A possible return to monarchy in the two countries is considered to be a future alternative.
The prince heir of the United Kingdom, who is preparing to renounce the throne to his son William, could become the future king Charles III of Romania. The Romanian Intelligence Service and Foreign Intelligence Service are in full alert.
(translation of the romanian version of the text, available here)
In 2006, the Prince of Wales was invited to become the head of the state of a country he liked very much: Romania, according to a British historian. In the past 6 months, diplomatic sources have declared for ZIUA de CLUJ, a regional daily, that the ‘foreign prince' scenario is one - among others - which has stirred debates in European media. At the same time, the Romanian Royal House, related to the one in the UK, is being attacked on all fronts by president Băsescu while Prince Charles is doing the greatest favor to Romanian on Travel Chanel: he revealed that Romanian king (voivode) Vlad the Impaler was his ancestor, and spoke of Transylvania, where he owns some property, as a unique treasure of Europe. Associated Press went beyond when connecting the Prince of Wales to the former Romanian voivode: Charles becomes "a stake in Romania's future".
The idea of a foreign prince in Romania first appeared in 2006 from a renowned historian. According to ZIUA de CLUJ's diplomatic sources, the possibility is being discussed in high European levels. Tom Gallagher, the famed British historian and columnist, one of the heavyweight specialists in the history of Romania, noted in an editorial in Romania Liberă, a national daily, on June 30, 2006, that Prince Charles was invited to become "the head of a state" he dearly loved, Romania. The context was broader in an editorial entitled "The European Scapegoat", as quoted: "And if, hypothetically speaking, His Royal Highness (Prince Charles - n. red.) were determined to renounce waiting for his royal mother to pass away, studied Romanian and were to accept the invitation to become the head of a state he loved dearly - given his frequent visits and endeavors to protect a heritage often under threat - might make him perhaps the best ruler Romania ever had since Charles I". (The article is only available on print, as it misses from Romania Liberă's electronic archive, even though the same author's editorials of June 29 and July 2 2006 are still available. The one of June 30 2006 is nowhere to be found, irrespective of the search engine - n. red.).
Romania's best brand ambassador...
...is the same Prince Charles. On Sunday, October 30, two days from now, Travel Chanel will broadcast the "Wild Charpatia" (the Wild Carpathians) series of four episodes. The film will be translated into 20 languages and will be available in 119 countries around the world. A production preview took place in the Bucharest club Luft Lounge, in the presence of representatives of the Romanian Royal House and of the ministry of Tourism, Elena Udrea. The head producer of the documentary is Paul Lister, and the foundation he presides, The European Nature Trust. The documentary's co-producer and presenter Charlie Ottley ventures to the heart of the Carpathians and in dark Carpathian forests. This is perhaps Europe's last wild region, where bears, wolves and shy lynxes live, according to capital.ro. In the trailer, Charlie Ottley is interviewing Prince Charles at his Scottish residence, where the Prince of Wales proves Vlad the Impaler's blood flows through his veins. "After a very nice shot in which we captured wild birds right next to the house renovated by Prince Charles in Valea Zalanului, we went and spoke to him in Scotland, in his near-Belmont residence. We drove through arid wilderness with no trees. During the documentary you can spot the amazing contrast between what you can see in Romania in comparison to Scotland", Charlie Ottley, presenter and co-producer of "Wild Carpathia", declared for gandul.info.
"I love Romania for her eternity. A remarkable thing. It is almost as in my childhood fairytales. People here can only wish to cherish the same attachment to the land. We have to rediscover these feelings, to come back to them, and I want to make sure this way of life will continue", Charles, Prince of Wales, declared, a famous endorser and promoter of Romanian values. "My genealogy shows I am the descendant of Vlad the Impaler, so I am connected to Romania", the prince says.
Associated Press: Charles holds "stakes in Romania's future"
In fact, Associated Press' London Office published yesterday the headline "Prince Charles claims Vlad the Impaler as ancestor", with the following article: "Truth revealed: Prince Charles is related to Vlad the Impaler. The successor to the British crown claims blood ties to Vlad the Impaler, the bloodthirsty Romanian ruler of the 15th century, Bram Stoker's inspiration for Dracula (1897). He stated this in a TV show, soon to be released to express his interest in protecting Transylvania's wild forests. Charles claims his genealogy proved blood ties to Vlad the Impaler, which explain his stakes in Romania's future. The Prince has been a fierce forest conservationist and even bought a house in Transylvania. In a trip to Romania early in the year, the prince referred to Transylvania as a national treasure due to its unaltered landscape and centuries old farming traditions."
