House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (Romanian branch) House of Hohenzollern-Romania House of Romania
Parent house	Hohenzollern
Country	Romania
Founded	10 May 1866
Founder	Carol I
Current head	Margareta of Romania
Final ruler	Michael I
Titles	Prince (Domnitor, or Principe) (1866–1881), King (Rege) (1881–1947)
Deposition	30 December 1947 (the communist coup when the King was forced to abdicate)

Romanian royal family
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Romania (1881-1947)
HM The Custodian of the Crown HRH Prince Radu* HRH Princess Elena HRH Princess Irina HRH Princess Sophie HRH Princess Maria HRH Prince Paul‡ HRH Princess Lia‡ HRH Prince Carol Ferdinand‡ HRH Prince Alexander‡
*Titled according to private family rules ‡Status disputed

The Romanian royal family (Romanian: Familia regală a României) was the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Romania, a constitutional monarchy in Central-Eastern Europe. The kingdom existed from 1881, when Carol I of Romania was proclaimed king, until 1947, when the last king, Michael I of Romania, was forced to abdicate and the Parliament proclaimed Romania a republic. Soon after, upon the establishment of the constitution of 13 April 1948, Romania became a people's republic, a state that lasted until 1989.

Current members of the former royal family include the daughters of the late, former King Michael of Romania. Some descendants have adopted the surname "of Romania". There are also descendants of Michael's older half-brother Carol Lambrino (also known as "Carol Hohenzollern" and "Carol Mircea Grigore of Romania" or, in Romanian, al României, on his amended, Romanian birth certificate^[1]), whose legitimacy was disputed and who were not recognised as royal during the reigns of Ferdinand, Carol II and Michael.

King Michael publicly renounced for himself, the former queen, and their five daughters any claim to the titles of "Prince/Princess of Hohenzollern", styles which were in any case not recognised under German laws since 1919 but had been attributed, along with the Romanian royal titles, to members of the Romanian dynasty in such subsequently published sources as the Almanach de Gotha and Burke's Guide to the Royal Family.^[2]

Descendants of King Michael

• Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown (b. 1949, age 74)
  m. (1996) Radu Duda, assumed the title Prince Radu of Romania (b. 1960, age 63)
• Princess Elena of Romania (b. 1950, age 73)
  div. (1983–1991) Leslie Robin Medforth-Mills (1942–2002, age 59)
  m. (1998) Alexander Philips Nixon (McAteer) (b. 1964, age 59)
  • Nicholas Michael de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (b. 1985, age 38)
    m. (2017) Alina Maria Binder (b. 1988, age 35)
    • Maria Alexandra de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (b. 2020, age 3)
    • Michael de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (b. 2022, age 1)
  • Elisabeta Karina de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (b. 1989, age 34)
• Princess Irina of Romania (b. 1953, age 70)
  div. (1983–2003) John Kreuger (b. 1945, age 78)
  m. (2007) John Wesley Walker (b. 1945, age 77)
  • Michael Torsten de Roumanie Kreuger (b. 1985, age 38)
    m. (2011) Tara Marie Littlefield (b. 1982, age 41)
    • Kohen Kreuger (b. 2012, age 11)
  • Angelica Margareta Bianca de Roumanie Kreuger (b. 1986, age 36)
    m. (2009) Richard Robert Knight (b. 1984, age 39)
    • Courtney Bianca Knight (b. 2007, age 16)
    • Diana Knight (b. 2011, age 12)
• Princess Sophie of Romania (b. 1957, age 66)
  div. (1998–2002) Alain Michel Léonce Biarneix (de Laufenborg) (b. 1957, age 66)
  • Elisabeta Maria Bianca Elena de Roumanie Biarneix (b. 1998, age 25)
• Princess Maria of Romania (b. 1964, age 59)
  div. (1995–2003) Kazimierz Wiesław Mystkowski (b. 1958, age 65)

Daughters of Romania's kings, such as Margareta, Elena, Irina and Sophie, as well as their descendants, had no rights of succession to the Romanian throne during the monarchy's existence, in accordance with the Salic law enshrined in both the defunct royal Romanian Constitution of 1938 and the Statute of the Romanian royal house, dated 1884. On 30 December 2007 in a private ceremony,^[3][4] King Michael issued a declaration in the form of a statute,^[5] an act of symbolic significance in the absence of its approval by the Parliament,^[6][7] promulgating new Fundamental Rules of the Royal Family of Romania.^[8]

Michael decided to add his daughters and their children to the headship of the royal house, further explicitly banning any other foreigners belonging to any other royal or princely house from succeeding. On the same occasion he asked the Romanian Parliament to abolish the Salic law, should it consider restoring the monarchy.^[9] By the same act, Michael designated his grandson Nicholas de Roumanie Medforth-Mills as a future member of the deposed royal family and future "Prince of Romania" with the style of "Royal Highness," effective either on his 25th birthday, 1 April 2010, or upon Michael's death, whichever might occur sooner. On 1 August 2015, however, King Michael issued a declaration retracting the style "Royal Highness" and "of Romania" previously conferred upon Nicholas, also excluding him from the line of succession to the headship of the dynasty, noting that his successors in that capacity should be persons of "principled modesty and morality."^[10] Children and consorts of the members of the family who do not bear a royal title are not recognised as members of the former royal family, according to the new rules.

