London: Central European newspapers have speculated that Prince Charles could lay claim to the throne in Romania because of his ancestral links with Vlad the Impaler and King Michael.
Vlad the Impaler was a bloodthirsty nobleman of Romania who inspired Dracula while King Michael, 90, was the last king of the country who reigned from 1927 to 1930, and again from 1940 to 1947.
He was forced to abdicate after the communist government came to power in Romania.
Despite turning to democracy, in recent times there have been calls for a return to monarchy in Romania.
Prince Charles, the longest serving heir apparent in the history of Britain, revealed in an interview a few weeks ago that he is related to historical Vlad the Impaler.
“The genealogy shows I am descended from Vlad the Impaler, so I do have a bit of a stake in the country,” the Daily Mail quoted him as saying in an interview.
His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, is also third cousin to the deposed King Michael whose great-great-grandmother was Queen Victoria.
Romania’s powerful tourism and development minister, Elena Udrea, flew to London last week to meet with Charles at Clarence House.
After the meeting, Udrea spoke of the Prince in glowing terms and said Romanians should be more like him and ‘appreciate the country they live in’.
In 2004, Queen Elizabeth had met Romanian President Ion Iliescu at the Buckingham Palace.
ANI