Transylvanian blood in the veins: my great-great-great-grandmother is from this area
"Transylvania is probably in my blood", Prince Charles once said, and then he expressed his love for Transylvania as a "special realm", according to Mediafax in May 2008, on a princely visit. Charles said his great-great-great-grandmother, Countess Claudia Rhedley, was buried in Mures, and from Saschiz he would visit her tomb, in Sangeorgiu de Padure, to pay his respect. Prince Charles also said that beyond the family ties he cherished special interest in the land, especially the "almost pristine" Carpathian area. Through the "Mihai Eminescu" foundation, Prince Charles is financing the reconditioning of several Transylvanian edifices, providing some of the funds for the renovation of the Banffy palace in Bontida.
Anything is possible, but we need a referendum
In the opinion of contemporary history professor Virgil Tarau with the Contemporary History Department and International Relations of the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the "Babes-Bolyai" University (UBB), any change in the system of government needs to observe constitutional provisions, including the change of the fundamental law trough referendum. "Now we have a constitutional mechanism. The system of government was decided in the 1991 Constitution, as well as the leverages to alter it, but the referendum is mandatory. It is in the power of a nation to choose its form of government, the monarchy included", the Cluj historian declared. In his opinion, a foreign prince - a utopian idea - needs to be approved by popular vote, in a referendum.
There is succession
UBB rector, professor Andrei Marga, claims that a foreign prince has already been brought here and the succession has already been agreed on. "The first foreign prince brought in Romania was Charles I, with his line of successors, so there's no telling how one can come up with another, as there's no escaping the current one", the rector said. In his opinion, the issue of the form of government is prone for debate. "In Italy, for example, a decision was taken in this respect. We procrastinated it after 1989. I think Romania should take a decision in this respect, if the people wants a republic or a monarchy", UBB rector concluded.
Related Royalties
The Prince of Wales is related to King Michael I of Romania, first cousin thrice removed to Queen Elisabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
Băsescu, unexpected attack on the king
On June 22 2011, apparently off-topic, president Traian Băsescu launched a fierce attack on the Romanian Royalty in a show on B1 TV. "Why do we still consider that King Michael's abdication was a great patriotic act? It was not, it was high treason to Romania's national interest", Basescu declared. He added that everybody holds general Ion Antonescu, the Romanian WWII leader, responsible for the Jewish and Roma holocaust, yet we seem to forget Romania had a head of state. "Everybody blames Antonescu for the Jewish and Roma populations' holocaust, their deportation to the Trans-Dniester region, but nobody says that the Romanian state head was somebody else, and he (Antonescu) was just the premier", Băsescu said.
"We give some their fortunes back, and we blame others as war criminals. The head of state and the premier, just because one was a Russian servant and abdicated the throne to flee the country, is forgiven of all sins", the president concluded referring to King Michael I. The president referred to King Michael again one day before His Majesty's 90th anniversary, when invited to deliver a speech in the Parliament of Romania, more than six decades later. President Traian Băsescu declared he would not attend the event because he had no reason to. As for any messages he would like to address to the king, he retorted bluntly. "A message? What for?", Basescu asked. In the opinion of sociologist Mircea Comşa, Băsescu's attacks on the king are "fearless" of any monarchic re-instauration. "Polls have shown throughout time that pro-monarchy is only envisaged by up to 10% of the population, with variations from one polling agency to the next. So I cannot believe the monarchy enjoys appreciation and would be allowed to assume power", Comşa said. The sociologist blamed Băsescu's attacks on electoral or "other, sociology unrelated" grounds. "Perhaps the president does not want to be considered a supporter of the monarchy, or they (the attacks - n. red.) relate to other, non-sociological reasons", Comşa declared.
One more attack on royalty
The day after the king's speech, the self-proclaimed prince Paul of Romania - declined as such by the Romanian royalty - continued the attacks in an open letter: "You used beautiful words, some in interesting, even poetic phrases, some with double meaning, in a speech meant to be memorable. But, before anything else, of all the years you claim to have served the Romanian people, we have to deduct the 50 years of communism when you did nothing for this nation, apart from wishing them Merry Christmas or Happy Easter!", Paul wrote, quoted by Hotnews. He is the illegitimate nephew of King Charles II - the son of Carol Mircea Grigore of Hohenzollern (the illegitimate son of Charles II and step brother to King Michael), according to the same sources. In fact, Băsescu and Paul of Romania share a special bond: the president baptized one of Paul's children last year...
The Royal Way for Romania?
The special jubilee of King Michael's celebration of his 90th anniversary triggered great patriotic emotion and brought the nation to a consensus on the monarchy's historic importance in forming and consolidating the modern, united Romania. The boycott of this celebration by the executive - government and president - also revealed a great historical schism, according to Reuters.
