In 1920, the Greek exiles were visited in Lucerne by Queen Marie of Romania (Sophia's first cousin) and her daughters Elisabeth, Maria and Ileana. Worried about the future of her eldest and still single son, the "Diadochos" George, who had already proposed to Princess Elisabeth a few years earlier, Queen Sophia was anxious for him to marry. Homeless, penniless and without any real political value since his exclusion from the Greek throne in 1917, Helen's elder brother reiterated his request of marriage to Princess Elizabeth, who, despite her initial reticence, finally decided to accept. Pleased with the union, the Queen of Romania then invited her future son-in-law and his sisters Helen and Irene to go to Bucharest in order to publicly announce the royal engagement. The princesses accepted and the departure was set to 2 October. In the meanwhile, another member of the Romanian royal family arrived to Lucerne. This was Elisabeth's brother, the Crown Prince Carol, who had just completed a trip around the world which he had undertaken in order to forget his morganatic wife Zizi Lambrino and their son Carol.