RESIGNS RANK AND TITLES

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 405, 12 April 1937, Page 5

RESIGNS RANK AND TITLES

KING OF ROUMANIA’S ONLY BROTHER. TROUBLE OVER MORGANATIC MARRIAGE. CAROL’S REFUSAL TO RECOGNISE VALIDITY. (Press Association—Copyright.) Received 10.50 a.m. Bucharest, April 11. Prince Nicholas, the only brother of King Carol, has resigned his rank and titles as a protest against King Carol’s refusal to recognise the validity of his morganatic marriage in 1931 with a divorcee, Madame Saveanu, nee Dimitresch-Tohany, and legitimise the son of the union, giving him the title of Prince, and the mother the title of Princess. In accordance with the law providing that a member of the Royal Family marrying without the permission of the King becomes a commoner, the marriage will now be valid, and the couple will probably go abroad. Nicholas headed the Rgenecy Council for three years until King Carol claimed the Throne. The Courts immediately after the marriage pronounced it invalid, but Nicholas and his wife were permitted to undergo two years in exile in Paris, instead of Nicholas serving a sentence of two months in a fortress. The official communique regarding the banishment of Nicholas explains that the Supreme Court, in 1931, declared the marriage with Madame Saveanu illegal and the enforcement of the decision was postponed, as it was hoped that Nicholas would realise that the marriage was incompatible with the prestige of the reigning house. The quarrel between King Carol and Nicholas has been longstanding and personal, and has aggravated the former’s differences with Madame Lupescu.