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Line of succession to the Romanian throne


The succession order to the throne of the Romanian monarchy, abolished since 1947, was regulated by the monarchical constitution of 1923 and the 1884 Law of the Romanian Royal House Rules enacted pursuant to the 1866 Constitution of Romania which had confirmed the enthronement of Prince Karl (Carol) of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. The defunct 1923 Constitution stipulated Salic law, according to which the throne was hereditary in King Carol I's legitimate descent and, if his male issue failed, in the descent of his brothers of the Sigmaringen princely branch of the House of Hohenzollern, according to agnatic primogeniture and to the perpetual exclusion of females and their descendants. The last monarch to reign in Romania was King Michael I, who was born in 1921, abdicated his throne on 30 December 1947 under coercion, and went into exile in Switzerland.

Former King Michael has no sons, nor are there any undisputed legitimate male-line male descendants of the previous kings of Romania.

There are male line descendants of King Carol II: Paul of Romania (b. 1948), his son Carol Ferdinand (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). Carol Mircea (8 January 1920 - 27 January 2006) is the issue of King Carol's first marriage to Zizi Lambrino, which marriage had been declared null and void on 18 January 1919 by a Romanian court. In 1955, however, a Portuguese court declared Carol Mircea as former 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 to inherit a portion of his father's properties, but did not confer upon him any dynastic rights to the defunct Romanian throne or rights to bear a princely title and style, despite his use of both. In October 1995 a Romanian court ruling also recognized Carol Mircea as a legitimate son of Carol II, allowing him the right to bear the surname "al României", a ruling which evoked some speculation that called into question the status of Michael. The court ruling was cited by Paul to assert a right to the title "Prince". The argument which appears prevalent is that Mircea Carol's sons would not be 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.


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