President Traian Băsescu vehemently attacked King Michael lately, accusing him of treason with his 1947 abdication, and called him a slave to the Russians. This vindictive and aggressive anti-royal attitude stirred great opprobrium among the population, but also mobilized Băsescu's loyalists, who tried to reanimate and capitalize on the populist anti-monarchic resentment we thought buried in early ‘90s. The president and the sycophants then switched to pseudo-historic arguments to evince the alleged royal guilt that the king was manipulated by political intrigues of the opposition. He also launched a fierce attack against Prince Duda for undermining the Romanian constitution, by taking inoffensive remarks in a TV show out of context. Why the venom against a prince consort who had an attempted candidature to presidency in 2009? Even if he had a disproportionate influence on the king, why risk through sheer rudeness and disrespect to the former sovereign to stupefy the vast republican majority? Evenimentul Zilei even launched a fallacy on the king's birthday, October 25, that the old enemies of the president would attempt a parliamentary coup shielded by the king's speech before the Reunited Chambers of the Parliament, to reinstate monarchy. The directors are media mogul Dan Voiculescu in cahoots with the liberals, who had the initiative to invite the king in the parliament.
Emil Hurezeanu, the only journalist in King Michael's suite during his historical Easter visit of 1992, said on Realitatea TV that in 1992 some generals tried to lure the king into a coup. The king respectfully denied, out of respect for democracy and the Constitution. I know from confidential sources that major pro-monarchy political leaders have tried to persuade Michael I of appointing Prince Nicholas, his grandchild, the son of Princess Helena, as the dynasty's heir. It was an important project which would involve bringing the prince to Romania, educate him, acclimatize him to Romanian customs and the people. There is a precedent in this respect, as Boris Yeltin, with his Russian communist mindset, took the initiative to ask grand duke Duce Vladimir, descendent of Russia's Imperial Family, to send his nephew to the Naval Academy of Sankt Petersburg to become a true Russian. Michael or perhaps influent members of the family and entourage were refractory to the project. The mass-media launched an assumption that Basescu's obstinate opposition to the king originated from the president's privileged access to one or more documents recently declassified from secret service archives, be they FSB, former KGB or the British MI 5 or 6, which would incriminate the king more or less subjectively on one or another aspect of his career.
Possibly, no king is an angel, but this is not enough for the president to oppose the consensus on Michael's historical importance to switch camps in August 23, 1944, when we declared war on Nazi Germany, our former ally, and to defy the unanimous respect he enjoyed in the West and East as WWII's last surviving head of state. The king's speech before the Parliament, simple, concise, yet meaningful and replete with political ideas on the great problems of the Romanian state and society, echoed both in the country and abroad. A notorious royalty opponent like Ion Cristoiu wrote that the speech was that of a ruling monarch, not just an anniversary, 90-year message, dwelling on the idea of a political conspiracy of occult origin. Sociologist Vasile Dâncu wrote that the monarchy plays no future political role in Romania, it is just the resuscitation of an identity nostalgia and polls show that just 12% of the Romanians cherish monarchist feelings.
The entire world press mirrored the historical event with generosity, from the New York Times to the Izvestia. Never in a long time had anyone written so much and so positively about Romania. The daily Le Monde dedicated a whole page to the king, calling him the Man of the Week, The Economist in London wrote that unfortunately the speech was too short and came too late, explained the tragic destiny of a misfortunate king now applauded by the same members of the political spectrum who after the 1989 Revolution slandered and detracted him, insisted on the young king hostage to Antonescu, then to communists, who on ripe age was overwhelmed by the matriarchal influence, how he became alienated from his father, who had bestowed royal education onto him, and had no sons, only daughters. The international press unisoned in highlighting the boycott of the current power against the royal jubilee. The king was joined by the king and queen of Sweden, the queen of Spain, the grand Duchess Maria of Russia, king Simeon II of Bulgaria, the Serbian heir prince, Alexander II. At the royal dinner, Princess Muna of Jordan, very close to the diplomatic and security elites from Washington to Jerusalem, was seated to the left of Michael.
More ambassadors and diplomats attended the royal festivities then previously announced, all resplendent in their official plenipotentiary standing as states representatives. Why does Băsescu fear him? Does he really think that Dan Voiculescu or even Călin Popescu Tăriceanu, his long political enemies, can manipulate the king into the opposition's political conspiracies? The event was also attended by one of the most influent advisors of the longest ruling monarch alive, Jonathan Eyal, reputed politologist, former Oxford professor, born in Romania, fluent in Romanian, the most important British specialist in East European political-military affairs, head of the international security department of RUSI, the geo-political and strategy institute of the Royal British Armed Forces. What is certain is that October 25 relaunched a debate on the legitimacy of the monarchic alternative for Romania and dwells on the constitutional uncertainty of our semi-presidential republic.
