The earthly remains of Prince Regent Nicolae, together with those his wife Ioana Dumitrescu-Doletti, have been brought from Lausanne and re-inhumed at the Royal Necropolis in Curtea de Arges on Friday, March 29, 2024.
Prince Nicolae was the second son of King Ferdinand of Romania and Queen Marie of Romania. Nicky – after his namesake and godfather, Russia’s last tsar – was an officer of the Romanian Army and Prince Regent from 1927 to 1930, when he became General Inspector of the Army and President of the Superior Council of Aeronautics. He died in 1978 in Madrid.
His relationships with his brother soured as a result of his refusal to give into the pressure of ending his morganatic marriage. Carol II exiled him and stripped him of his royal titles. Michael would restore his name to him whe on the throne in 1942. Living in Western Europe, he spent the rest of his life supporting Romanian culture beyond Romania’s borders. After Ioana’s death, he remarried Venezuelan Thereza Figueira de Mello – though he is interred next to his first wife.
The coffins were first hosted in the Bishop’s Palace part of the Curtea de Arges Monastery in order to be blessed by important religious officials present – such as Romania’s Orthodox Patriarch, Daniel. Government officials, of the Romanian Army, civil society, and of course the Romanian Royal Family were represented.
Custodian of the Crown Margareta had promised her father, Michael of Romania, that she would re-inhume Nicolae and his wife, before Michael passed away several years ago.
The couples’ tomb will be placed next to that of Carol II – King Michael’s father.
Notable, Margareta’s nephew and (now disputed) heir – also named Nicolae, or Nicholas – was also present at the ceremony with his wife, representing the first time he is seen with the Romanian Royal Family since their rift years earlier. However, Nicholas reported that he did not speak to Radu Duda, Her Majesty Margareta’s consort.
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