Radu Duda, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen

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Radu Hohenzollern Veringen Duda
Born	Radu Duda June 7, 1960 (1960-06-07) (age 48) Iaşi, Romania
Title	Prince of Romania, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen
Spouse	Princess Margarita (1996-)

Styles of Prince Radu of Romania
Reference style	His Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness
Alternative style	Sir

Radu Duda, Prince of Romania^[1], Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen was born on 7 June 1960 in Iaşi, Romania, as Radu Duda. In 1996 he married Princess Margarita of Romania. On January 1, 1999 he was named Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen by Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern, the Head of the Sigmaringen branch of the Hohenzollern family, his legal name becoming Radu Hohenzollern Veringen Duda^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]}. Prince Radu does not have a coat of arms, as one was not specified by the princely decree which granted his name change, neither was he granted a "Highness" predicate by the same decree.^[8] However, other royal families^[9][10][11] have recognized his use of the "Serene Highness" predicate. Through the new Statute of the Romanian Royal Family^[1] signed by King Michael I of Romania on December 30, 2007, Radu received the title of "Prince of Romania" with the style of "Royal Highness" and is also to bear the title "His Royal Highness The Prince Consort of Romania" upon Michael's death^[12].

He is a member of the Romanian Royal Family. Either in the company of his wife Princess Margarita or most often alone^[13], the Prince represents the Royal Family on various occasions.

Contents 1 Education and work 2 Initiatives 2.1 Europe of Regions 2.2 The Friendship Tour 3 Personality 4 Controversies 4.1 Corruption accusations 4.2 Securitate informer 4.3 The title scandal 4.4 The military rank 4.5 Wikipedia 5 Political support 6 See also 7 References

[edit] Education and work

Romanian Royal Family House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

HM The King HM The Queen HRH The Crown Princess* HRH Prince Radu* HRH Princess Elena HRH Princess Irina HRH Princess Sophie HRH Princess Maria *titled accordingly in new family rules

He graduated from the University of Drama and Film in Bucharest, 1984 and had over 20 years of artistic activity in Romania as well as in Europe, America, Asia and Africa. He was the Artistic Director of the first project in Romania of art therapy for abandoned children in orphanages. The project, started in 1993, was developed in eight cities over six years.

Prince Radu played a major role in the planning and organisation of the official tours undertaken by King Michael I of Romania in 1997 and 2002 for the integration of Romania in NATO, as well as creating the concept of the King's "Millennium Tour" in Romania in 2000. In the NATO tours the King visited the United Kingdom, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Luxembourg and The Netherlands, meeting with heads of state and government. He accompanied the King on most of these visits.

In 2002 he graduated from the National College of Defence of Romania, and the George C. Marshall College, Garmisch, Germany. In 2003 he graduated from the John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security.

In September 2002 he was appointed Special Representative of the Romanian Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development. He is also Advisor to HM King Michael I, Patron of the British-Romanian Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Board of Directors of "House of NATO" Association in Bucharest, and Honorary Member of the Senate of "Aurel Vlaicu" University of Arad and of the University of Oradea, Romania.

Since 2005 he is a Romanian Army Colonel and holds a doctorate in Military Science from the National Defence University of Bucharest.

Prince Radu is the author of several books:Dincolo de mască (Bucharest: Unitext, 1997), L'Âme du masque (Brussels, 1998), Război, un exil, o viaţă (Bucharest, 2000; translated into English as Anne of Romania: A War, an Exile, a Life, Bucharest: Romanian Cultural Foundation, 2002), Michael of Romania: A Tribute (San Francisco and Bucharest, 2001), Kildine (Bucharest, 2003; a translation into Romanian of the fairy-tales book of Queen Marie of Romania), Seven (Bucharest: Nemira, 2003), The Royal Family of Romania (Bucharest: Humanitas, 2004), Persona (Bucharest: Nemira, 2006), The Elisabeta Palace (Bucharest: Humanitas, 2006)

Prince Radu lectures and makes speeches in Romania, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Japan, India, Lithuania, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Ireland, Canada, Poland, the United States, Italy, Jordan, Thailand, Slovenia, Croatia, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt and the United Kingdom. Prince Radu appears regularly on TV and publishes articles in the written press in Romania.

Prince Radu's lectures address topics related to Romania's integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures, defense, and security, geopolitics and diplomacy, culture, economics, and education. He has equally spoken out about the issue of ethnic minorities, in particular about the Roma (Gypsy or Tzigane) minority, an important issue for Romania and South Eastern Europe today^{[14][15][16][17]}, through conferences in Romania and around Europe, in countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Finland, etc. His activity report "2005 Annual Report and 2002-2004 Retrospective"^[18] is available in English and Romanian on his official website.

