Line of succession to the Romanian throne
Encyclopedia
The succession order to the (defunct) throne
Throne
A throne is the official chair or seat upon which a monarch is seated on state or ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the monarchy or the Crown itself, an instance of metonymy, and is also used in many expressions such as "the power behind the...

 of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 depends on the interpretation of the applicable laws, either the Romanian kingdom's last democratic constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...

, that of 1923, or the new Statute of the Royal House of Romania, named Fundamental Rules of the Romanian Royal House, privately enacted by King Michael I of Romania
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...

 on 30 December 2007 in an attempt to replace the old 1884 Law of the Statute. The defunct 1923 Constitution stipulates Salic Law
Salic law
Salic law was a body of traditional law codified for governing the Salian Franks in the early Middle Ages during the reign of King Clovis I in the 6th century...

, that is agnatic primogeniture, whereas the legally non-binding Fundamental Rules of 2007 attempt to establish a male-preference primogeniture succession
Order of succession
An order of succession is a formula or algorithm that determines who inherits an office upon the death, resignation, or removal of its current occupant.-Monarchies and nobility:...

.

Present situation

As King Michael I of Romania
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...

 has no male children, nor are there any undisputed legitimate male-line male descendants of the previous Kings of Romania, there is at present no one from the Romanian Royal Family
Romanian Royal Family
The current Romanian royal family , an integral part of the larger royal house of Romania, consists of the family of King Michael I of Romania who bear a royal title...

 in the line of succession to the throne, if the succession follows the defunct 1923 constitution.

There are male line descendants of King Carol II
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...

: Prince Paul of Romania (b. 1948), his son Prince Carol Ferdinand of Romania (b. 2010) and Alexandru Hohenzollern (b. 1961). Paul and Alexandru are the sons of Carol Mircea Hohenzollern
Carol Lambrino
Mircea Grigore Carol Hohenzollern , also known as Mircea Grigore Carol al României according to his amended Romanian birth certificate or as Carol Lambrino according to his original Romanian birth certificate, self-styled HRH Prince Carol of Romania, was the eldest son of King Carol II of Romania, a...

, also known as Carol Mircea Grigore of Romania according to his Romanian birth certificate, issue of King Carol's first marriage to Zizi Lambrino
Zizi Lambrino
Joanna Marie Valentina "Zizi" Lambrino was the first wife of King Carol II of Romania...

. Their grandparents' marriage had been declared null and void by the Parliament of the Kingdom of Romania. In 1955, however, a Portuguese court declared Carol Mircea as King Carol II's legitimate son, a ruling later confirmed by a Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

ian court . The court rulings allowed him to bear the surname Hohenzollern and inherit a portion of his father's properties, but did not confer him any dynastic rights to the Romanian throne or rights to bear a princely title and style, despite his use of both. In October 1995, a similar Romanian court ruling recognized that he was legitimate son of King Carol II, allowing him the right to bear the surname "al României" and calling into question the status of King Michael. The court ruling was used by Paul to claim the title Prince. The argument which appears prevalent is that Mircea Carol's sons are not entitled to succession rights, due to the non-dynastic nature of their grandparents' marriage. Moreover, Carol Mircea never claimed any right to the Romanian throne, unlike his son, Paul.

Following King Michael's abdication, the line of succession was discussed during a meeting between Michael, his uncle Prince Nicholas of Romania
Prince Nicholas of Romania
| style="float:right;"|Prince Nicholas of Romania was the second son of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania.- Biography :Born in Peleş Castle, Sinaia, Nicholas was the younger brother of Carol, heir apparent, who renounced his rights of succession on 12 December 1925...

, and Frederick, Prince of Hohenzollern
Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern
Frederick, Prince of Hohenzollern He was the eldest son of William, Prince of Hohenzollern and Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies...

 (1891-1965). Shortly after this meeting, the spokesman of King Carol II, in an interview with the French paper Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...

