Many have wondered if Charles III, who became King of the United Kingdom after the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, last September, and was crowned at the beginning of May, will ever visit Romania again, in his new position. The attachment to the country which he first visited a quarter of a century ago, as Crown Prince, and which he has visited frequently since then, is, however, unaltered, and the fact that the new British monarch chose Romania as his destination for his first trip abroad is proof thereof. I have always felt rather at home in Romania, Charles said at the reception ceremony organized by President Klaus Iohannis in his honor on Friday.
The British sovereign had an emotional speech, which began in Romanian: Doamnelor si domnilor, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I cannot describe what great pleasure it gives me to be visiting Romania once again. I believe that 25 years have gone by since my first visit to this most remarkable country. When I came here, and even before, I felt a deep connection to Romania. As I have said before, I have come to love Romania – your culture and art, your heritage and history, your sweeping landscapes and priceless biodiversity, this ‘tara de gloria, tara de dor (country of glory, country of longing), if I may paraphrase your national poet, Mihai Eminescu.
President Iohannis thanked the British sovereign for the role he plays in protecting the values related to the Romanian identity and for his openness to what the Romanian village represents and recalled the efforts Charles made to protect the ecosystem and restore the unique biodiversity of Romania. If the first day of his visit, on Friday, in Bucharest, represented the courtesy component of his presence in Romania, Charles dedicated the next four to visits to towns in two Transylvanian counties, Covasna and Braşov, villages which won him over from the very beginning and where he owns properties that he has restored, saving them from destruction. He was warmly received by the locals, as has happened every time in the last two decades and he enjoyed nature walks.
He is showing us his affection through this gesture, said a local official about the King’s visit, quoted by AFP. The French news agency reports that King Charles is proud to be a distant relative of a 15th-century ruler known as Vlad the Impaler, who inspired the character of Count Dracula, and that he has, in his own words, ‘Transylvania in blood’. An avowed environmentalist, he discovered the region in 1998, and became a protector of the villages in the heart of Romania, founded by German settlers eight centuries ago, AFP recalls. It will be a unique moment for our community to welcome the king, a sign of recognition of the work done all these years, emphasized the president of the Mihai Eminescu Trust foundation dedicated to the protection of the Transylvanian heritage which is operating under the patronage of king Charles. (LS)
