Royal Profile: Princess Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania

Princess Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania was born on 26 March 1949 as the first child of King Mihai and Queen Anne of Romania, born in exile, after King Michael was forced to abdicate in 1947{Source}. She is the eldest of four daughters, and has several current, and former brothers-in-law, as well as several nieces, nephews, and their families {Source}{Source}:

1. Princess Elena (1950)
1. Dr. L. Robin Medforth-Mills (m. 1983-1991, div, 1942-2002)
1. Mr. Nicholas Metford-Mills de Roumaine (1985)
1. Nicoleta Cîrjan (one night stand)
1. Miss Iris Anna Cîrjan (2016, illegitimate, aknowledged in May 2019 via DNA results)
2. Mrs. Alina-Maria Binder-Metford-Mills de Roumanie (1986,m. 2017)
2. Miss Elisabeta-Karina Metford-Mills (1989)
2. His Excellency Domnul Alexander McAteer Nixon (1964, m. 1998)
2. Mrs. Irinia Walker (1953)
1. John Kreuger (m. 1983-2003, div)
1. Mr. Michael Torsten Kreuger de Roumaine (1984)
1. Mrs. Tara Littlfield Kreuger de Roumaine (m 2011)
1. Master Kohen Kreuger de Roumaine (2012)
2. Mrs. Angelica-Margaretta Kreuger de Roumaine Knight (1986)
1. Richard Robert Knight (m 2009)
1. Miss Courtney Kreuger de Roumaine (2007)
2. Miss Diana Kreuger de Roumaine(2011)
2. John W. Walker (m. 2003)
3. Princess Sofia (1957)
1. Alain Biarneix (m. 1998-2002, div)
1. Miss Elisabeth-Maria de Roumanie Biarneix(1998)
4. Princess Maria (1964)
1. Mr. Casimir Mystkowski (m 1995-2003, div)

Princess Margareta grew up in the United Kingdom and Switzerland{Source}. She would also frequent Italy to visit her maternal grandmother, and visit Denmark to see her maternal grandparents {Source}. Much of her memories of Romania are based on stories and photographs she has seen over the years from her father and grandmother{Source}.  She grew up learning the Romanian language from her father, starting with the Lord's Prayer {Source}.

The young princess attended schools in Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom{Source}.  She attended a French Lycée in Switzerland{Source}.  Her favorite subject was Philosophy {Source}.
After earning her French Bac, she spent a year residing in Italy with her grandmother{Source}. At the encouragement of her grandmother, she decided to attend university and pursue a career in the United Nations{Source}.  She moved to Scotland to attend Edinburgh University, where she would earn a Masters Degree in Sociology, Political Science and International Public Law in 1974 {Source}.

From 1974-1983, she resided in the United Kingdom, where she worked as a research in a number of British universities, specializing in medical sociology and public health{Source}. She worked with agencies within the United Nations Organisation, in particular the O.M.S. and the United Nations Population Fund (U.N.F.P.A.){Source}.  In 1983, she moved to Italy, where she had obtained a post with the UN in the Food and Agriculture Organisation (F.A.O.){Source}.  She then became a member of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (I.F.A.D.){Source}.  In August 1989, when it became clear that there were at last going to be changes in Eastern Europe, Princess Margareta left the United Nations Organisation to devote herself to the cause of Romania, working alongside her father{Source} .

The date 18 January 1990 will forever remain in the Princess’s memory, as well as the emotion she felt that day, stepping onto Romania soil for the first time, onto that up until then ''forbidden planet'' which was, in fact, her homeland. Nor will she ever forget the sadness she felt when she visited, together with her sister Sophie, orphanages and old people’s home, in which children and the aged lived in squalid conditions{Source}. Her response to these grim realities was the Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation, a charitable organisation which she founded in 1990 together with her father, H.M. King Michael{Source}. Through the Foundation, the Princess set out with courage and idealism to contribute to a change for the better in the lives of the most vulnerable Romanians – old people, abandoned children, families in difficulty – and to provide extra opportunities for talented young people. Today, the Foundation can boast twenty four years of experience, good deeds and successful projects, thousands of people who have been helped, and immense capital of credibility{Source}. Throughout the 1990s, Princess Margareta’s main concern was fund-raising for her Foundation abroad and involvement in a series of public events and engagements in which she often represented her father{Source}. 

In 1997 and 2002, Princess Margareta was at the King’s side during his tours of numerous European countries, as well as the United States of America and Canada, to support Romania’s integration into N.A.T.O.{Source}. In 1994, at one of the orphanages she was visiting, Princess Margareta met Radu, now Prince Radu of Romania, who was at that time co-ordinating an art therapy project run by Ion Caramitru and supported by the Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation{Source}.
The two married in 1966, spending the first years of their marriage between Romania, Switzerland, and a number of other European countries, to which they traveled to support Foundation projects, the cause of Romania at the level of international diplomatic relations, and on the occasion of the Prince’s artistic tours{Source}. Since 2001, Princess Margareta of Romania and Prince Radu of Romania have lived at the Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest, and undertake public engagements in the capital, around Romania, and abroad, contributing to the successful modernization of Romania, reconciliation with the past, and linking the country to the European and trans-Atlantic family of nations{Source}. In 2008, the Princess experienced, alongside her parents and Prince Radu, two emotional moments: the return of His Majesty King Michael to Castle Peles, after an absence of sixty years, and the Diamond Wedding of King Michael and Queen Anne{Source}.
She serves on many boards and committees, including{Source}:

1. The Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation (President)
2. Savarsin Association for Sustainable Development (President)
3. Royal Hospitality Management Foundation (President)
4. The Romanian Athletics Foundation(Honorary President)
5. The Enesco Society of London (Royal Patron)
6. The MaiMultVerde Ecological Association (Royal Patron)
7. Queen Marie Fairytale Competition (Patron)
8. The EUROPAfest International Festival (Patron)
9. The Architectural Heritage Specialist Restoration Centre (Spiritual Patron)

In her spare time, she enjoys movies, reading and photography{Source}.  She is an avid animal lover. Princess Margareta likes films, reading, Interior Design, Italian cuisine and photography{Source}.
She is an animal lover, enjoys swimming and other summer sports{Source}. In her youth, she practiced horsemanship and played tennis and hockey{Source}. She also is a music lover {Source}.

On 2 March 2016, she became, unofficially, the head of the Royal House of Romania after her father stepped down from public life due to illness {Source}. In December 2017, with the death of her father, she became the head of the Royal House. 

She shares a birthday with Archduchess Gabriella of Austria, who is approximately 42 years her junior. She also shares a birthday with Countess Luana van Oranje-Nassau, Jonkvrouw van Amsberg (2005) who was born on her 57th birthday. Born on her 59th birthday were Hereditary Prince Moritz of Hesse and Princess Paulina of Hesse.

She is currently distantly in succession for the British throne in 110+ place.