Nicolae Petrescu-Comnen

Nicolae Petrescu-Comnen
Comnen (on the far-right) at a Balkan Pact summit in Ankara, March 1938; also pictured: Kemal Atatürk, Milan Stojadinović, Ioannis Metaxas.
Foreign Minister of Romania
In office May 1938 – January 31, 1939
Monarch	Carol II
Premier	Miron Cristea
Member of the Assembly of Deputies
In office November 1919 – May 1920
In office March 1922 – July 10, 1923
Constituency	Durostor County
Personal details
Born	August 24, 1881 Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania
Died	December 8, 1958(1958-12-08) (aged 77) Florence, Italy
Nationality	Romanian
Political party	independent
Other political affiliations	National Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Antoinette von Benedek
Profession	Diplomat, academic, poet
Nickname(s)	Petrescu-Quand même

Nicolae Petrescu-Comnen (Romanian pronunciation: [nikoˈla.e peˈtresku komˈnen]; Gallicized as Petresco-Comnène, Petrescu-Comnène or N. P. Comnène, born Nicolae Petrescu; August 24, 1881 – December 8, 1958) was a Romanian diplomat, politician and social scientist, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Miron Cristea cabinet (between May 1938 and January 31, 1939). He debuted in France as a public lecturer and author of several books on political history, then returned to Romania as a judge and member of the University of Bucharest faculty. Comnen spent most of World War I in Switzerland, earning respect at home and abroad for his arguments in favor of nationalism, his publicizing of the Greater Romanian cause, and especially for his support of the Romanian community in Dobruja. During the Paris Peace Conference, he was dispatched to Hungary, proposing political settlements that would have made the Treaty of Trianon more palatable to Hungarian conservatives. Also noted as an eccentric who published poetry, he was often ridiculed for his claim to a descent.

Comnen returned to serve briefly in the Romanian Assembly of Deputies, during which time he became a prominent anti-socialist. He was a National Liberal and close to that party's leadership, before embarking on a full-time diplomatic career, originally as Romania's envoy to Switzerland and to the League of Nations (1923–1927). He had a steady climb during the early interwar, with alternating missions in Weimar Germany and at the Holy See. His activity centered on debilitating Hungarian irredentism, and, progressively, on the easing of tensions between Romania and the Soviet Union. As Romania's ambassador to Nazi Germany, Comnen preserved a neutralist line, recognizing Romania's dependence on German industry while seeking to expand cooperation with France and Britain.