August 21. On this date in 1926, Shoghi Effendi wrote the NSA of the U.S. and Canada ""We read in The Times that Queen Marie of Rumania is coming to America. She seems to have obtained a great interest in the Cause. So we must be on our guard lest we do an act which may prejudice her and set her back. Shoghi Effendi desires, that in case she takes this trip, the friends will behave with great reserve and wisdom, and that no initiative be taken on the part of the friends except after consulting the National Assembly." Although Bahá'ís frequently refer to Queen Marie of Romania as "the first member of a royal family to embrace the Bahá’í Faith," Queen Marie's daughter, Princess Ileana of Romania, disputes this claim.

 

August 21. On this date in 1926, Shoghi Effendi wrote the NSA of the U.S. and Canada ""We read in The Times that Queen Marie of Rumania is coming to America. She seems to have obtained a great interest in the Cause. So we must be on our guard lest we do an act which may prejudice her and set her back. Shoghi Effendi desires, that in case she takes this trip, the friends will behave with great reserve and wisdom, and that no initiative be taken on the part of the friends except after consulting the National Assembly." Although Bahá'ís frequently refer to Queen Marie of Romania as "the first member of a royal family to embrace the Bahá’í Faith," Queen Marie's daughter, Princess Ileana of Romania, disputes this claim.

From Chapter 4 of Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum's book The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, titled "Martha Root and Queen Marie of Rumania"...

Martha Root reported to Shoghi Effendi the account of the first of her eight interviews with Queen Marie of Rumania, which took place on January 30, 1926, in Controceni Palace in Bucharest, at the request of the Queen herself, after she had received Dr. Esslemont's book, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, sent to her by Martha. The Queen had evidently been attracted to the Teachings and when it was bruited about that she might visit North America, Shoghi Effendi wrote to the American National Spiritual Assembly the following instructions, conveyed in the writing of his secretary, on August 21, 1926: "We read in The Times that Queen Marie of Rumania is coming to America. She seems to have obtained a great interest in the Cause. So we must be on our guard lest we do an act which may prejudice her and set her back. Shoghi Effendi desires, that in case she takes this trip, the friends will behave with great reserve and wisdom, and that no initiative be taken on the part of the friends except after consulting the National Assembly."