King Charles inspects Romanian guard of honour and meets the country’s president as he begins first overseas visit since his coronation
- Charles is beginning trip with bilateral meeting with Romania’s president
- President Klaus Iohannis was a guest at the King’s crowning on May 6
The King has begun his first overseas visit since his coronation, travelling to Romania for a private solo stay in the country’s Transylvanian region.
Charles is taking a break from official engagements in the UK but will begin his trip with a formal bilateral meeting with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis in the capital Bucharest.
President Iohannis was a guest at the King’s crowning on May 6 and the two men sat down for talks during the Cop26 UN climate summit hosted by Glasgow in 2021.
It is not known how long Charles will spend in Romania, but he is expected to visit the country’s Transylvanian region where he owns at least ten properties.
The King has begun his first overseas visit since his coronation, travelling to Romania for a private solo stay in the country’s Transylvanian region
Charles is taking a break from official engagements in the UK but will begin his trip with a formal bilateral meeting with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis (pictured) in the capital Bucharest
The King has developed a close relationship with Romania, a country he first visited in 1988, and last year he travelled to Bucharest to tour a donation centre for Ukrainian refugees and chatted to those who had fled the Russian invasion of their homeland.
In 2015 he established the Prince of Wales’ Foundation Romania, which offers heritage preservation training courses to both local people and international apprentices.
HIs properties in the country include a holiday let – which helps fund the foundation – and a 17th century peasant’s house, which acts as the foundation’s headquarters, both in the village of Viscri.
It is not known how long Charles will spend in Romania, but he is expected to visit the country’s Transylvanian region where he has a number of properties
Britain’s King Charles and Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis attend official welcome ceremony at Cotroceni Palace, in Bucharest
The King is thought to be related to a well-known figure from Romanian history, Vlad the Impaler – said to be the inspiration behind Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
His links to the infamous leader are through his great-grandmother Queen Mary, the consort of George V, who was descended from the German Wurttembergs and thereby linked to the bloodthirsty Vlad.
Charles’s trip will begin with the visiting head of state being welcomed by a guard of honour at the Cotroceni Palace in the capital before his meeting with President Iohannis.
Romania’s president will later host a reception in the King’s honour in the palace’s Union Hall to mark the 25th anniversary since his first visit to the country.
In the past, Charles has spoken fondly of the country and his time in the Carpathian Mountains, saying the land is ‘in his blood’.
He said during his visit last June: ‘There is a sense of age-old continuity here. A virtuous circle where man and nature are in balance.’
The monarch’s maternal great-great-great grandmother, Klaudia Rhedey, was also born and brought up in the region.
King Charles hiking on his annual trip to the Transylvanian countryside last year
The monarch has spoken fondly of the country, saying it’s ‘in his blood’. Above: View over Sighisoara town, Romania
The King owns ten properties throughout the Romanian region, which he bought in the late 1990s. Pictured: His holiday home in Viscri
Klaudia, a Hungarian speaker, married into German royalty and was known as the Princess of Teck.
Her granddaughter, Queen Mary, was wife to George V and Charles’s great-grandmother.
Charles bought his estate in Valea Zalanului, Szeklerland, in the 1990s and now rents it out as a nature retreat to those wanting to explore the Zalán Valley and the surrounding mountains.
The guest house he will stay at is situated near to the village of Viscri, and is decorated with traditional antique Transylvanian furniture and textiles.
There are no televisions or radios in any of the rooms, just books, and guests are expected to dine together.
Daily activities on offer include horse riding, walks through a wildflower meadow named after Prince George, and trips to the nearby mineral pools.
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