[edit] Initiatives

[edit] Europe of Regions

It is a project Prince Radu initiated to promote Romania's major interests and to strengthen Romania’s bilateral relations. Its aims are to encourage and promote economic, cultural, and educational partnerships between Romanian regions and different European regions, as well as to to raise awareness about Romania through meetings, conferences, and lectures. It will involve Prince Radu visiting up to four different regions a year, meeting local businessmen, political and local administration leaders, university teachers and students, Romanian communities and the press. Regions covered so far are the Italian regions of Tuscany and Sicily (provinces of Palermo, Caltanisetta, Enna, and Catania), the French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Aquitaine (Pays Beaumontois). The Europe of Regions initiative will continue with visits to the Lands of Germany, to Spain, and further regions of France and Italy^{[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]}.

[edit] The Friendship Tour

The Friendship Tour is a similar initiative created to promote Romania's major interests, mainly in the United States of America, aiming to encourage, promote, and support Romanian partnerships in the economic, educational, and cultural domains. Visits are planned to 3-4 states each year to meet local businessmen and women, politicians, and local administration, university teachers and students, as well as the Romanian diaspora. The aim is also to raise awareness about Romania’s potential and to strengthen bilateral relations. The Friendship Tour kicked off with a ten-day visit to the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Massachusetts, during which Prince Radu met with governors, mayors, state congressmen, professors, students, businessmen, journalists, and American citizens of Romanian origin. The Friendship Tour II and The Friendship Tour III plan to reach five other USA states^[27][28][29].

[edit] Personality

In an interview for "Observator Plus,"^[30] Prince Radu talks frankly about himself. He says that during Communism he had lived in an amoral world which lacked models and in which it was difficult to have principles. He discovered the latter only when he met King Michael, when he realized that "life can be marked, here and there, by principles." Before that fateful meeting, Radu had had only ideals and "exercises of admiration" towards European or international personalities. In another interview^[31], Radu enumerates some of the personalities from Eastern Europe he admires, such as Pope John Paul II, Lech Wałęsa, Václav Havel, and [sic] Nelson Mandela. During Communism, his family represented a source of inspiration for him, because in those corrupt times they remained honest people. Also, Radu believes that he could not have done things better than he has done in his life so far. He also says that he has very few friends. He is an admirer of the homosexual-themed movie Brokeback Mountain, "one of the most moving and emotional, full of inspiration and of truth movies of the last years," as well as of its "exceptional" star, Heath Ledger, whose premature death he decries.^[32][33] His favorite singers are Pavarotti, José Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Elton John.^[34]

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Corruption accusations

BAE Systems^[35], one of the donors to Princess Margarita's charity, and its representatives, have been involved in a corruption scandal regarding the purchase by the Romanian Government of two decommissioned UK Royal Navy frigates refurbished by BAE, for which an alleged £ 7 million bribe was paid^[36]. Some of this money, it is also alleged, "ended up in the pockets of the royal family of Hohenzollern"^[37]. The "Gardianul" newspaper^[38][39], noting that both Margarita and Radu, as Special Representative of the Government, had met a number of times formally or informally with the BAE Systems representatives before and after the signing of the governmental contract, inquired whether the royal family was involved in any lobbying on behalf of the company. In an official communique sent to the newspaper^[39], Radu denied any such lobbying activities, stating that as patron of the British-Romanian Chamber of Commerce in which BAE Systems is a member, he met with this as well as other British companies' representatives.

[edit] Securitate informer

Prince Radu has been, as are many other prominent public figures, the target of press attacks^[40][41] of having been an informer of Romania's dreaded^[42][43][44] Communist secret police Securitate during Ceauşescu's dictatorship.

"Căminul românesc" magazine from Geneva^[45][46] published an article by Nicolette (Nicoleta) Franck, a journalist close to King Michael, about whom she wrote many books^[47]. The article alleged that Radu Duda was a Securitate agent infiltrated in the Royal House so as to compromise it, on orders from Ion Iliescu, the former high ranking Communist president of Romania and allegedly friend of Radu's father, also a former high ranking Communist. No proof of these allegations was offered.

In an article published by Adevarul daily, Prince Radu denied allegations of his supposed involvement with the Securitate: "I have not collaborated with the Securitate…in 1986 there was an attempt to recruit me. I refused politely and I was never contacted again."^[48] The article revealed that in 1989 Radu’s name was found on a list of 1,000+ people entitled "support persons" of the Securitate. In another interview for the same daily^[49], Radu explained that in 1986 he had been asked by the Securitate to collaborate due to his successful career as an actor: "Everybody who was somebody knew that there was this risk" to be called upon by Securitate to become an informer. At that time Radu had been working on a Iaşi stage as a theater graduate for two years and was about to go on his second and last theater tour abroad to Israel^[50], accompanying two renowned Romanian actors. The former head of the local Iaşi branch of Securitate explained in an interview^[51] that a "support person" such as Duda and the other people on the 1,000+ list were not informers, did not sign any agreement with the Securitate, nor did they receive money, but were Communist Party members, in particular people who traveled abroad, targeted by the Securitate with the Party's approval to carry out well-defined missions for a limited period of time. He also confirmed in a subsequent interview^[52] that the list in question is real.

