In 1940, after the abdication of King Carol II, Știrbey returned to Romania. Știrbey's son-in-law,
Edwin Boxshall, was a British businessman long resident in Romania who married Elena "Maddie" Știrbey in 1920. In 1940, Boxshall left Bucharest and upon his return to London became an agent of the
Special Operations Executive (SOE) in charge of encouraging anti-Axis resistance in Romania. Through Boxshall, Știrbey was in contact with the SOE throughout World War Two. After the British legation in Bucharest was closed when the Antonescu government broke off diplomatic relations with Britain on 17 February 1941, the main SOE office for operations in Romania was moved to the British consulate in Istanbul. The main SOE contact between Istanbul and Bucharest was a wealthy Turkish arms dealer, Satvet Lutfi Tozan, who also served as the honorary Finnish consul in Istanbul. Tozan's arms dealing business allowed him to travel all over the Balkans without creating suspicions. That Tozan was allowed to hold meetings with Romanian politicians such as
Iuliu Maniu and
Mihai Popovici at the house of Suphi Tanrɩöver, the Turkish ambassador in Bucharest, suggests that Tozan's activities as a SOE agent had the approval of the Turkish government. During the war, Turkey under the leadership of President
İsmet İnönü leaned in a pro-Allied neutrality and Tanrɩöver made it very clear that he was willing to serve as a middleman should Romania wish to sign an armistice with the Allies. Știrbey was close to his nephew Alexandru Cretzianu, who was a senior Romanian diplomat. Știrbey disapproved of the genocidal politics of the government of General
Ion Antonescu, which on 22 June 1941 joined with Germany in
Operation Barbarossa, the invasion the Soviet Union. In the recovered regions of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina together with a part of the Soviet Union that was annexed to Romania that the Romanians called
Transnistra, the Antonescu regime carried out genocide against the Jews living there, accusing them of having supported the Soviet Union. Știrbey donated money to assist the Jews in Transnistra as a police report from 1942 stated: "As a result of our investigation, we have learned that Barbu Știrbey, owner of the Buftea lands, factories, and castle once sent 200,000
lei in cash to help poor Jewish deportees in Transnistra". On 6 October 1941, Cretzianu who served as the secretary-general of the Romanian foreign ministry, resigned in protest against the decision to annex Transnistria, and moved to Știrbey's estate at Buftea, where he knew he would be safe from Antonescu's policemen and gendarmes. After exterminating the Jewish communities in Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and Transnistra, the Antonescu government opened up talks with Germany in 1942 to deport the Jews of the
Regat (the area that belonged to Romania before World War I) to the death camps in Poland. Știrbey protested against these plans and against the anti-Semitic laws that had been passed since 1938. In a report issued by the
Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem, Știrbey was described as being one of the more proeminent Romanians "active in condemning the racial discrimination and deportations" under Antonescu. Throughout the war years, the "White Prince" was in correspondence with
Wilhelm Filderman, the leader of the Romanian Jewish community, promising to use all of his influence to save the Jews of Romania from the "
Final Solution to the Jewish Question". As Știrbey was close to Queen Marie, the grandmother of King Michael, who venerated her memory, he had much influence with the king. Ultimately, the king intervened with Antonescu to advise him that he disapproved of the plans to deport the Jews of the
Regat, and the deportations were cancelled. In September 1943, Știrbey used his influence with the king to have Cretzianu appointed the Romanian minister to Turkey, where he let be known that he was willing to serve as a middleman for armistice talks with the Allies On 22 December 1943, in
Operation Autonomous, three SOE agents,
Alfred Gardyne de Chastelain,
Ivor Porter and Silviu Mețianu were parachuted into Romania. Though promptly captured by the Romanian gendarmerie, the three SOE agents were able to make contact with leading figures in the Antonescu government, warning him that to continue the alliance with Germany would result in disaster for Romania and offered the possibility of an armistice with Great Britain. On 11 January 1944, Știrbey met with the
Conducător ("Leader") as Antonescu had styled himself at the Snagov Villa; during the meeting, Antonescu told Știrbey that he knew that he disapproved of him and his regime, but asked him as a Romanian "patriot" to serve as a secret emissary for peace talks under the grounds that he had strong ties with Britain. On 1 February 1944, at a secret meeting in Ankara, Sir
Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, the British ambassador to Turkey, told Alexandru Cretzianu, the Romanian minister to Turkey, that Știrbey would be welcome as an emissary for talks for an armistice in Egypt. In response, in March 1944 Știrbey travelled via Turkey to Egypt where he opened up talks for an armistice with the Allies. Though Știrbey was supposed to be representing Antonescu in Cairo, before leaving Romania, he made contact with
Iuliu Maniu of the National Peasant Party to discuss possible armistice terms that might be reached if Maniu was heading the government. Antonescu had become too closely identified with pro-German policies for the Allies to seriously consider signing an armistice with a government headed by him, and Maniu by contrast was the Romanian politician held in the best regard in London and Washington. In effect Știrbey was in the ambiguous position of representing both Antonescu and Maniu in Cairo. On 1 March 1944, Știrbey left Romania with the official story being he was going to Egypt to inspect a cotton factory he owned there. Unknown to Știrbey,
Elyesa Bazna, the Albanian valet to Knatchbull-Hugessen, had gained access to the ambassador's safe and was selling copies of the documents within the safe to the Germans. Bazna had hopes of becoming rich as a result of his espionage, but the Germans paid him with worthless counterfeit British pounds, causing him to die in poverty. As Knatchbull-Hugessen had orders to receive Știrbey when he arrived in Ankara, the Germans were well aware of Știrbey's mission as Bazna had sold copies of the said orders. While crossing over the Bulgarian-Turkish border, the train was stopped by German officials who arrested one of Știrbey's daughters, Elena, in the hope of ending his mission; Știrbey was too powerful in Romania to be arrested himself. Despite the arrest of his daughter who was a hostage, Știrbey chose to continue with his peace mission. To keep the "swallow" safe as Știrbey had been code-named from assassins during his trip, bodyguards from the British SOE together with the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) accompanied him. Shortly after his arrival in Istanbul to take the train to Cairo, Știrbey's trip was leaked to the Turkish press, making his mission more difficult. On 14 March 1944, Reuters published a story stating that "a Romanian emissary, prince Știrbey, has left Istanbul to begin the negotiations in Cairo". Cretzianu was with his uncle when he was staying at the British consulate in
