Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern - Biography

Biography

In 1918, Crown Prince Carol of Romania (later King Carol II) married Zizi Lambrino. The wedding was annulled the following year because it contravened the royal house's statute—Lambrino was both a Romanian and a commoner, and the marriage took place without the consent of the king. The couple had one son, Carol Lambrino, the father of Paul Hohenzollern. In 1921, Carol married Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark, and they had a son who became King Michael of Romania.

Born in Paris, Paul Hohenzollern attended a Jesuit school. He was thirteen years old when his father married an American woman and the family moved to London to be nearer to European royalty. He started school at Gordonstoun while Charles, Prince of Wales was attending, then moving on to Millfield. He has worked as an art dealer and property developer. In 1996, at Caşin Church, he married Lia Triff, a native of Dearborn, Michigan, who had previously divorced lawyer Melvin Belli. The couple have one child, Carol Ferdinand; the infant was baptized in 2010, with President Traian Băsescu taking on the role of godfather.

Hohenzollern claims to be the rightful head of Romania's royal house on the grounds that Prince Carol's marriage to Zizi Lambrino, carried out in a religious ceremony in Odessa, was never annulled in an Orthodox Church, thus rendering his subsequent marriages bigamous. Nevertheless, he states that he accepts Romania's republican form of government and does not wish to see the monarchy restored. He also points to a 1955 decision by a court in Lisbon recognizing Carol Lambrino as King Carol's first son and granting him full succession rights, a decision upheld in 1957 and 1963 in France and the following year in the United Kingdom. The latter ruling entitled Carol Lambrino to a British passport under the style "Prince of Hohenzollern, Prince of Romania".

He filed suit in Romania in 1991 against King Michael. The case reached its conclusion in February 2012, when the High Court of Cassation and Justice extended to Romania the Lisbon court's decision recognizing Carol Lambrino as the son of King Carol II. The ruling has unclear implications with regard to both throne and property succession. The leadership of the royal house remains contested, while Hohenzollern's claim to 62.5% of royal property—the share of his father plus that of King Carol's widow Elena Lupescu, which she granted to him—remains undefined and may refer either to the king's personal property or to that of the royal house, the boundary between which is not clearly drawn. Hohenzollern greeted the decision "with enthusiasm and responsibility", promising "many trials" to sort out inheritance issues and vowing to donate his share of Peleș Castle to the Romanian government, should he obtain it. King Michael's office issued a statement saying the decision creates no dynastic rights, that only he can determine the membership of the royal house, and that no Romanian king has ever recognized or granted a title to Carol Lambrino or to his descendants.

In the 2000 Romanian presidential election, Hohenzollern was an unsuccessful independent candidate. In 2005, Hohenzollern claimed that King Michael created and ran a Nazi state between 1940 and 1944, encouraging and approving the deportation and murder of Romanian Jews; as a result, he called for Michael's execution. Writing in The Jerusalem Post, historian Jean Ancel dismissed Hohenzollern's claims and praised the wartime actions of the king and his mother, Queen Helen. In 2011, when Michael broke off ties with the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to form the House of Romania, Paul objected, labeling the move "an inexplicable gesture" severing "historical and dynastic ties" to the German house.

In December 2011, Hohenzollern was named "Ambassador of Romanian-Chinese Friendship" in Beijing.

After the 2012 final verdict of the Romanian Supreme Court of Justice recognizing Paul as one of King Carol II's heirs, his uncle, King Michael, reportedly invited Paul to reconciliation talks.