Legitimisation
He was first successful in his quest to prove his legitimacy in 1955 in a Portuguese court, which ruled that he was the legitimate first born son of King Carol II and allowed him to claim the surname Hohenzollern in place of Lambrino. The Portuguese ruling was subsequently confirmed by a Parisian court, which also awarded him rights of inheritance to his father's properties.
In October 1995 a Romanian court ruled that he was the legitimate son of King Carol II. His half brother former King Michael appealed this ruling, but lost the case in an upper court of appeal in 1999. In March 2002 the Supreme Court of Romania ruled that there should be a retrial and in July 2002 a lower court ruled again in Carol's favour. Michael again appealed and in January 2003 he again lost the appeal. Michael again appealed in December 2003 and is currently awaiting the result of the appeal regarding the original verdict.
Carol Mircea died in London and was buried in Romania after a funeral held at the Cozia Monastery. He never claimed the defunct throne of Romania, unlike his son Paul.
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