Paul Lambrino
Encyclopedia
Paul al României also Paul Philippe Hohenzollern or Paul Philip (von) Hohenzollern with "al României" recognised as his legal surname by a 1995 Alexandria
court ruling, is the son of the late Carol Mircea Gregor (Grigore) Hohenzollern
, also known as Mircea Grigore al României according to his amended Romanian birth certificate, and of Helene Henriette Nagavitzine/Navagatzine. His current British passport issued in Paris in 2008 also states his name to be Paul Philip of Romania. His father Carol was the eldest son of King Carol II of Romania
from Carol II's first disputed marriage to Zizi Lambrino
.
.
Unlike his father Carol Mircea, who never made such claims, Paul claims to be the rightful successor to the defunct Romanian throne. Paul bases his claims on Ioana Lambrino's marriage to the Crown Prince (later King) Carol, which had been legally carried out in Odessa
, in the Russian Orthodox Church
, the only institution authorized to perform marriages in Russia
at that time. As such, he claims, his grandfather's religious marriage could not be annulled by the court of another country, i.e. Romania, thus remaining forever valid in all Orthodox Churches, including Romania's. Others claim that this was a morganatic marriage
to begin with, although nowhere in Romania's laws or royal constitution such a concept ever existed at the time of their matrimony. A similar concept, however, was included in the 1884 Law of the Statute of the Romanian Royal House, which forbade the Romanian royals' marriages to Romanians or to unequally titled persons. Carol II's first marriage was later annulled
by the Romanian Supreme Court on the basis of this law, at the request of his father, King Ferdinand, without whose approval, as required by law, the marriage had been performed.
Carol Mircea won two paternity trials in Portugal
and France
, which entitled him and his sons to bear the family name "Hohenzollern" and earned him inheritance rights from his father, Carol II. No particle (i.e. no "von" or "of" particle adjoined to the family name "Hohenzollern") or dynastic rights were awarded to Carol Mircea by any European court (who in any case had no legitimacy to decide about succession rights to a dormant throne). Furthermore, Paul, his half-brother, and their father have never been recognized or referred to as princes by the Romanian Royal Family
although he and his wife are present in the aristocratic and royal circles of Europe. Never during his reign, including during his personal dictatorship (1938–1940) when he held absolute power in Romania, did King Carol II recognize his first-born Carol Mircea as a prince or grant him even the right to bear the family name "Hohenzollern". Nevertheless, the Princely House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen has always recognised them as princes of Hohenzollern (or the German style family name Prinz von Hohenzollern) as it becomes clear in correspondence between the late Prince Friedrich of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and the deposed King Carol II.
Hohenzollern was educated in France
and the United Kingdom
and graduated from Millfield College, Somerset
in 1968. On 15 September 1996 in Bucharest
, Paul Hohenzollern married Lia Georgia Triff (b. Naval Station Great Lakes
, North Chicago
, Lake County
, Illinois
, 23 February 1949), the ex-wife of Melvin Belli
with whom she has a daughter named Melia R. Belli (b. San Francisco, California
on 12 January 1973), who became a princess through marriage with the style Royal Highness
, and has given birth to a son. He has worked as an art dealer and property developer and in 1991 founded The Prince Paul Foundation For Romania.
In 2000, Paul recognized the republic and made an unsuccessful bid for the Romanian presidency
, gaining only 55,238 votes (0.49%).
He is believed to have been behind the 2004 attacks on Radu Duda's princely title launched by the Hereditary Prince Karl Friedrich
, son of the Prince Frederick William
, Head of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
princely family. Paul is said to be on friendly terms with the former and has met the latter in the past.
In 2005, Paul declared that his half-uncle, Michael I of Romania
was responsible for the deportations and killing of Romanian Jews
during World War II
, and asked that he should be shot as a war criminal. King Michael is a recognized (?) protector of the Jews during WWII and Queen Mother Helen (his mother) is recognized by Yad Vashem
as Righteous among People for her acts of courage during World War II to protect the Jews. Romanian Jewish scholars argued that during Ion Antonescu
's dictatorship, Michael had no real powers and that it was Michael who organized the plot to overthrow Antonescu's fascist government, which probably shortened the war by six months and saved hundreds of thousands of Romanian Jews, but left Romania under the Soviet domination.
