| Princess Margarita | |
|---|---|
| Spouse | Radu Duda |
| House | House of Romania |
| Father | Michael |
| Mother | Anne of Bourbon-Parma |
| Born | 26 March 1949 Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Religion | Romanian Orthodox |
| Styles of Princess Margarita of Romania |
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|---|---|
| Reference style | Her Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
Princess Margarita of Romania (born 26 March 1949, Lausanne, Switzerland), also styled as Crown Princess of Romania, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, former[1][2] Princess of Hohenzollern, is the eldest daughter of Michael (Mihai), King of Romania (now deposed), former Prince of Hohenzollern,[3][4] and of his wife, Anne of Bourbon-Parma. Princess Margarita's father, King Michael, named her the heiress-presumptive to the private royal family in 1997.
Margarita has no children. Her heiress-presumptive is her next sister, Princess Elena of Romania. According to the defunct last democratic royal Constitution, that of 1923, which established succession by salic law, Margarita and her sisters cannot succeed to the throne of Romania (see also "Line of succession to the Romanian throne").
On 30 December 2007,[5][6] King Michael designated Princess Margarita as heiress-presumptive to the throne with the titles of "Crown Princess of Romania" and "Custodian of the Romanian Crown" through an act which, during the republican form of government and in the absence of its approval by the Parliament, would be considered null and void.[7][8] On the same occasion, Michael also asked the Romanian Parliament that, should it consider restoring the Monarchy, it should also abolish the salic law of succession.
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On 21 September 1996 in Lausanne Margarita married Radu Duda, created first Radu, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen in 1 January 1999,[9] and now called HRH Radu, Prince of Romania[5] in 30 December 2007, future Prince Consort of Romania,[5] who either in her company or most often alone,[10] represents the Royal Family publicly on various occasions. In her youth at the University of Edinburgh, Margarita was involved in a romantic relationship with Gordon Brown, who was later to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2007–2010). Margarita said about it: "It was a very solid and romantic story. I never stopped loving him but one day it didn't seem right any more, it was politics, politics, politics, and I needed nurturing."[11]
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After graduation from the University of Edinburgh, she worked in a number of British universities, specialising in medical sociology and public health policy, later on participating in an international research program coordinated by the World Health Organisation, focused on developing health policy recommendations and preventive pilot projects. In 1983 she moved to Rome and joined the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UN), where, as a member the World Food Day project team, she worked on the public awareness campaign concerning agricultural programs, nutrition, and poverty alleviation. Three years later she joined the International Fund for Agricultural Development. In the autumn of 1989 she gave up her UN career and moved to Geneva to work with her father, devoting herself entirely to charity work for Romania.
In 1990 Princess Margarita founded The Princess Margarita of Romania Foundation, a non-profit organisation that has contributed to the development of civil society in Romania.
Currently active in 6 countries (Romania, United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Belgium and the US) the Princess Margarita of Romania Foundation develops programs that:
During its existence, The Princess Margarita Foundation has collected more than 5 million Euro, through which it has contributed to the development of the Romanian civil society.[12]
BAE Systems,[13] one of the donors to her 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,[14] some of which, it is also alleged,[15] ended up in the pockets of the royal family of Hohenzollern to which Margarita belongs. The "Gardianul" newspaper,[16][17] noting that both Princess Margarita and her husband, as Special Representative of the Government, had met a number of times 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,[17] Prince 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.
The main pro-monarchist party PNŢCD, currently extra-parliamentarian, is ambiguous in its support for Princess Margarita. In 2002, it rejected any role for her or her husband in a restored monarchy,[18][19] while in 2003 the Cluj branch of PNŢCD officially invited her to be its electoral candidate to the Senate of the Republic[20][21] in the upcoming elections.
King Michael has not given up the hope for himself or his family of returning on the throne: "We are trying to make people understand what Romanian monarchy was and what it can still do."[22]
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Princess Margarita of Romania
Born: 26 March 1949 |
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| Romanian royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by first in line |
Line of succession to the former Romanian throne according to the 2007 Statute 1st position |
Succeeded by Princess Elena of Romania |
| Preceded by Benjamin Ferner Beckman |
Line of succession to the British throne | Succeeded by Princess Elena of Romania |
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