Updated

A children's charity says that Marina Sturdza, a former Romanian princess who returned from exile to Romania after communism ended to become one of the country's leading humanitarians, has died at age 73.

Hope and Homes for Children, of which Sturdza was patron, said she died Sunday at her New York home.

Descended from two aristocratic families, she left Romania at age 3 in the early years after World War II when communists began ruling the country, finding exile in Canada. She returned in 1997.

Princess Marina, as she was known in Romania, was associated with charities working to move children from state orphanages to family homes. She also dedicated her efforts to palliative care.

Earlier in her life she was a journalist who covered fashion and the arts.