Prince Nicholas of Romania

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Prince Nicholas
Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
1903Nicholas-09.jpg
Born (1903-08-03)3 August 1903
Peleş Castle, Sinaia, Romania
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Madrid, Spain
Spouse Ioana (Joanna) Dumitrescu-Doletti
Thereza Lisboa Figueira de Mello
House House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Father King Ferdinand I of Romania
Mother Princess Marie of Edinburgh
Religion Romanian Orthodox

Prince Nicholas of Romania (Romanian: Principele Nicolae a României; 3 August 1903 – 9 June 1978), later known as Prince Nicholas of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the fourth child and second son of King Ferdinand I of Romania and his wife Queen Marie.

In 1927 after the death of his father, Nicholas was appointed as one of the three regents for his minor nephew King Michael I. His position as regent ended in 1930 with the return of his elder brother Prince Carol to Romanian to takeover as King of Romania due to the instability.

In later 1930 he was stripped of his titles and privileges and exiled from the Royal Court, due to King Carol II's disapproval of his marriage. In 1942 after the removal of King Carol II from the throne and King Michael's 2nd reign, Nicholas had also been stripped of his Romanian honours and therefore started using the title of Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen of the house which he belonged to.[need quotation to verify]

He died in exile on the 9th of June 1978 in Madrid, Spain.

Early life

Birth

Nicholas was born on the 3rd of August 1903 in Peleș Castle, Sinaia as the youngest of the four children of Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania and his wife Princess Marie of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Edinburgh.

Biography

Nicholas was the younger brother of Carol, heir apparent, who renounced his rights of succession on 12 December 1925. When Ferdinand died in 1927, he was succeeded as king by Carol's five-year-old son, Michael; Nicholas himself had been proposed as heir-apparent when Carol married the commoner Zizi Lambrino in 1918 (a marriage later annulled). Given Michael's youth, a regency council had to be formed (20 July), and Prince Nicholas was forced to abandon his career in the British Royal Navy in order to return home to serve on the council, alongside Gheorghe Buzdugan and Patriarch Miron Cristea.

Standard of the Regent of Romania (1927-1930)

Although unofficially referred to as "the first-ranking regent", Nicholas resented having to abandon his naval career and had no interest in politics. He tried to continue his father's cooperation with the National Liberals (PNL), and to contain the opposition of the National Peasants' Party (PNŢ) to the regency by appointing a national government under Ion I. C. Brătianu. Refused by Brătianu, he witnessed a change in Carol's stance in mid 1927, when the latter argued that he had been forced to give up his throne. The cooperation between Carol and the PNŢ was successfully neutralized by the PNL, but Brătianu's death in 1927 restored contacts and increased the appeal of the PNŢ. By then, the regency was widely perceived as consisting of figureheads, and, after Constantin Sărăţeanu (an appointee of PNŢ leader Iuliu Maniu) succeeded the deceased Buzdugan in 1929, it was believed to be torn apart by contrasting political ambitions. According to Nicolae Iorga, Miron Cristea himself had said:

"The Regency does not work because it has no head. The Prince smokes his cigarettes, Sărăţeanu looks through his books, and I, as a priest, can only try to reconcile."

Nicholas was at first delighted when Carol returned home to Romania in 8 June 1930 (becoming King Carol II and thus putting an end to the regency arrangement). He welcomed the Parliament session that voted to repeal the 1926 legislation, and accompanied his newly arrived brother from Băneasa Airfield to Cotroceni Palace.

However, the cordial relations between Nicholas and Carol were short-lived. Nicholas wanted to marry Ioana (Joanna) Dumitrescu-Doletti, a divorced woman, but was aware that it might be embarrassing for the king to have to authorize such a marriage. Carol himself suggested that the couple should marry without first seeking his consent (even though members of the royal family were required to obtain the king's consent before marrying). Carol had intimated that in these circumstances he would accept the marriage as a fait accompli, but after the wedding Carol promptly used it as an excuse to deprive Nicholas of his royal privileges and titles and to exile him from Romania. He left for Spain, and ultimately settled in Switzerland.

File:Nicholasroumania1903-11.jpg
Prince Nicholas in the Romanian Air Force

Nicholas was married twice. His first marriage took place in Tohani, Romania, on 7 November 1931, the bride being Ioana (Joanna) Dumitrescu-Doletti (Bucharest, 24 September 1902/1909 (other dates of birth have been named in various sources) – Lausanne, 17 February/19 February 1963). Dumitrescu-Doletti's first husband had been Radu Savianu, whom she married on 11 December 1924. Nicholas' second marriage took place on 13 July 1967 in Lausanne. His second wife was a Brazilian, Thereza Lisboa Figueira de Mello (Rome, 10 June 1913 – Madrid, 30 March 1997), the daughter of Col. Jerónimo de Ávila Figueira de Melo and his wife Cândida Ribeiro Lisboa, and the sister of Francisco Lisboa Figueira de Melo, former ambassador of Portugal to Germany (b. Vienna, 12 March 1912). Figueira de Mello's first husband was Andrés Boulton Pietri (Caracas, 1910-1998), whom she married in Caracas on 2 July 1936, a union that produced four children: Roger (1937), Maria Thereza (1939), Andres (1943) and William (1945).

The Prince also took an interest in motor racing, competing in the 1933 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 1935 24 Hours of Le Mans driving his own Duesenberg Model SJ.

Titles, styles and honours

Titles

  • 3 August 1903 - 20 July 1927: His Royal Highness Prince Nicholas of Romania, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
  • 20 July 1927 - 9 April 1930: His Royal Highness Prince Nicholas, The Prince Regent of Romania, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
  • 9 April 1930 - 10 June 1942: Mr Nicholas Brana[1]
  • 10 June 1942 - 9 June 1978: His Serene Highness Prince Nicholas of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen[2]

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours

Honorary Military Rank and other awards
Family of Prince Nicholas of Romania
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
16. Charles, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8. Charles Anthony, Prince of Hohenzollern
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
17. Marie Antoinette Murat
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
18. Karl, Grand Duke of Baden
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
9. Princess Josephine of Baden
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
19. Stéphanie de Beauharnais
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2. Ferdinand I of Romania
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
20. Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10. Ferdinand II of Portugal
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
21. Maria Antonia, Princess of Koháry de Csábrág
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5. Infanta Antónia of Portugal
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
22. Pedro I of Brazil
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11. Maria II of Portugal
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
23. Maria Leopoldina of Austria
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1. Prince Nicholas of Romania
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
12. Albert, Prince Consort
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
25. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6. Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
26. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13. Victoria of the United Kingdom
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
27. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3. Marie of Edinburgh
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
28. Nicholas I of Russia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14. Alexander II of Russia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
29. Charlotte of Prussia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7. Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
30. Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
15. Marie of Hesse
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
31. Princess Wilhelmine of Baden
 
 
 
 
 
 

References

External links