Romania’s Crown of Steel (Things you don't know about Romania)

Since I realized that there are many things about my home-country - Romania - that are not known, I decided to initiate a series of blog posts to promote some Romania's particularities. Here's the first story:
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After the Independence War in 1877 – 1878 against the Ottoman Empire, in 1881 Romania became a kingdom and Carol I was crowned King Of Romania.

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The Story says that the leaders of the political parties and other Romanian leaders of the time came to Carol I (who was of German origin) with a golden crown with precious stones. They offered him the crown saying that he should have this great symbol (the crown) of his power as the king of an independent country.

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At that moment Carol I got really mad and said that the country needs money to recover from the war and continue its development as a modern European country. He didn’t accept the golden crown, told the political leaders to melt it, sell the gold and use the money for the country’s development.

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Carol I told the political leaders that if they want to offer him a crown they should take one of the cannons captured during the war, melt it and make a crown out of it.

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And so they did. Carol I, the first King of Romania as an independent country was crowned with a steel crown. And all of Romania’s kings that followed Carol I were crowned with the same steel crown.

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This Steel Crown is exhibited at the Romanian National History Museum in Bucharest.

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I believe that all political people, business people and social and religious leaders should learn from King Carol I.