Royal Ruling Stirs Romanian Dynastic Feud

Twenty-one years of legal battle ended on Wednesday when Romania’s Supreme Court formally recognized the grandson of Romania's penultimate King as a legitimate member of the Romanian royal family.

The decision makes Paul-Phillippe Hohenzollern an official grandson to King Carol II and a nephew to King Michael, the current head of the royal family.

One possible effect of the ruling is that Paul is now likely to become the head of the royal family one day. He can also make claims to royal properties.

The dispute has its roots in a love story from more than a century ago, when Carol, then heir to the Romanian throne, secretly married a Romanian aristocrat.

The marriage was later annulled because Romania’s heir to the throne had by law to marry a foreign princess.

But a child was born from this morganatic marriage, Mircea Grigore, who in 1955 was recognized by a Portuguese court as Carol’s legitimate son. Carol was then living in exile in Portugal and Paul is Mircea’s son.

After the fall of Communism in Romania in 1989, a Romanian court recognized the ruling in Lisbon but King Michael has since appealed against it three times.

Michael is the son of Carol's legitimate marriage to Princess Elena of Greece. Romania’s  last King from 1927 to 1930, and then from 1940 to 1947, he was forced into exile in 1947, when the Communist Party seized full control of the country.

After the court ruling was announced, Paul sounded a conciliatory note. “First, the decision is a matter of honour for me. Furthermore, it is a first step towards reconciliation and peace in the royal family,” he said.

The economic newspaper Bursa quoted him as saying he is not in a hurry to claim his part of the royal wealth, but “for sure will take this step at some point”.

The royal portfolio include Peles Castle in the Carpathian mountains, the  Elisabeta palace in Bucharest, land, forests and paintings worth a total of about 180 million euro.

For its part the royal household said in a press release that the court decision does not grants Paul any “dynastic right” or establish his right to use the title of prince. 

For analysts is unclear yet what effect the ruling will have, but feuds and dynastic struggles between royals cannot help the image of the monarchy.

“This issue is complicated... but the public image of the royal family is bound to be affected by the court decision,” historian Zoe Petre said.

Since the fall of the Communist regime, the royal family has regained much of its popularity in Romania.

But Michael has not encouraged agitation for a restoration and royalist parties have made little impact on post-Communist politics.

Michael has five daughters and his oldest daughter, Princess Margarita, is known for her humanitarian work and cultural projects in Romania.