King Charles III of Great Britain is one of the most important friends of Romania and especially of Transylvania. His Majesty has so far made seven visits to Romania. He owns properties in villages such as Viscri, in Brașov county and Valea Zălanului in Covasna county.
The British King is related to the Royal Family of Romania through Queen Maria of Romania, born Princess of the United Kingdom. His direct ancestors also include Countess Claudine Rhedey von Kis-Rhedey of the Hungarian aristocracy of Transylvania and Romanian princes of Wallachia.
The Countess descended from one of the most important aristocratic families in the region. On her mother’s side, the Transylvanian countess was descended from the Wallachian prince Vlad the Monk. He was the son of prince Vlad the Dragon, who was knighted in the Order of the Dragon by the Romano-German Emperor Sigismund von Luxemburg.
Prince Vlad the Monk was the brother of the Wallachian prince Vlad Dracula, who inspired one of the most famous novels in world literature.
On her father’s side, Countess Claudine Rhedey was related to Samuel Aba, the third King of Hungary. Her ancestors included Ferenc Rhedey, who reigned as Prince of Transylvania from 1657 to 1658.
Countess Claudine Rhedey von Kis-Rhedey was born on her father’s estate, Sângeorgiu de Pădure, in 1812. She married Duke Alexander von Wurttemberg in 1835. He was a member of the Royal Family of Württemberg and a nephew of King Frederick I von Württemberg.
According to German dynastic laws, Countess Claudine Rhedey was seen as inferior to her husband. Their marriage was therefore considered morganatic. She did not receive the title of duchess, but the Austrian Emperor Francis I also granted her the German title of Countess von Hohenstein.
Countess Claudine Rhedey died in 1841 after she fell from a horse. Her children and the children of Duke Alexander von Württemberg were initially given the title of Counts von Hohenstein, but were later elevated to the ranks of princes and dukes. One of them, Duke Francis von Teck, was the father of Princess Mary von Teck, who became Queen of Great Britain as the wife of King George V of the United Kingdom, direct ancestor of King Charles III.
His Majesty is also linked to Romania through Queen Maria of Romania. She was born Princess of Edinburgh von Saxa-Coburg-Gotha. Maria was the daughter of Duke Alfred of Edinburgh, the second son of Queen Victoria of Great Britain.
Princess Maria married Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania and became Queen of Romania in 1914. She is considered to be the greatest queen in Romanian history, so far.
King Charles III of Great Britain has a long association with Romania. During the communist period, he went out of the usual reserve for a member of the British Royal Family and answered the call of the leader of the Romanian democratic exile, the Romanian nobleman Ion Rațiu, to speak out against the demolition of villages in Romania by the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Charles, then Prince of Wales, criticised the destruction of the old villages.
After the fall of communism, interested in his origins, he started coming to Romania. He first visited Romania in 1997, as His Majesty himself said in a speech in Cluj in 2017. In 1998, he visited Bucharest and Sibiu. In 2002, he visited Banffy Castle in Bonțida, Cluj County. He has also visited the counties of Brașov, Maramureș, Alba and Covasna.
Together with Count Tibor Kalnoky, with whom he has an old friendship, he discovered the beauty of Transylvania. Impressed by the traditional architecture of Transylvania, His Majesty bought old houses in the villages of Viscri and Valea Zălanului, which were restored.
In 2017, he became Doctor Honoris Causa of Babeș-Bolyai University, the oldest university in Romania, founded in 1581 by King Ștefan Bathory of Poland, who was also Prince of Transylvania. On that occasion, His Majesty visited two small towns in Transylvania: Teiuș, where he was received in a Greek-Catholic church by Bishop Claudiu Lucian Pop, and Casa Rațiu in Turda, where he met local food producers, including Felicia Tulai, who is Official Supplier of the Royal House of Romania for cold-pressed vegetable oils.
King Charles III of Great Britain is much loved in Romania, as he has supported and promoted many local community initiatives over the years. For example, he has given his High Patronage to Transilvania Fest, one of the most beautiful festivals in Romania, which also has the High Patronage of Her Majesty Margareta, the Romanian Crown Custodian.
