Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern

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Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern
Born	August 13, 1948 (1948-08-13) (age 59) Paris
Title	Prince of Romania (self-styled)
Known for	Pretender to the Romanian throne
Spouse	Lia Georgia Triff
Parents	Carol Mircea Grigore Hohenzollern and Helene Nagavitzine
Website http://printulpaulderomania.ro/

Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern (born 13 August 1948 in Paris), also known as Paul Lambrino and as Paul Philip of Hohenzollern according to his British Passport,^[1] self-styled HRH Prince Paul of Romania with his title recognised by a 1995 Alexandria court ruling,^[1] is the son of the late Carol Mircea Gregor (Grigore) Hohenzollern, also known as Mircea Grigore of Romania (al României) according to his amended Romanian birth certificate,^[2] and of Helene Nagavitzine. His father Carol was the eldest son of King Carol II of Romania from Carol II's first marriage to Zizi Lambrino.

1 Biography
2 See also
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

The 1918 marriage of Crown Prince Carol of Romania (later King Carol II) and Zizi Lambrino was annulled by decision of the Ilfov Tribunal in 1919. Carol later married Princess Helen of Greece and fathered the future King Michael.^{[citation needed]}

Unlike his father Carol who never made such claims,^[3] Paul claims to be the rightful successor to the Romanian throne. Paul bases his claims on Zizi 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

Carol Mircea won two paternity trials in Portugal and France, which entitled him and his sons to bear the family 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 Carol by any European court. Furthermore, Paul, his 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.^[4] Never during his reign, including during his personal dictatorship (1938-1940) when he held absolute power in Romania, did King Carol II recognize his firstborn Carol Mircea as a prince or grant him even the right to bear the family name "Hohenzollern."^{[citation needed]}

Hohenzollern was educated in France and the United Kingdom and graduated from Millfield College, Somerset in 1968.^[5] On 15 September 1996 in Bucharest, Paul Hohenzollern married Lia Georgia Triff (born 1949), the ex-wife of Melvin Belli, who claims the title of "Princess" with the style Royal Highness. He has worked as an art dealer and property developer^[1] and in 1991 founded The Prince Paul Foundation For Romania.^[6]

In 2000, Paul Hohenzollern recognized the republic and made an unsuccessful bid for the Romanian presidency, gaining only 55,238 votes (0.49%).^{[citation needed]}

He is believed^{[weasel words]} to have been behind the 2004 attacks on Radu Duda's princely title^[7] launched by the Hereditary Prince Karl Friedrich, son of the Prince Frederick William, Head of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen princely family. Paul Hohenzollern is said to be^{[weasel words]} on friendly terms with the former^[7] and has met the latter in the past.^[4]

In 2005, Paul Hohenzollern 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.^[8]^[9]