the accompanying epidemics, not to fear injuries or poverty. During that time, she also re-organized the ambulance system into an efficient machine.

Queen Helen, my grandmother, played an inspiring role for all women in the country during the Second World War and took over from Queen Marie the royal patronage of the Red Cross. It is worthwhile knowing that the first Emergency Hospital in Romania was created in the 1930’s on her own initiative.

During World War II, my mother, Queen Anne, enrolled in the French army and participated, as nurse and ambulance driver, in Algerian campaigns as well as in Morocco, Italy, Luxembourg and Germany. For her service, she received the French “Croix de Guerre” and the rank of Lieutenant of the French Army.

Today, Her Majesty Margareta of Romania, my sister, is the president of the National Red Cross, as well as the royal patron of the National Alliance for Rare Diseases. Together with Her Majesty, I am proud to be involved with the projects created and operated by the Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation, which was founded in 1990 in Romania.

The mission of your organization, Eurordis, is generous, responsible and I am sure at times difficult.  In addition to supporting the 30 million people living in Europe with rare diseases, you relieve the psychological suffering of their family and friends. Thanks to you, society and the world are encouraged to recognize the public health issues these rare diseases can bring.

I believe that working together at the European Union level for rare diseases is a must, as no one country alone can make a difference in the lives of people living with a rare disease. A particularity of rare diseases is that patients and expertise are both limited and fragmented for each disease and, therefore, multi-national collaboration is essential.

Particularly now, in the first half of the year 2019, Romania, my home country, has a fundamental role in leading the collaborative efforts of the other EU Member States, as current holder of the Presidency of the European Union Council.

I wish you much luck, and continued success. Thank you!

 

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