Adana and reported that Știrbey was greatly surprised when turning on the radio to learn his secret mission was being reported on the news. On 27 March 1944,
Time reported: "Rich, suave, 70-year-old Prince Știrbey was the longtime lover of the late Queen Marie of Rumania, the mortal foe of her moody son, ex-King Carol, the presumed father of her youngest daughter, Ileana. Now the loyal aging go-between was embarked on one last attempt to save the trembling kingdom for his loved liege's grandson, young King Mihai." The same report noted that the
Gestapo had arrested Princess Elena as a British subject, but: "...then inexplicably let her follow her father to Ankara". In Ankara, diplomats at the British embassy gave Știrbey a false passport giving his name as a British businessman named Bond. At his first meeting in
Cairo on 17 March 1944 with Allied diplomats, Știrbey declared that everyone in Romania from King Michael on downward were tired of the war and the alliance with Germany, and were looking for a chance to change sides. The three Allied diplomats Știrbey negotiated with in Egypt were
Lord Moyne, the British resident minister for the Middle East (a sort of junior foreign minister);
Nikolai Vasilevich Novikov, the Soviet ambassador to Egypt; and
Lincoln MacVeagh, the American ambassador to the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt. During the meetings in Cairo, Știrbey spoke in French, the language he was most comfortable in speaking after his native Romanian, which put Novikov, who spoke very poor French at a disadvantage. The same day that Știrbey started negotiations in Cairo, the Red Army reached the Dniester river, putting him in a weak bargaining position as it was very clear that the Soviets was about to take back Bessarabia and northern Bukovina regardless if Romania signed an armistice or not. Știrbey stated that Antonescu knew the war was lost for the Axis side and if the Allies were unwilling to sign an armistice with a Romanian government headed by him, Maniu was willing to stage a coup in order to sign an armistice. Știrbey stated that the one non-negotiable condition for Romania to switch sides was that Allies had to promise that the northern part of Transylvania lost to Hungary under the Second Vienna Accord of 1940 be returned to Romania. Știrbey tried to press for Romania to retain Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, a condition that the Soviets rejected outright, saying there would be no armistice if the Romanians held out for that condition. The Soviet government took part in the meetings in Cairo and made it clear its skepticism about Știrbey's offer, but British and American diplomats were more inclined to take up his offer. On 16 April 1944, Știrbey reported that the Allies were willing to offer the following armistice terms: • "Breaking with the Germans and after that Romanian troops to joint struggle with the Allied troops, including Red Army, against the Germans, in order to restore the independence and sovereignty of Romania." • Restoring the "Soviet-Romanian frontier of 1940", ceding Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. • Romania was to pay reparations to the Soviet Union for all of the damages done by Romanian troops inside the Soviet Union since 22 June 1941. • Romania was to free all Allied POWs at once. • Ensure that "Soviet and Allied troops could move freely in Romania in any direction, if this is required by the military situation" while Romania was to offer logistical support. • In return, the Allies offered to cancel the "unjust" Second Vienna Accord of 1940 and return northern Transylvania to Romania, promising to expel all German and Hungarian forces from Transylvania. In Bucharest, the Allied terms for an armistice were considered to be "hard" terms, and Antonescu wanted to reject them outright, saying he would rather fight on than sign an armistice that ceded Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. At a meeting at the Snagov Villa on 16 April 1944, Maniu wanted to accept the Allied terms, saying Știrbey had gotten the best terms that were possible given the current military situation, but Antonescu wanted to fight on, saying he believed if the Red Army could be stopped on the Dniester that Romania might get better armistice terms. On 7 May 1944, Antonescu argued at a cabinet meeting that he felt that the Royal Romanian Army together with the Wehrmacht were still capable of holding out on the Dniester, which led him to argue that Romania should continue the war until the Allies presented better armistice terms. Upon his return to Bucharest, the elder statesman Știrbey advised King Michael that Romania would get better armistice terms if Antonescu was not prime minister. Știrbey was involved in the plans by King Michael to depose Antonescu and have Romania switch sides. Recognizing the Soviet Union would treat a post-Antonescu government better that included the Communists, Știrbey together with Maniu negotiated with Iosif Șraier, a Bucharest lawyer who was a member of the underground Romanian Communist Party, about how the Communists could have a member in the cabinet of the new government. It was agreed that Știrbey would return to Cairo to sign the armistice as soon as the king dismissed Antonescu. Shortly after the
Royal coup of August 23, 1944, he traveled to
Moscow with the Romanian delegation that signed on September 12 the Armistice Agreement between Romania and the
Soviet Union. Știrbey was one of the
plenipotentiary signatories of Agreement; the other signatories were
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu,
Dumitru Dămăceanu, and
Ghiță Popp on the Romanian side, and
Rodion Malinovsky on the Soviet side. In February–March 1945, a political crisis erupted when the government of General
Nicolae Rădescu was forced to resign. King Michael tried to name Știrbey as the new prime minister, but was prevented by the Soviet representative on the Allied Control Commission,
Andrei Vyshinsky who insisted on
Petru Groza as the new prime minister. ==Death==