Queen Marie's corner in Manhattan — Nicușor Dan unveils the sign 100 years after the queen's American visit

The intersection of Third Avenue and East 38th Street in Manhattan has carried the honorary name “The Queen Marie of Romania Corner” since 22 September 2026, after President Nicușor Dan unveiled the sign a century after Queen Marie's tour of the United States.

The corner sits next to Romania's Permanent Mission to the UN. The name is honorary: the street keeps its official name and the new sign is added to the existing one. The ceremony took place during the high-level week of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, which the president is attending on an official visit.

Who was there

Nicușor Dan was joined by Mirabela Grădinaru, Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu, presidential adviser Eugen Tomac and Romania's consul general in New York, Mihaela Simona Florea, according to Basilica.ro. The city was represented by Council Member Virginia Maloney.

Also present were Dominic von Habsburg, Queen Marie's grandson, former gymnast Teodora Ungureanu and members of New York's Romanian community, Spotmedia reports. The sources consulted do not say who initiated the naming.

“We hardly have role models anymore”

The president thanked the local authorities and described Queen Marie as a personality who put herself at the service of her people. He recalled the years of the First World War, when the queen went to the front to encourage the soldiers, the post-war diplomacy that led to the creation of Greater Romania, and the way she represented the new state.

“We live in an era in which we hardly have landmarks anymore, hardly have hierarchies of values and hardly have role models, and that is why it matters that, when we have a model such as Queen Marie was, we measure ourselves against it,” Nicușor Dan said, according to the transcript published by the Presidential Administration.

An appeal to Romanians in America

After the ceremony, the president met the Romanian community, Digi24 reports. He told them that, because they have succeeded in a society far more competitive than Romania's, the question is how the country can use their experience. He acknowledged that the Romanian state has not yet found an effective way to work with its diaspora.

Nicușor Dan also spoke about Romania's strengths — a skilled workforce, a dynamic private sector and its schools — but admitted the shortcomings of its institutions and corruption.

What he said at the UN

The reason for the New York trip was the high-level week of the General Assembly. On Wednesday, 23 September, Nicușor Dan spoke in the Assembly's plenary, at the Security Council meeting on Ukraine and at the International Crimea Platform summit, according to the summary the president gave himself. He also held a bilateral meeting with the UN Secretary-General.

In his plenary speech, the president said Russia “is pursuing a revisionist agenda” and that “Europe is the target of a hybrid war”, HotNews reports. He promised that “Romania will stand by Ukraine and its people, who are acting in legitimate self-defence, for as long as it takes” and said Romania is “a firm supporter of the Republic of Moldova”.

The economic message was that “Romania is open for business and innovation”. The president announced that “next year we begin exploiting 100 billion cubic metres of natural gas in the Black Sea”, according to HotNews. He also spoke about manipulation on social media: “if thousands of fake accounts speak in a coordinated way, the individual voice is no longer heard and freedom of expression is denied”, he said, as quoted by Agerpres.

At the Security Council, Nicușor Dan recalled the Russian drone that crashed onto an apartment block in Galați and said that on 20 August a Russian naval drone “came dangerously close to the Neptun Deep offshore gas installations”. At the Crimea Platform summit he was blunter: “The truth is that Russia, in this very moment, is not seeking peace,” he said, calling for tougher sanctions.

On the sidelines, the president met representatives of J.P. Morgan and investors in Romanian bonds, the DFC, the US agency that finances investment abroad, and the Atlantic Council. He backed Dacian Cioloș's bid to lead the International Organisation of La Francophonie and paid tribute, at the World Trade Center Memorial, to the five Romanians killed in the 2001 attacks.

1926: the key to the city and the White House

Queen Marie arrived in New York on 18 October 1926 aboard the Leviathan and was greeted by crowds in the streets. Mayor James J. Walker handed her the key to the city, and President Calvin Coolidge received her at the White House, Tribuna.us recalls. The tour remains one of the most spectacular moments of Romanian diplomacy and helped Greater Romania win international recognition.

Sources: Digi24, Spotmedia, Basilica.ro, Tribuna.us, Gândul.