Line of succession

According to the succession provisions of the Romanian kingdom's last democratically approved monarchical constitution of 1923, upon the death of King Michael without sons, the claim to the Crown devolves once again upon the Hohenzollern family. However, on 30 December 2007, on the 60th anniversary of his abdication, King Michael signed the Fundamental Rules of the Royal Family of Romania, by which he designated Princess Margareta as his heir.^[8][11] The document has no legal standing, as it regulates an institution that is no longer extant.^[12][13]

However the Fundamental Rules designated Margareta as heir presumptive to the defunct throne. On the same occasion, Michael also requested that, should the Romanian Parliament consider restoring the monarchy, the Salic law of succession not be reinstated, allowing female succession. According to the new statute of the Romanian Royal House as declared by Michael, no illegitimate descendants or collateral lines may claim dynastic privileges, titles or rank and any such are excluded from the Royal House of Romania and from the line of succession to the throne.^[14]

On 10 May 2011, on a background of lawsuits in Germany brought against his family by Michael’s German relatives regarding the former name Hohenzollern-Veringen of his son-in-law, Radu, and of fears^[15] expressed by some that the German Hohenzollerns may claim succession to the headship of the Romanian royal house, Michael severed all of the dynastic and historical ties with the princely house of Hohenzollern, changed the name of his family to "of Romania", and gave up all princely titles conferred upon him and his family by the German Hohenzollerns.^[16][17]

On 1 August 2015, Michael signed a document removing the title Prince of Romania and the qualification of Royal Highness from his grandson, Nicholas Medforth-Mills, who was also removed from the line of succession. The former king took the decision "with an eye on Romania's future after the reign and life of his eldest daughter, Margareta". The former king hoped that "Nicholas will find in future years a suitable way to serve the ideals and use the qualities that God gave him". Nicholas's mother, Princess Elena, received notification of the former king's decision in a personal letter.^[18]

Line of succession according to the Fundamental Rules:

Family of Carol Mircea Hohenzollern

• Paul-Philippe of Romania (born 1948), son of Carol Mircea Lambrino
  wed Lia-Georgia Hohenzollern (née Triff) (born 1949), with issue:
  • Carol Ferdinand al României (born 2010)
• Alexander Hohenzollern (born 1961), son of Carol Mircea Lambrino, unmarried.

Past members of the royal family

• King Carol I (1839–1914) (Reign as Domnitor: 1866–1881) (Reign as King: 1881–1914)
  m. Queen Elisabeth (1843–1916)
  • Princess Maria (1870–1874)
• King Ferdinand I (1865–1927) (Reign: 1914–1927)
  m. Queen Marie (1875–1938)
  • King Carol II (1893–1953) (Reign: 1930–1940)
    m. Queen Helen (1896–1982)
    • King Michael I (1921–2017) (Reign: 1927–1930 and 1940–1947)
      m. Queen Anne (1923–2016)
  • Princess Elisabeth (1894–1956)
  • Princess Maria (1900–1961)
  • Prince Nicholas (1903–1978)
  • Princess Ileana (1909–1991)
  • Prince Mircea (1913–1916)

Family tree

Family tree

Karl Anton b.1811 – d.1885 Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen r.1848–1849 Prince of Hohenzollern r.1869–1885 Josephine of Baden b.1813 – d.1900 Antónia of Portugal b.1845 – d.1913 Leopold b.1835 – d.1905 Stephanie b.1837 – d.1859 Carol I b.1839 – d.1914 Domnitor of the United Principalities r.1866–1881 King of Romania r.1881–1914 Elisabeth of Wied b.1843 – d.1916 Queen consort of Romania 1869–1914 Anton b.1841 – d.1866 Friedrich b.1843 – d.1904 Maria Luise b.1845 – d.1912 William b.1864 – d.1927 Prince of Hohenzollern r.1905–1927 Ferdinand b.1865 – d.1927 King of Romania 1914–1927 Marie of Edinburgh b.1875 – d.1938 Queen consort of Romania 1914–1927 Karl Anton b.1868 – d.1919 Maria b.1870 – d.1874 Zizi Lambrino b.1898 – d.1953 Carol II b.1893 – d.1953 King of Romania 1930–1940 Helen of Greece b.1896 – d.1982 Queen Mother of Romania 1928–1982 Magda Lupescu b.1895 – d.1977 Elisabeth b.1894 – d.1956 Queen consort of Greece 1922–1924 Maria b.1900 – d.1961 Queen consort of Yugoslavia 1922–1934 Nicholas b.1903 – d.1978 Member of the Regency 1927–1930 Ileana b.1909 – d.1991 Archduchess Anton of Austria 1931–1954 Mrs Stefan Issarescu 1956–1965 Mother Alexandra 1967–1991 Mircea b.1913 – d.1916 Carol Lambrino b.1920 – d.2006 Michael I b.1921 – d.2017 King of Romania 1927–1930; 1940–1947 Anne of Bourbon-Parma b.1923 – d.2016 Paul b.1948 Alexander b.1961 Margareta b.1949 Custodian of the Crown of Romania 2017–present Elena b.1950 Irina b.1953 Sophie b.1957 Maria b.1964 Carol Ferdinand Nicholas b.1985 Elisabeta-Karina b.1989 Michael b.1985 Angelica-Margareta b.1986 Elisabeta-Maria b.1998 Kohen b.2012 Courtney b.2007 Diana b. 2011

See also

• Decorations of the Romanian Royal House
• Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
• Monarchism in Romania

References

External links

• The official website of the Royal Family of Romania
• The official blog of the Royal Family of Romania (daily public activities)