It is hard to be a king in Romania, The Economist wrote, but I think it is unsustainable to be a republican either. Not when the republic is the offspring of the soviet puppet sate which usurped the Kingdom of Romania in 1947. Maybe Basescu is trembling due to recent rumors on reactivating the monarchy in Romania in the backstage of the Euro-Atlantic theater with Michael's 4th cousin once removed, Prince Charles of Wales. The hypothesis was first launched by Tom Gallagher in 2006 are can set the local political imagination ablaze and overthrow abulia stricken clichés that the monarchy is obsolete and inadequate for Romania. The first heir to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain could become King Charles III of Romania. Coincidence or not, as we write this the British press is debating on an Associated Press communiqué about the blood connection between Charles and the Wallachian ruler Vlad III, known as the Impaler. The heir to the British crown said this genealogy legitimated his profound bond to Romania and grants him stakes in our future. The Prince of Wales is deeply dedicated to Romania's natural and historic heritage.
He expressed a gracious reverence to our spirituality. Many a times he became a pilgrim to orthodox churches in Bucovina and Oltenia, in the far north and the south of the country. He recently declared that in Transylvania there is a unique, extraordinary relationship between the natural ecosystem and the human cultural system. This symbiosis, His Highness declared, is extremely important because people need this sense of belonging, identity and community now more than ever. Historian Doru Radosav believes the relation between the gore loving Wallachian prince and the House of Windsor originates from the matrimonial filiations of Transylvanian nobility and Hungarian royalty. Vlad, born in Sighişoara, first married princess Bathory, then a member of the Szilagy clan, and then his third wife was cousin to famed Hungarian king Matthew Corvinus. In a speech held in England in April 1989, Charles harshly criticized Ceausescu's policy to destroy Romanian villages to make more room for agriculture, claiming personal involvement in the matter as his ancestor, Claudina Rhedey, was buried in Sangeorgiu de Padure.
The Daily Mail wrote today about the feature common to both the British royal family and the legendary Vlad: an ailment, porphyria, a lack of iron in the blood, which would have given birth to the vampire myth. There are occult connections through the genealogy of secret societies between Vlad the Impaler, immortalized as Dracula, and the British dynasties. Sir Laurence Gardner, Scottish historian and genealogist, said the Romanian voivode fought next to Sigismund of Luxembourg, the Roman-German emperor, the founder of the Royal and Imperial Order and Court of the Dragon. Created after the formation of the Templars' Order, its purpose was to unify the aristocracy under the coat of arms of the Holy Roman-German Empire against the Vatican's pontifical power. Europe's blue blood is far from impotent. The Order of the Dragon is directly related to the European Council of the Princes, an elite organization of European nobility which participated in the creation of the Bilderberg think-tank. Allegedly, most of the American presidents are related with British royals, according to Burke's Peerage & Baronetage. Known as the "bible of aristocracy", published in London by Harold Brooks - Baker, it traces the royal genealogies in Great Britain and Ireland. In an article in People Magazine, from 3rd of march 2008, british genealogist Robert Barrett claims that the president in office of the USA, Barack Obama, is related, through his mother Ann with Wallis, Dutchess of Windsor.
infowars.com claims that both John Kerry and Bush, candidates in the presidential campaign of 2004, members of the Skull and Bones fraternity created at the University of Yale, are descendants of Vlad the Impaler. More profanely, Romania's Royal House is double related to the Windsor dynasty. Queen Maria, Michael's grandmother, the wife of the king of the Great Union, Ferdinand, was princess of Edinburgh, the daughter of Alfred de Saxa - Coburg Gotha, the second son of Empress Victoria. The mother of our queen was Grand Duchess Maria, the daughter of Czar Alexander II of Russia.
On the maternal line, Michael is related to Victoria, a true hen of the European monarchy. Radosav also believes that the monarchy can be a solution for Romania due to the fact that dynasties were the first cement of the united Europe, anticipating today's Union, given their network, symbiotic and rooting. We need the monarchy, he says, because the king plays a reuniting role, he emanates love and generosity for his subjects, he is not the product of an antithetic electoral process, so corrosive in Romania. Radosav concluded about this Romanian-British connection: "The king's speech was Oscar winning, in the aftermath of a wedding skillfully staged of a true heir to the throne, Prince William who, just like the royal jubilee in Bucharest, reenacts the monarchic idea. Both events have been orchestrated by the extremely nimble marketing of the monarchic dynastic."
Breaking news: Prince Charles wants to save Dracula's woods
The Prince of Wales has joined a campaign to salvage "the fairytale woods" in Romania, reminding everybody yet again of his Vlad the Impaler-related genealogy. The famed mysterious forests of the Carpathians, which once inspired vampire legends, are some of the last wild areas in Europe still pristine, The Telegraph notes.
Michael HUREZEANU