In May 2011, Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern opposes King Michael's decision to break ties with the House of Hohenzollern.
and his wife as godparents. The honorary godparents were Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy
and Princess Madeleine of Bentheim and Steinfurt.
Alexandria, Romania
Alexandria is the capital city of the Teleorman County, Romania. It is located south-west of Bucharest, towards the Bulgarian border. The city is situated on the Vedea River. The city has 58,651 inhabitants.-Alexandria in 1900:...
court ruling, is the son of the late Carol Mircea Gregor (Grigore) Hohenzollern
Carol Lambrino
Mircea Grigore Carol Hohenzollern , also known as Mircea Grigore Carol al României according to his amended Romanian birth certificate or as Carol Lambrino according to his original Romanian birth certificate, self-styled HRH Prince Carol of Romania, was the eldest son of King Carol II of Romania, a...
, also known as Mircea Grigore al României according to his amended Romanian birth certificate, and of Helene Henriette Nagavitzine/Navagatzine. His current British passport issued in Paris in 2008 also states his name to be Paul Philip of Romania. His father Carol was the eldest son of King Carol II of Romania
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
from Carol II's first disputed marriage to Zizi Lambrino
Zizi Lambrino
Joanna Marie Valentina "Zizi" Lambrino was the first wife of King Carol II of Romania...
.
Biography
The 1918 marriage of Crown Prince Carol of Romania (later King Carol II) and Ioana Lambrino was annulled by decision of the Ilfov Tribunal in 1919. Crown Prince Carol later married Princess Helen of Greece and fathered the future King MichaelMichael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
.
Unlike his father Carol Mircea, who never made such claims, Paul claims to be the rightful successor to the defunct Romanian throne. Paul bases his claims on Ioana Lambrino's marriage to the Crown Prince (later King) Carol, which had been legally carried out in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, in the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, the only institution authorized to perform marriages in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
at that time. As such, he claims, his grandfather's religious marriage could not be annulled by the court of another country, i.e. Romania, thus remaining forever valid in all Orthodox Churches, including Romania's. Others claim that this was a morganatic marriage
Morganatic marriage
In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
to begin with, although nowhere in Romania's laws or royal constitution such a concept ever existed at the time of their matrimony. A similar concept, however, was included in the 1884 Law of the Statute of the Romanian Royal House, which forbade the Romanian royals' marriages to Romanians or to unequally titled persons. Carol II's first marriage was later annulled
Annulment
Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...
by the Romanian Supreme Court on the basis of this law, at the request of his father, King Ferdinand, without whose approval, as required by law, the marriage had been performed.
Carol Mircea won two paternity trials in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, which entitled him and his sons to bear the family name "Hohenzollern" and earned him inheritance rights from his father, Carol II. No particle (i.e. no "von" or "of" particle adjoined to the family name "Hohenzollern") or dynastic rights were awarded to Carol Mircea by any European court (who in any case had no legitimacy to decide about succession rights to a dormant throne). Furthermore, Paul, his half-brother, and their father have never been recognized or referred to as princes by the Romanian Royal Family
Romanian Royal Family
The current Romanian royal family , an integral part of the larger royal house of Romania, consists of the family of King Michael I of Romania who bear a royal title...
although he and his wife are present in the aristocratic and royal circles of Europe. Never during his reign, including during his personal dictatorship (1938–1940) when he held absolute power in Romania, did King Carol II recognize his first-born Carol Mircea as a prince or grant him even the right to bear the family name "Hohenzollern". Nevertheless, the Princely House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen has always recognised them as princes of Hohenzollern (or the German style family name Prinz von Hohenzollern) as it becomes clear in correspondence between the late Prince Friedrich of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and the deposed King Carol II.
Hohenzollern was educated in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and graduated from Millfield College, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
in 1968. On 15 September 1996 in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, Paul Hohenzollern married Lia Georgia Triff (b. Naval Station Great Lakes
Naval Station Great Lakes
Naval Station Great Lakes is the home of the United States Navy's only boot camp, located near the city of North Chicago, Illinois, in Lake County. Important tenant commands include the Recruit Training Command, Training Support Center and Navy Recruiting District Chicago...
