exile by the revolutionary government. With Prince Paul (the king's brother and heir-presumptive to the throne), they then departed for Romania, where they learned of the proclamation of the Second Hellenic Republic on 25 March 1924. Return to Romania Queen in exile In Romania, George II and Elizabeth moved to Bucharest, where King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie gave to them a wing of Cotroceni Palace. After a few weeks, the couple moved to a modest villa in the Calea Victoriei. Regular guests of the Romanian sovereigns, the exiled Greek royal couple participated in court ceremonies. But despite the kindness shown by his mother-in-law, the exiled King of Greece in Bucharest felt aimless and barely concealed the boredom that he felt at the Romanian court. Unlike her husband, Elisabeth was delighted with her return to Romania. Her relationship with her mother was sometimes stormy, even if their literary collaborations were successful. In the mid 1920s, Elisabeth illustrated the latest work of her mother, The Country That I Love (1925). The links with Crown Princess Helen of Romania (wife of Crown Prince Carol of Romania and sister of King George II of Greece) remained complicated due to the jealousy that the exiled Queen of the Hellenes still continued to feel against her sister-in-law. Exacerbated by the humiliations of exile, financial difficulties and the lack of offspring, the relations between George II and Elisabeth deteriorated. After initially alleviating her weariness with too much rich food and gambling, the former Queen of the Hellenes began a series of extramarital relationships with several married men. She even flirted with her brother-in-law King Alexander I of Yugoslavia when she visited her sister Queen Maria during an illness in Belgrade. Later, she entered into an affair with the banker of her husband, a Greek-Romanian named Alexandru Scanavi, who was appointed her chamberlain to cover up the scandal. However, Elisabeth was not the only one responsible for the failure of her marriage: over the years, George II spent less time with his wife and gradually settled his residence in the United Kingdom, where he also entered into an adulterous relationship. In May 1935, Elisabeth heard from a Greek diplomat that the Second Hellenic Republic was on the verge of collapse and that the restoration of the monarchy was imminent. Frightened by this news, the exiled Queen of the Hellenes then launched divorce proceedings without informing her husband.