Prince Radu of Romania

Prince Radu of Romania (born Radu Duda on 7 June 1960, formerly known as Prince Radu of Hohenzollern-Veringen from 1999 to 2007) is the husband of Margareta of Romania, who is the head of the House of Romania and a disputed pretender to the former Romanian throne.

Radu graduated from the Costache Negruzzi High School in Iași in 1979, and from the University of Drama and Film in Bucharest in 1984, and had over twenty years of artistic activity in Romania as well as in other European countries, the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

He was the artistic director of the first art therapy project for abandoned children in Romanian orphanages.

The project, started in 1993, was developed in eight cities over six years.

In 1994, while working as an art therapist in orphanages, he met Princess Margareta, when she was touring the programmes of her Princess Margareta Foundation.

In 1996 (24 July, civilly; 21 September, religiously), he married Princess Margareta, eldest daughter of King Michael I of Romania and Queen Anne.

As spouse of Princess Margareta, Radu often accompanies his wife, sometimes solo, to support social projects and promote the Romanian economy.

He is also the patron and a member of numerous Romanian charities and organisations.

Radu was born in Iași, Socialist Republic of Romania, the elder of the two children of Professor Dr. René Corneliu Duda and his wife, Dr. Gabriela Eugenia Duda née Constandache.

His only brother is Professor Gabriel Dan Duda.

On 24 July 1996, Margareta married Duda in a civil wedding at Versoix.

On 21 September 1996 they were married in Lausanne, and on 1 January 1999 he was granted the title "Radu, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen".

Prince Radu is the author of several books: Dincolo de mască (Bucharest: Unitext, 1997), L'Âme du masque (Brussels, 1998), Război, un exil, o viață (Bucharest, 2000; translated into English as Anne of Romania: A War, an Exile, a Life, Bucharest: Romanian Cultural Foundation, 2002), Michael of Romania: A Tribute (San Francisco and Bucharest, 2001), Kildine (Bucharest, 2003; a translation into Romanian of the fairy-tales book of Queen Marie of the Romanians), Seven (Bucharest: Nemira, 2003), The Royal Family of Romania (Bucharest: Humanitas, 2004), Persona (Bucharest: Nemira, 2006), The Elisabeta Palace (Bucharest: Humanitas, 2006).

Prince Radu's lectures address topics related to Romania's integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures, defense, and security, geopolitics and diplomacy, culture, economics, and education.

On 1 January 1999, he was given the name, not title, of "Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen" by Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern, the head of the Sigmaringen branch of the Hohenzollern family.

He has also called himself "Radu Hohenzollern-Veringen-Duda".

In 2002, he graduated from the National College of Defence of Romania, and the George C. Marshall College, Garmisch, Germany.

In September 2002, he was appointed as Special Representative of the Romanian Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development.

He is also Patron of the British-Romanian Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Board of Directors of "House of NATO" Association in Bucharest, and Honorary Member of the Senate of "Aurel Vlaicu" University of Arad and of the University of Oradea, Romania.

In August 2004 he participated in the two-week Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He has equally spoken out about the issue of ethnic minorities, in particular about the Romani minority, an important issue for Romania and South Eastern Europe today, through conferences in Romania and around Europe, in countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Finland, etc. His activity report "2005 Annual Report and 2002–2004 Retrospective" is available in English and Romanian on his official website.

Prince Radu currently serves on the Board of Advisors to the Global Panel Foundation, an NGO that works behind the scenes in crisis areas around the world.

Radu initiated a project to promote Romania's major interests and to strengthen Romania's bilateral relations.

Its aims are to encourage and promote economic, cultural, and educational partnerships between Romanian regions and different European regions, as well as to raise awareness about Romania through meetings, conferences, and lectures.

It will involve Prince Radu visiting up to four different regions a year, meeting local businessmen, political and local administration leaders, university teachers and students, Romanian communities and the press.

Regions covered so far are the Italian regions of Tuscany and Sicily (provinces of Palermo, Caltanisetta, Enna, and Catania), the French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Aquitaine (Pays Beaumontois).

The Europe of Regions initiative will continue with visits to the Lands of Germany, to Spain, and further regions of France and Italy.

The Friendship Tour is a similar initiative created to promote Romania's major interests, mainly in the United States of America, aiming to encourage, promote, and support Romanian partnerships in the economic, educational, and cultural domains.

Visits are planned to 3–4 states each year to meet local businessmen and women, politicians, and local administration, university teachers and students, as well as the Romanian diaspora.

The aim is also to raise awareness about Romania's potential and to strengthen bilateral relations.

The Friendship Tour kicked off with a ten-day visit to the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Massachusetts, during which Prince Radu met with governors, mayors, state congressmen, professors, students, businessmen, journalists, and American citizens of Romanian origin.

The Friendship Tour II and The Friendship Tour III plan to reach five other USA states.

In an interview for Observator Plus, Prince Radu talked frankly about himself.

He says that during communism he had lived in an amoral world that lacked role models and where it was difficult to have principles.

He discovered the latter only when he met King Michael, when he realized that "life can be marked, here and there, by principles."

BAE Systems, one of the donors to Princess Margareta's charity, and its representatives, have been involved in a corruption scandal regarding the purchase by the Romanian Government of two decommissioned UK Royal Navy frigates refurbished by BAE, for which an alleged £7 million bribe was paid.

Some of this money, it is also alleged, "ended up in the pockets of the royal family of Hohenzollern".

The Gardianul newspaper, noting that both Margarita and Radu, as Special Representative of the Government, had met a number of times formally or informally with the BAE Systems representatives before and after the signing of the governmental contract, inquired whether the royal family was involved in any lobbying on behalf of the company.

Since 2007, when he had his legal name changed from "Radu Duda" to "Radu al României Duda", Radu no longer uses the name of Hohenzollern.

The Fundamental Rules of the Romanian Royal Family, proclaimed by former King Michael I on 30 December 2007, gave Radu the title of "Prince of Romania", with the style of "Royal Highness", which King Michael had given him earlier on 5 January 2005.