Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern

Paul al României
Born	August 13, 1948 (1948-08-13) (age 63) Paris
Known for	Pretender to the Romanian throne
Title	Prince of Romania
Spouse	Lia Georgia Triff
Parents	Carol Mircea Grigore Hohenzollern and Helene Henriette Nagavitzine/Navagatzine
Website
printulpaulderomania.ro

Paul al României (born 13 August 1948 in Paris), also Paul Philippe Hohenzollern or Paul Philip (von) Hohenzollern with "al României" recognised as his legal surname by a 1995 Alexandria court ruling,^[1] 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,^[2] 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.

1 Biography
2 Child
3 Ancestors
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

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.^[3] Crown Prince Carol later married Princess Helen of Greece and fathered the future King Michael.^[4]

Unlike his father Carol Mircea, who never made such claims,^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7] 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^[1] and in 1991 founded The Prince Paul Foundation For Romania.^[8]

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^[9] 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^[9] and has met the latter in the past.^[6]

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.^[10]^[11]

In May 2011, Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern opposes King Michael's decision to break ties with the House of Hohenzollern.^[12]

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.^[13] 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.^[14] Carol Ferdinand was baptised on 23 May 2010 with the President of Romania Traian Băsescu 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.^[15]