Princess Maria von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Principesa a României.

Morte: no Castelo de Peleş. Sepultamento: no Palácio Cotroceni.

Princess Maria was born in Bucharest as the first Princess of Romania that was also of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, on 8 September 1870. After a month, in October 1870, she was baptised as a Romanian Orthodox at the monastery of Cotroceni (near the site of the present-day Cotroceni Palace). In her family, the young princess was nicknamed "Mariechen" (a possible homage to her parents' German heritage) or "Itty". Everyone who knew Maria described her as a beautiful and precocious young child, as she was said to look at maps and identify different countries for fun at the age of only two and a half. It is said that sometime before she died, Princess Maria told her mother that she would someday like to be able to ride a star.

Maria had no prospect of inheriting her father's throne; the 1866 Constitution limited succession to males.

On 5 April 1874, the Princess became ill with scarlet fever. An epidemic had been ravaging the capital at the time. She was immediately transported to the Peleş Castle. Despite being treated with much care by a doctor named Theodori and many others, the young princess expired on 9 April 1874 and was buried at the monastery of Cotroceni. At Elisabeth's request, Maria's tombstone read the Bible verse, Luke 8:52: