Paul-Philippe al României (born 13 August 1948), also known as Prince Paul of Romania, Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern and Paul Lambrino, is the son of Carol Lambrino and Hélène Henriette Nagavitzine. His father was the elder son of King

Carol II of Romania Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I in 1914. He was the first of t ...

and Zizi Lambrino. Paul-Philippe claims that he, and not Margareta of Romania, is the rightful head of the royal house of Romania. In 2020 he was convicted, along with businessman Remus Truică and several other businessmen, for influence peddling, money laundering and complicated bribery cases between the years of 2006 and 2013. He became an internationally wanted fugitive until his arrest in 2022.

Family and education

In 1918, the

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wi ...

of Romania (the future King

Carol II Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I in 1914. He was the first of th ...

) married Zizi Lambrino. The wedding was annulled the following year because it contravened the royal house's statute—Lambrino was both a Romanian and a commoner, and the marriage took place without the consent of the king. The couple had one son, Carol Lambrino, the father of Paul Hohenzollern. In 1921, Crown Prince Carol married Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark, and they had a son who became King

Michael I of Romania Michael I ( ro, Mihai I ; 25 October 1921 – 5 December 2017) was the last King of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947. Shortly after Michael's ...

. Ionuț Fantaziu
"Şocul care ar putea bulversa Casa Regală" ("The Shock That Could Overturn the Royal House")
''Evenimentul Zilei'', 8 November 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012 Born in Paris, Paul Hohenzollern attended a Jesuit school. He was thirteen years old when his father married an American woman and the family moved to London to be nearer to European royalty. He started school at

Gordonstoun Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus. It is locate ...

while

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

, was attending, then moving on to Millfield. He has worked as an art dealer and property developer. Horia Tabacu, Vlad Teodorescu
"ASR Prinţul Paul: 'Vom dona 62,5 % din Castelul Peleş statului român'" ("HRH Prince Paul: 'We Will Give 62.5% of Peleş Castle to the Romanian State'")
''Evenimentul Zilei'', 1 September 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012 In 1996, at Cașin Church, Hohenzollern married Lia Georgia Triff, a native of Dearborn, Michigan, who had previously divorced lawyer

Melvin Belli Melvin Mouron Belli (July 29, 1907 – July 9, 1996) was a prominent United States lawyer, writer, and actor known as "The King of Torts" and by insurance companies as "Melvin Bellicose". He had many celebrity clients, including Zsa Zsa Gab ...

.Daniel Simpson
"The King's Heir? Hum, That's Not Fully Apparent"
''The New York Times'', 19 June 2002. Retrieved 27 January 2012 The couple have one child, Carol Ferdinand; the infant was baptised in 2010, with President

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...

taking on the role of godfather."Traian Băsescu l-a botezat pe 'moştenitorul' Carol Ferdinand. Paul de România: 'Gest istoric'" ("Traian Băsescu Baptizes 'Heir' Carol Ferdinand. Paul of Romania: 'Historic Gesture'")
''Evenimentul Zilei'', 22 May 2010. Retrieved 27 January 2012

Criminal conviction

On 17 December 2020, the

High Court of Cassation and Justice The High Court of Cassation and Justice ( ro, Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție) is Romania's supreme court, and the court of last resort. It is the equivalent of France's Cour de Cassation and serves a similar function to other courts of c ...

sentenced him to 3 years and 4 months of prison, in the Băneasa Farm trial. On the evening of the charge, police visited his home in Bucharest, however, according to his wife, Lia, he was in Portugal. The police arrived at his house at 8:30 p.m. The American-born Lia did not speak to the press. Bucharest Police were in the process of obtaining a European arrest warrant and released a statement: "Regarding the person sentenced to imprisonment, given that he was not found at home, the prosecution procedure begins. The activity of obtaining the European arrest warrant and implicitly of the international pursuit is starting." He was arrested in France in June 2022. He has been temporarily released from prison, awaiting extradition trial.

Succession claim

Hohenzollern claims to be the rightful head of Romania's royal house on the grounds that Prince Carol's marriage to Zizi Lambrino, carried out in a religious ceremony in Odessa, was never annulled in an Orthodox Church, thus rendering his subsequent marriages

bigamous In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

. Nevertheless, he states that he accepts Romania's republican form of government and does not wish to see the monarchy restored. He also points to a 1955 decision by a court in Lisbon recognising Carol Lambrino as King Carol II's first son and granting him full succession rights, a decision upheld in 1957 and 1963 in France and the following year in the United Kingdom. The latter ruling entitled Carol Lambrino to a British passport under the name "Prince of Hohenzollern, Prince of Romania". He filed suit in Romania in 1991 against King Michael I. The case reached its conclusion in February 2012, when the

extended to Romania the Lisbon court's decision recognising Carol Lambrino as the son of King Carol II. The ruling has unclear implications with regard to both throne and property succession. The leadership of the royal house remains contested, while Hohenzollern's claim to 62.5% of royal property—the share of his father plus that of King Carol II's widow Elena Lupescu, which she granted to him—remains undefined and may refer either to the king's personal property or to that of the royal house, the boundary between which is not clearly drawn. Horia Tabacu
"ASR Prinţul Paul al României: 'S-a făcut dreptate pentru tata şi pentru mine'" ("HRH Prince Paul: Justice Has Been Granted to My Father and to Me")
''Evenimentul Zilei'', 15 February 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2012 Raluca Dan, Florin Marin

''Adevărul'', 14 February 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2012 Hohenzollern greeted the decision "with enthusiasm and responsibility", promising "many trials" to sort out inheritance issues and vowing to donate his share of

Peleș Castle Peleș Castle ( ro, Castelul Peleș ) is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914. Its inaugu ...

to the Romanian government, should he obtain it. King Michael's office issued a statement saying the decision creates no dynastic rights, that only he can determine the membership of the royal house, and that no Romanian king has ever recognised or granted a title to Carol Lambrino or to his descendants. In the 2000 Romanian presidential election, Hohenzollern was an unsuccessful independent candidate. In 2005, Hohenzollern claimed that King Michael created and ran a Nazi state between 1940 and 1944, encouraging and approving the deportation and murder of

Romanian Jews The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

; as a result, he called for Michael's

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

. Writing in ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper ...

'', historian Jean Ancel dismissed Hohenzollern's claims and praised the wartime actions of the king and his mother, Queen Helen. In 2011, when Michael broke off ties with the House of

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen ( en, Nothing without God) , national_anthem = , common_languages = German , religion = Roman Catholic , currency = , title_leader = Prince , leader1 ...

to form the

House of Romania The Romanian royal family ( ro, Familia regală a României) was the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Romania, a constitutional monarchy in Central-Eastern Europe. The kingdom existed from 1881, when Carol I of Romania was proclaimed king, until ...

, Paul objected, labelling the move "an inexplicable gesture" severing "historical and dynastic ties" to the German house. In December 2011, Hohenzollern was named "Ambassador of Romanian-Chinese Friendship" in Beijing. After the 2012 final verdict of the Romanian Supreme Court of Justice recognising Paul as one of

King Carol II Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I of Romania, Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I of Roman ...

's heirs, his uncle,

King Michael I Michael I ( ro, Mihai I ; 25 October 1921 – 5 December 2017) was the last King of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947. Shortly after Michael's ...

, reportedly invited Paul to reconciliation talks.Historical reconciliation in the Royal Family. King Michael invited Prince Paul to talks
Romania TV site, 4 March 2013

Notable published works

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Notes

External links

Official site
{{Authority control 1948 births Living people Candidates for President of Romania Fugitives wanted by Romania People educated at Gordonstoun People educated at Millfield Pretenders to the Romanian throne Romanian princes Romanian white-collar criminals