, expressed his strong support for Prince Frederick, additionally asserting that Michael would never regain the throne. King Michael refused to ever again see his father, King Carol II, after Carol's abdication in 1940. Michael even refused to come to his father's funeral in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 or the reinterment of his remains in Romania, at Curtea de Arges
Curtea de Arges
Curtea de Argeș is a city in Romania on the right bank of the Argeş River, where it flows through a valley of the lower Carpathians , on the railway from Pitești to the Turnu Roşu Pass. It is part of Argeș County. The city administers one village, Noapteș...

.

According to the succession provisions of the kingdom's last democratic Constitution, that of 1923, agnatic primogeniture (also known as "Salic law
Salic law
Salic law was a body of traditional law codified for governing the Salian Franks in the early Middle Ages during the reign of King Clovis I in the 6th century...

") determines who inherits the throne. After two intervening changes of regime, that constitution no longer carries legal weight, but it retains the weight of a tradition. It must also be said that the German Hohenzollerns in the succession line descend from the previously mentioned Prince Frederick
Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern
Frederick, Prince of Hohenzollern He was the eldest son of William, Prince of Hohenzollern and Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies...

, the oldest son of Prince Wilhelm
Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern
William, Prince of Hohenzollern was the eldest son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern and Infanta Antónia of Portugal. His maternal grandparents were Maria II of Portugal and her King consort Ferdinand II of Portugal.William was an older brother of Ferdinand I of Romania...

. Prince Wilhelm, along with his father, Prince Leopold, renounced his rights to the Romanian throne in favor of his younger brother, the future king Ferdinand of Romania.

Succession by Salic law

  1. HH Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern (b. 1952)
  2. HSH Alexander, Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern (b. 1987)
  3. HSH Prince Albrecht of Hohenzollern (b. 1954)
  4. HSH Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern (b. 1960)
  5. HSH Prince Aloys of Hohenzollern (b. 1999)
  6. HSH Prince Fidelis of Hohenzollern (b. 2001)
  7. HSH Prince Johann-Georg of Hohenzollern (b. 1932)
  8. HSH Prince Carl Christian of Hohenzollern
    Prince Carl Christian of Hohenzollern
    Prince Carl Christian of Hohenzollern is the eldest child of Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern and of his wife Princess Birgitta of Sweden, sister of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.-Life:...

     (b. 1962)
  9. HSH Prince Nicolas of Hohenzollern (b. 1999)
  10. HSH Prince Hubertus of Hohenzollern
    Prince Hubertus of Hohenzollern
    Prince Hubertus of Hohenzollern is the third child of Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern and of his wife Princess Birgitta of Sweden, sister of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden....

     (b. 1966)
  11. HSH Prince Ferfried of Hohenzollern
    Prince Ferfried of Hohenzollern
    Ferfried Maximilian Pius Meinrad Maria Hubert Michael Justinus Prince of Hohenzollern is a German marketing lawyer who has come to public attention as a result of his private life.- Biography :...

     (b. 1943)
  12. HSH Prince Meinrad of Hohenzollern (b. 1925)
  13. HSH Prince Carl Alexander of Hohenzollern (b. 1970)
  14. Carlos Patrick von Hohenzollern (styled Prince of Hohenzollern) (b. 1978)


In case of the disappearance without any direct male heirs of all eligible Hohenzollerns or of their refusal to accept the throne, according to the article 78 of the last democratic royal Constitution of Romania from 1923, the throne becomes vacant. In this situation, according to the article 78, the last reigning King has the right to nominate a foreign prince from a reigning royal or princely dynasty of Western Europe as successor subject to the Parliament's approval per article 79, a right which was turned down by King Michael, who nominated his daughter as successor and denied to any foreign prince any succession right through his new Statute. The Parliament incurs the final responsibility, according to the article 79, of electing a King from a reigning royal or princely dynasty of Western Europe, if prior to his investiture he had committed to raise his descendants in the Eastern Orthodox faith to comply with the article 77 of the Constitution.

In a 2009 interview, Karl Friedrich
Karl Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern
Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern is the eldest son of the late Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern and Princess Margarita of Leiningen...

