Line of succession to the Romanian throne
The succession law to the now defunct throne of Romania is, in principle depending on interpretation of applicable laws, and in practice on one's opinion, either the direct application of last democratically enacted royal constitution, or an EU-law noting application of the Fundamental Rules of the Romanian Royal House, enacted by King Michael I of Romania on 30 December 2007. The last democratically established constitution, that of 1923, now defunct, stipulates Salic Law, that is agnatic primogeniture, whereas the Fundamental Rules of 2007 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 1923 constitution.
There are male line descendants of Carol II: Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern (b. 1948) and Alexander Hohenzollern (b. 1961), sons of Carol Mircea Hohenzollern, issue of Carol's first marriage to Zizi Lambrino. However, their grandparents' marriage was declared null and void by the parliament of the Kingdom of Romania. In 1955, a Portuguese court, in matter of inheritance of Carol, contravened this by declaring 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, calling into question the status of King Michael. The argument appears prevalent that Mircea Carol's sons are not entitled to succession rights, due to the non-dynastic nature of their grandparents' marriage.
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.
According to the succession provisions of the kingdom's last democratic Constitution, that of 1923, agnatic primogeniture 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. If Michael dies without any male children, as is likely now, then the succession under the 1923 succession law would devolve back into the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen line, provided there are eligible heirs remaining. However, it is questioned among scholars, whether the heir is in descent from King Ferdinand's older brother, William, Prince of Hohenzollern, who renounced his rights, or whether the heir is in descent from their younger brother, Prince Charles Anthony, who did not renounce his rights. Moreover, requirements of the 1923 Constitution stipulate explicitly that heirs of a Romanian monarch who are raised in the Eastern Orthodox faith (and implicitly that a king properly elected from a foreign dynasty who commits to raise his children in the Eastern Orthodox faith), are only ones eligible to succeed. There exists an opinion that due to lack of eligible heirs, King Michael himself is the last extant eligible dynast.
The succession provisions of the last royal Romanian Constitutions, those of 1923 and 1938, now defunct due to the republican form of government of the country, were that in absence of eligible male heirs, the king had the right to designate his successor. This choice was subject to the approval of the Parliament, according to the royal Constitutions.
The Hohenzollern senior line
If the succession were to descend through Prince William, despite his renunciation, it will pass to Prince Frederick’s son Frederick William, Prince of Hohenzollern, who thus would be currently first in line. None of them are Eastern Orthodox, but this does not prevent them from being eligible according to the last democratic royal Constitution of Romania, the one of 1923.
- Frederick William, Prince of Hohenzollern (b. 1924)
- Hereditary Prince Karl Friedrich of Hohenzollern (b. 1952)
- Prince Alexander of Hohenzollern (b. 1987)
- Prince Albrecht of Hohenzollern (b. 1954)
- Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern (b. 1960)
- Prince Aloys of Hohenzollern (b. 1999)
- Prince Fidelis of Hohenzollern (b. 2001)
- Prince Johann-Georg of Hohenzollern (b. 1932)
- Prince Carl Christian of Hohenzollern (b. 1962)
- Prince Nicolas of Hohenzollern (b. 1999)
- Prince Hubertus of Hohenzollern (b. 1966)
- Prince Ferfried of Hohenzollern (b. 1943)
- Prince Meinrad of Hohenzollern (b. 1925)
- Prince Carl Alexander of Hohenzollern (b. 1970)
The Hohenzollern cadet line
Descent from Prince Charles Anthony of Hohenzollern (however, not Eastern Orthodox):
- Prince Carlos Patrick of Hohenzollern (b. 1978)
Male-preference primogeniture line
On 30 December 2007, explicating to be based on EU legislation, European Convention on Human Rights, and 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 designate the order of inheritance to that entail. The new Statute also attempts to replace the old 1884 Statute Law, an act with eminently symbolic importance in the absence of its approval by the Parliament. 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 heir to the headship of the Romanian Royal Family.
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 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 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 anointed King by the Romanian Orthodox Church. The latter opinion, however, ignores the fact that 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. Margarita'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 January 1, 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 opposing view, regarding Margarita's marriage as non-issue, is based either on the fact that at the time of her marriage, she was not heir to the throne, being a female, or on the fact that King Michael approved the marriage.
The Royal castles in Romania -- Savarsin Castle and Pelisor 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:
- Princess Margarita, "Crown Princess," Custodian of the Romanian Crown
- Princess Helena (Elena) of Romania
- Nicholas de Roumanie Medforth-Mills, future "Prince of Romania" as of his 25th birthday, April 1, 2010, or upon King Michael's death, whichever is sooner
- Elisabeta Karina de Roumanie
- Princess Irina of Romania
- Michael de Roumanie Kreuger
- Angelica de Roumanie Kreuger
- Princess Sophie of Romania
- Elisabeta Marie Biarneix
- Princess Maria of Romania.
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, the contingency clause 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.
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
References
ro:Linia de succesiune la tronul din România