Once upon a time, there was a fractured body of people living in southeastern Europe who served as little more than cannon fodder in the proxy wars of empires and spent their lives as serfs for the enrichment of their boyar overlords.
Approximately 150 years ago, the discontent for this servile existence was building across the land. People you never heard of toiled endlessly, wrote prolifically, and endured prison to bring about political unity, modernization, and the independence of a territory called Romania.
Two of them were Alexandru Ioan Cuza and Mihail Kogalniceanu, both Moldavians who together — with the help of others — freed peasants from feudalism, established a national education system, developed a modern army, and dismantled a vast church land-control scheme.
But the monarchs of European empires were loathe to recognize legitimate Romanian independence and would not let it last for long.
To help his land-owning cronies, Ion Bratianu thought it best to betray his erstwhile allies and arrange for the importation of a Napoleon-approved member of a German dynasty and have him installed as king under the very nose of their former Austrian masters.
And so it came to pass, boys and girls, that Romania was once again ruled by a foreign monarch. A German prince by the name of Karl von Hohenzollern Sigmaringen took control of the Romanian people, instituted a new paradigm protecting boyars, and over saw the adoption of the first Romanian Constitution which institutionalized anti-Semetic intellectualism to the extent of burning synagogues, beating Jews in the streets, deporting Judaic citizens, and fostering the persecution-to-death of Jewish Romanians.
Karl also organized Romania to join in the Russo-Ottoman war in an effort to legitimize Romania’s independence. It is this action for which “King Carol” is most popularly remembered.
With the outbreak of World War I, Karl wanted to side with his German kin and their Austro-Hungarian allies, but popular Romanian sentiment forced him into the uncomfortable position of casting his lot with the Triple Entente of France, Russia, and Britain. In fact, it is speculated that his desire to align Romania with Germany against public sentiment contributed to his sudden death.
The royal baton was passed to his nephew Ferdinand for lack of a direct heir.
What we modern folks can deduce is the takeaway here is the monarchy was essentially a form of influential political showmanship. A contrivance. Celebrity. There was nothing inherently traditional in having a native Romanian king. Expedient politics at best.
Ferdinand is heralded for his military acquisition of Transylvania. After him, things got increasingly cloudy, ugly, and meaningless. His rotten kid Charles (Carol II) was busy sleeping with half the women he met and abdicated his claim to “the throne.”
So, rulership was left to the grandson Michael (Mihai) who did not really rule, of course, due to his being only 5 years old. At some point, Carol II awoke from his drunken sex-crazed stupor and came rushing back to Romania to assert his right to be king and, in the politics of the day, some fools let him take charge.
He wasted a ton of money horsing around with his privileges and, when challenged, banished the parliament to form a dictatorship as was happening in other parts of Europe. He was eventually ousted by pro-Nazi military strongman Ion Antonescu but not before he escaped with some trainload of Romanian treasure.
Antonescu nominally declared young Mihai to be “the king” as he went about putting fascism to work in Romania. And we all know what happened there. World War II.
Afterward, when it was clear the Third Reich would not be owner of the globe, Mihai managed to find a little bit of guts to join the communists in tossing Antonescu out on his ear. Too little, too late. Mihai found himself unable to muster any semblance of control over Romania in this modern world. And he was exiled by the Soviets who gave him a pile of cash for his troubles.
Well, now, the communist time is mostly over. There are some remnants of regime still living in PSD (Socialist Democratic Party) such as Adrian Nastase who awarded Mihai the “Man of the Year 2003″ amidst speculation of financial tomfoolery.
Mihai had a daughter, Margarita, who did some work in UN circles of health public policy. After the revolution, it seems the entire “royal family” suddenly all quit their respective jobs and started agitating for a piece of Romanian celebrity by posing as philanthropists obstensibly concerned with the plight of orphans.
Then again, in 1990 she was stopped by Romanian police as she tried to smuggle valuable paintings out of the country. It would not take a large stretch of imagination to imagine she was hoping to sell those works of art in order to pocket a fair chunk of change.
Seeing opportunity to re-cast herself as a dignified member of royalty, Margarita (Margareta) stopped sleeping with British politician Gordon Brown for whom she was simply one of many consorts. Instead, she saw a public relations opportunity to marry an actual Romanian man. And she did.
She tied the knot with Radu Duda, who graduated from Iaşi University as a major in theater and cinematography and spent a lifetime distinguishing himself as an actor on stage and on film as a colleague of Oana Pellea. Interestingly, documents in 1989 implicate grand Prince Radu as a co-operating informer for the Securitate during his many unusual trips abroad during communist times.
However, since the moment he stumbled into fortune, it seems Radu has disowned anything to do with acting. Indeed, his own egotistical website geared for mythological self-promotion clearly states that Radu no longer enjoys any cinema at all, despite his wife’s enjoyment of what he despises.
Interesting, a man who spends his entire life in acting takes an about-face and announces his distaste for cinema.
For you see, dear reader, after marrying into “royalty,” Radu suddenly joined the Romanian National Defense College. Oh yeah, just like that. At the tender age of 42, he graduated. A quick stint at the George C. Marshall College and some program for Senior Executives in National and International Security.
Now what? We’re supposed to believe this art student is a serious military strategist?
Someone does. With connections inside the various factions vying for control of Romania, Radu managed to get himself seemingly-instantly appointed to the rank of Colonel in the Romanian army. I gotta admit that’s some serious string pulling which must be well greased with cold hard cash and political favoritism.
Yessir, a stage actor turned into a military leader with a handful of years. I trust you’re astute enough to see through the smoke and mirrors on this nonsense.
But what happened to our dear friend? Oh, well, he’s been out touring as a “special representative” of the Romanian government in order to secure various military contracts including, for one example, a very seedy interaction with BAE Systems who appears to have paid “Prince” Radu some portion of US$14 million in exchange for a contract where Romania buys naval ships.
So, here we are. The “Royal House” of Romania is not from Romania. They’ve sold out Romanians and seized properties such as Bran Castle and other places. They’ve repeatedly promoted the persecution of Jews. They wasted Romanian money for a century while the people starved.
The “Royal House” failed to demonstrate any constructive leadership in Romania and, indeed, fought democratic reforms. In modern times, they play the role of celebrities for the very small segment of society which even marginally acknowledges their existence.
And yet, today, they still play a role in politics. They are involved in the military, political bribes, national defense, and other non-trivial pursuits all while pretending to care about orphans in Romania as some sort of cover during the blatantly ruthless profiteering from their nefarious deeds.
But what gets my goat is this.
The Romanian parliament has been all too quick in handing off prized property such as Bran Castle and Peleş Castle to these so-called royal heirs when there is nothing to be gained. Yes, the Communists seized the properties in the name of the people. No, the “Royal House” has no real, legitimate claim to the value.
In fact, when it’s all said and done, all these pretenders want to do is wrestle temporary control of those physical assets, which were made or bought under the sweat and tears of average Romanians, so they can sell them back to the government for millions of dollars.
It seems to me that, historically, practically, and reasonably, these people have very little basis to inherit large sums of Romanian tax dollars.
So, why would members of parliament give away these national treasures, so that a family of foreigners who did practically nothing to deserve it get to re-sell it back? Why, essentially, give away a boatload of cash to these celebrities?
It’s a giveaway of your money. A further, unnecessary burden on the poor.
Apparently, you’re still chattle. Your sufferings mean nothing. And some of your people continue to starve in order to enrich the stolnici.
As sure as Alexandru and Mihail are rolling over in their graves, no one questions a thing.