, then Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, stated the he was not interested in the Romanian throne.

In 1997, the Romanian monarchist leaders intended to ask King Michael to designate a male heir from the German branch of the family, in keeping with the rules of the last royal Constitution. They eventually agreed on a compromise and requested him to designate a male rather than female heir, in the person of Michael's grandson, Prince Nicholas. Under the influence of Queen Anne
Queen Anne of Romania
Queen Anne of Romania , is the wife of the former King Michael I of Romania.She is a niece of Empress Zita of Austria and a great niece of Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia.-Early life:...

, the King rejected the monarchists' request and at the end of 1997, he designated his first born, Princess Margarita
Princess Margarita of Romania
Princess Margarita of Romania , also styled as Crown Princess of Romania, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, former Princess of Hohenzollern, is the eldest daughter of Michael I , King of Romania , former Prince of Hohenzollern, and of his wife, Anne of Bourbon-Parma...

, as heiress.

Male-preference primogeniture line

On 30 December 2007, explicitly based on EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 legislation, in particular on the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...

, which, however, does not guarantee any right to reign as a monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

 of any country, and also on the values of the Romanian society, King Michael
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...

 signed a new Statute of the Royal House, called Fundamental Rules of the Royal House of Romania. Portions of the document make apparent that it is to entail
Entail
Entail may refer to:* Fee tail, a term of art in common law describing a limited form of succession....

 the heritage of King Michael and to designate the order of inheritance to that entail. The new Statute, thought by some to be undemocratic, an act with eminently symbolic importance in the absence of its approval by the Parliament, also attempts to replace the old 1884 Statute Law. According to this new Statute, the first in line of succession is King Michael
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...

's eldest daughter, newly titled "Crown Princess of Romania" and "Custodian of the Romanian Crown," Princess Margarita of Romania
Princess Margarita of Romania
Princess Margarita of Romania , also styled as Crown Princess of Romania, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, former Princess of Hohenzollern, is the eldest daughter of Michael I , King of Romania , former Prince of Hohenzollern, and of his wife, Anne of Bourbon-Parma...

. In 1997 King Michael had already designated her as successor to "all" his "prerogatives and rights," indicating his desires for a gender-blind succession to the throne.

Some argue that Margarita will only become Head of the Royal Family because King Michael
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...

, as a constitutional monarch, is unable to alone alter the old and defunct succession laws which perpetually excluded females and their descendants. Only the Parliament
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...

 could amend these laws together with the Constitution in which they had been included, assuming the monarchy were first restored. An opposing view is that King Michael
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...

 is able to alter these succession laws alone, effectively acting as an absolute monarch, partly in light of the nature of his second reign, during which he neither was sworn into office by any Parliament, nor took any oath on any Constitution, but was instead anointed King by the Romanian Orthodox Church
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...

. The latter opinion, however, ignores the fact that King Michael
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...

 never claimed to be an absolute monarch while always supporting democracy and the constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...

. It also ignores his appeal to the Romanian Parliament made on the occasion of the signing of the new Statute, for it to alter the Salic Law
Salic law
Salic law was a body of traditional law codified for governing the Salian Franks in the early Middle Ages during the reign of King Clovis I in the 6th century...

 of succession, should the Romanian nation and Parliament consider restoring the monarchy in the future.

Another invoked reason why Princess Margarita cannot succeed to the Romanian throne is her marriage against the original 1884 Law of the Statute of the Royal House of the Romanian Kingdom, which forbade marriages of heirs of the Royal Family to Romanians or to unequally-titled persons. Margareta's marriage is claimed to have broken this law twice over, since her husband, Radu Duda, is a Romanian and was not titled at the time of their marriage. Radu was bestowed only a name of "Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen" through the 1 January 1999 decree (Urkunde) of the Head of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Princely House, Prince Frederick William. No coat of arms, nor any type of "Highness" predicate were given to Radu Duda through the Princely decree, despite his usage of the latter. On 30 December 2007, Michael of Romania
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...

 granted the title of "Prince of Romania" with a "Royal Highness" style to Radu, whose legal surname apparently has long been Hohenzollern-Veringen Duda. At the same time, Michael recognized Radu's new name as a title of "Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen."

