Paul Lambrino
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Paul Lambrino (born 13 August 1948 in Paris) as he is known in Romania, legally named Paul Hohenzollern in the E.U., who styles himself "HRH Prince Paul of Romania", is the son of the late Mircea Grigore Carol Lambrino, legally named Hohenzollern in the E.U. Mircea Grigore Carol was the son of King Carol II of Romania from his first marriage to Zizi Lambrino. Paul's mother is Helene Nagavitzine, the first wife of Mircea Grigore Carol.
Paul claims to be the rightful successor to the Romanian Throne, as Zizi Lambrino's marriage to Prince (later King) Carol was 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 supreme court of another country, i.e. Romania, thus remaining for ever valid to 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. Carol II's first marriage was later annulled by the Romanian Supreme Court, at the request of his father, King Ferdinand.
Mircea Grigore won two paternity trials in Portugal and France, which entitled him and his sons to bear the name "Hohenzollern" in all of the E.U. countries and earned him inheritance rights from his father, Carol II. No title (i.e. no "von" or "of" particle adjoined to the family name "Hohenzollern") or dynastic rights were awarded to Mircea by any European court. Furthermore, Paul, his brother, and their father have never been recognized as princes by the Romanian Royal Family, although they are present in the aristocratic and royal circles of Europe.
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 (Furst) 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[1].
In 2005, Paul declared that his 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 a Righteous among People for her acts of courage during World War 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.
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[edit] References
- Jerusalem Post. "Romanian prince: Expose my uncle as Nazi", 20 June 2005
- Jerusalem Post. "Jews defend King Michael", 21 June 2005
- Marlene A. Eilers, "Queen Victoria's Descendants". Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987
[edit] External links
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