Carol I of Romania

Carol I or Charles I of Romania, was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (Domnitor) from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He was elected Prince of the Romanian United Principalities on 20 April 1866 after the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup d'état. In May 1877, Romania was proclaimed an independent and sovereign nation. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire (1878) in the Russo-Turkish War secured Romanian independence, and he was proclaimed King on 26 March [O.S. 14 March] 1881. He was the first ruler of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty, which ruled the country until the proclamation of a socialist republic in 1947.

20 April 1839

Born on the same birth day (20 April): Adolf Hitler • Adolf Schärf • Albert Jean Amateau • Aleksandr Dianin • Alexander Zverev • Antony Jay • Charles Plumier • Daniel Varoujan • Emperor Go-Kōmyō • James Harcourt • Jessica Lange • John Eliot Gardiner • John Paul Stevens • Manfred Kinder • Michael Allenby, 3rd Viscount Allenby • Philippe Pinel • Sandro Chia

Born in the same month (April 1839): Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì • Nikolay Przhevalsky • Robert Smalls