, North Chicago
North Chicago, Illinois
North Chicago is an outer suburb/exurb of the Chicago metropolitan area and is an incorporated city in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 35,918 at the 2000 census....
, Lake County
Lake County, Illinois
Lake County is a county in the northeastern corner of the state of Illinois, on the shore of Lake Michigan. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 703,462, which is an increase of 9.2% from 644,356 in 2000. Its county seat is Waukegan. The county is part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, 23 February 1949), the ex-wife of Melvin Belli
Melvin Belli
Melvin Mouron Belli was a prominent American lawyer known as "The King of Torts" and by detractors as 'Melvin Bellicose'. He had many celebrity clients, including Zsa Zsa Gabor, Errol Flynn, Chuck Berry, Muhammad Ali, Sirhan Sirhan, the Rolling Stones, Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Bakker, Martha...
with whom she has a daughter named Melia R. Belli (b. San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
on 12 January 1973), who became a princess through marriage with the style Royal Highness
Royal Highness
Royal Highness is a style ; plural Royal Highnesses...
, and has given birth to a son. He has worked as an art dealer and property developer and in 1991 founded The Prince Paul Foundation For Romania.
In 2000, Paul recognized the republic and made an unsuccessful bid for the Romanian presidency
President of Romania
The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . An individual may serve two terms...
, gaining only 55,238 votes (0.49%).
He is believed to have been behind the 2004 attacks on Radu Duda's princely title launched by the Hereditary Prince Karl Friedrich
Karl Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern
Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern is the eldest son of the late Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern and Princess Margarita of Leiningen...
, son of the Prince Frederick William
Frederick William, Prince of Hohenzollern
Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern was the head of the Princely House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.-Biography:Friedrich Wilhelm was born in Schloss Umkirch...
, Head of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
-Noble jurisdictions:Prince Karl Eitel of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and descendants of his nephew Ferdinand ruled over the Kingdom of Romania, as Karl Eitel did not have children...
princely family. Paul is said to be on friendly terms with the former and has met the latter in the past.
In 2005, Paul declared that his half-uncle, Michael I of Romania
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
was responsible for the deportations and killing of Romanian Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and asked that he should be shot as a war criminal. King Michael is a recognized (?) protector of the Jews during WWII and Queen Mother Helen (his mother) is recognized by Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
as Righteous among People for her acts of courage during World War II to protect the Jews. Romanian Jewish scholars argued that during Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
's dictatorship, Michael had no real powers and that it was Michael who organized the plot to overthrow Antonescu's fascist government, which probably shortened the war by six months and saved hundreds of thousands of Romanian Jews, but left Romania under the Soviet domination.
In May 2011, Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern opposes King Michael's decision to break ties with the House of Hohenzollern.
Child
On 11 January 2010, Lia, aged 60, gave birth to a son, named Carol Ferdinand, at the Maternitatea Regina Maria in Bucharest, Romania. He was 47 cm tall and weighed 2,2 kg. His mother indicated that the couple received "assistance" to conceive the child from medical experts in the United States, the United Kingdom and Romania. She declined to go into detail on the nature of the assistance received or say whether the baby was conceived using in vitro fertilization, but said she herself underwent stem cell therapy. Carol Ferdinand was baptised on 23 May 2010 with the President of Romania Traian BăsescuTraian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...
and his wife as godparents. The honorary godparents were Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy
Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy
Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy is a Savoyard princess and noted historian of Italy...
and Princess Madeleine of Bentheim and Steinfurt.
Ancestors
External links
- Official site
- "Prince Paul of Romania" by Guy Stair SaintyGuy Stair SaintyGuy Stair Sainty, KC*SG is an art dealer and author on royal genealogy and heraldry.-Life and education:Guy Stair Sainty was born on 7 December 1950, the eldest son of Christopher Lawrence Sainty and his second wife Virginia Cade Stair. His father was Chief Engineer and Director of Carrier...