Line of succession to the former Romanian throne

The succession order to the (defunct) throne of Romania depends on the interpretation of the applicable laws, either the Romanian kingdom's last democratic constitution, 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 on 30 December 2007 in an attempt to replace the old 1884 Law of the Statute. The defunct 1923 Constitution stipulates Salic Law, that is agnatic primogeniture, whereas the legally non-binding Fundamental Rules of 2007 attempt to establish a male-preference primogeniture succession.

Present situation

As King Michael I of Romania 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 in the line of succession to the throne, if the succession follows the defunct 1923 constitution.

There are male line descendants of Carol II: 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, also known as Carol Mircea Grigore of Romania according to his Romanian birth certificate, issue of King Carol's first marriage to Zizi Lambrino. 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 Parisian 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, and Frederick, Prince of Hohenzollern (1891-1965). Shortly after this meeting, the spokesman of King Carol II, in an interview with the French paper Le Figaro, 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 or the reinterment of his remains in Romania, at Curtea de Arges.

According to the succession provisions of the kingdom's last democratic Constitution, that of 1923, agnatic primogeniture (also known as "Salic law") 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, the oldest son of Prince Wilhelm. 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 (b. 1962)
9. HSH Prince Nicolas of Hohenzollern (b. 1999)
10. HSH Prince Hubertus of Hohenzollern (b. 1966)
11. HSH Prince Ferfried of Hohenzollern (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, then Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, stated the he was not interested in the Romanian throne.

Male-preference primogeniture line

On 30 December 2007, explicitly based on EU legislation, in particular on the European Convention on Human Rights, which, however, does not guarantee any right to reign as a monarch of any country, and also on the values of the Romanian society, King Michael 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 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's eldest daughter, newly titled "Crown Princess of Romania" and "Custodian of the Romanian Crown," Princess Margarita of Romania. 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, 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 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 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. The latter opinion, however, ignores the fact that King Michael never claimed to be an absolute monarch while always supporting democracy and the constitutional monarchy. 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 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 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 Castle and Pelişor Castle– as well as the dynastical chivalric Order of Carol I (sovereignty and grand mastership) 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 (styled Crown Princess of Romania, Custodian of the Romanian Crown) (b. 1949)
2. HRH Princess Elena of Romania (b. 1950)
3. Nicholas Medforth-Mills (styled Prince of Romania) (b. 1985)
4. Elizabeth Karina de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (b. 1989)
5. HRH Princess Irina of Romania (b. 1953)
6. Michael de Roumanie Kreuger (b. 1985)
7. Angelica de Roumanie Kreuger (b. 1986)
8. HRH Princess Sophie of Romania (b. 1957)
9. Elisabeta-Maria Biarneix de Laufenburg (b. 1999)
10. HRH Princess Maria of Romania (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, 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.

External links

• The official website of The Romanian Royal Family
• Online Gotha (Romania)
• FAQ on the Romanian monarchy
• The articles of the 1923 Romanian Constitution regarding the succession law
• Online Gotha (Hohenzollern)
• Website of Prince Paul of Romania

ko:루마니아의 왕위 계승 순위 it:Linea di successione al trono di Romania ro:Ordinea de succesiune la tronul României