It has also been reported^[53] that "many of the royal family's supporters have stopped offering financial aids after Radu Duda joined the Royal House. Wealthy Romanians in exile, who have been surveyed by the communist era political police Securitate even in subway stations, considered the compromise as intolerable."

[edit] The title scandal

In August 2004, representatives of HSH Karl Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, accused Radu^[54] of using the Hohenzollern name without permission as well as of having demanded "considerable" sums of money from whomever may be interested in buying it. The Hereditary Prince also warned Radu that the Hohenzollern family would take "legal measures" in case these things were to happen again and demanded him not to use the title of "Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen" any longer. The Hereditary Prince is the son of HSH Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who^[54] had granted Radu an ad personam "name" of "Prinz von Hohenzollern-Veringen" on January 1, 1999. The scandal is believed to have been instigated by a descendant of King Carol II and friend of the Hereditary Prince, Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern^[55], whose father Carol won two lawsuits in Portugal and France which recognised him as the legitimate son of Carol II, without any dynastic or title rights. Radu has sued the London based "Royalty Monthly" magazine for libel^[56][57] for publishing these allegations in an article. Prince Radu has not ceased to use the name and title "Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen" and there is no evidence that further legal measures have been taken by the Hohenzollern family.

[edit] The military rank

Some^[58][59] have contested the legality of Radu's meteoric rise in the Romanian Army from a reserve non-comissioned officer to the rank of active colonel in much less time than that prescribed for ordinary advancements. The former Chief of Army Staff has argued that his activation was done at Radu's own request, while his promotion was granted for "extraordinary" merits, such as Radu's lobby for Romania's admission into NATO. Radu's official response argues, however, that his own activation was not as result of any unilateral request, but of a joint request of both the Royal House and the Defence Ministry.

[edit] Wikipedia

On his personal blog^[60], in response to anonymous complaints about edits made to this article as well as to the "Michael I of Romania" article, Radu expressed his dissatisfaction with the "abject" elements who, as he has seen, have "infested" Wikipedia. In the same message, Radu states he never reads Wikipedia.

[edit] Political support

Prince Radu has maintained his official position as Special Representative of the Romanian Government under two successive administrations, that of the socialist PSD coalition Government as well as that of the centrist-right "Dreptate si Adevar" ("Justice and Truth") Alliance coalition Government. Meanwhile the main pro-monarchist party PNTCD, currently extra-parliamentarian, has been rejecting any role for him or Princess Margarita in a restored monarchy^[61][62]. In 2003, however, the Cluj branch of PNTCD officially invited Princess Margarita to be its candidate to the Senate in the upcoming elections ^[63][64]. The current president of Romania Traian Basescu does not appreciate Radu and thinks he is detrimental to the Romanians' public perception of the idea of monarchy.^[65][66] Radu is seen as nurturing ambitions to run for the presidency in the upcoming 2009 elections.^[67] As of February 28, 2008, Radu intends to resign from his "seven year"-old governmental position as Special Representative, which he has held since September 2002, and to not take it up again with a future government.^[68]

In a 2004 poll conducted by the PSD (SDP) party^[69], of whose coalition government he was at that time the Special Representative, Prince Radu scored just 3.4% as a potential candidate in the upcoming Romanian presidential elections. In a more recent 2006 opinion poll^[70] taken by an institute affiliated with the Royal House in running many of its public events^[71] and its hospitality management school^[72][73], 48.80% of those questioned answered that it would be good for Prince Radu to accept a state function, while 46.41% were of the opposite opinion. The same 2006 poll showed that 66% of the Romanians interviewed would like to see a more active involvement of the Royal House in the democratisation and development of Romania. In a 2008 poll, Radu was preferred as president of Romania by 2.6% of the Romanian electorate.^[74]

[edit] See also

• Line of succession to the Romanian throne
• Personal webpage
• An article about Radu Duda signed by a former US Ambassador, Voice of America director, and member of the U.S. delegation to the annual US-USSR Information Talks in Moscow and Washington, D.C., well-informed about ex-communist countries, Richard Carlson.
• An article about Radu Duda's title and political activity.
• Radu Duda at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] References

The references in this article would be clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.