The Royal castles in Romania – Săvârşin
Săvârşin Castle
The Royal castle of Săvârşin, near Arad, Transylvania, is the country seat of King Michael I of Romania. While the castle was seized from the Royal Family by Communist authorities, in 2000, a Romanian court ordered that the building be restored to King Michael I.-See also:*Romanian Royal...

 and Pelişor – as well as the sovereignty and grand mastership of the dynastic chivalric Order of Carol I
Order of Carol I
The Order of Carol I is a chivalric order of the Kingdom of Romania instituted on the 10 May 1909 by King Carol I of Romania to celebrate his jubilee of 40 years of reign. Until the fall of the monarchy in 1947, the order was the highest ranking order of the kingdom...

, are to be held by the successor in this line.

The line of succession, as published in Annex I of the 2007 Statute, consists of:
  1. HRH Princess Margarita of Romania
    Princess Margarita of Romania
    Princess Margarita of Romania , also styled as Crown Princess of Romania, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, former Princess of Hohenzollern, is the eldest daughter of Michael I , King of Romania , former Prince of Hohenzollern, and of his wife, Anne of Bourbon-Parma...

     (styled Crown Princess of Romania, Custodian of the Romanian Crown) (b. 1949)
  2. HRH Princess Elena of Romania
    Princess Elena of Romania
    -Titles and styles:* 15 November 1950–present: Her Royal Highness, Princess Elena of Romania, Princess of Hohenzollern-Ancestry:-External links:* *...

     (b. 1950)
  3. Nicholas Medforth-Mills
    Nicholas Medforth-Mills
    Nicholas Michael de Roumanie Medforth-Mills , since 1 April 2010 styled as Prince Nicholas of Romania, is one of the designated heirs to the defunct throne of Romania according to the new family statute enacted in 2007...

     (styled Prince of Romania) (b. 1985)
  4. Elizabeth Karina de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (b. 1989)
  5. HRH Princess Irina of Romania
    Princess Irina of Romania
    Princess Irina of Romania is the third daughter of the former King of Romania, Michael I of Romania and his wife Queen Anne of Romania.-Marriage:...

     (b. 1953)
  6. Michael de Roumanie Kreuger (b. 1985)
  7. Angelica de Roumanie Kreuger (b. 1986)
  8. HRH Princess Sophie of Romania
    Princess Sophie of Romania
    Princess Sophie of Romania , also known as Princess Sofia , is the fourth daughter of King Michael I of Romania and Queen Anne...

     (b. 1957)
  9. Elisabeta-Maria Biarneix de Laufenburg (b. 1999)
  10. HRH Princess Maria of Romania
    Princess Maria of Romania
    Princess Maria of Romania is the youngest daughter and fifth child of Michael I , King of Romania, and his wife Queen Anne.-Marriage:...

     (b. 1964)


As the above list exhausts all the dynastic members of the present Royal House of Romania, the line would then not continue with the German Hohenzollerns mentioned above. In fact, the new Statute through Annex I explicitly allows only direct descendants of King Michael as dynasts; unlike the old succession rules, the German Hohenzollerns are no longer mentioned as potential dynasts. Contrary to a specific provision of the 1923 Constitution, the new Statute bans from succession all foreign princes from other Royal or Princely Houses. In case the current line becomes extinct, however, article 79 of the defunct 1923 Constitution allowing for the election of a foreign Prince presumably becomes applicable, assuming the Constitution is not changed according to King Michael's desires.

According to the president of Romania Traian Băsescu
Traian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...

, who does not appreciate Margarita's husband, prince Radu, the Romanians seem to think that were the monarchy restored, Radu would become their king, something which, according to Basescu, impacts negatively the Romanians' public perception of the idea of monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK