In a highly controversial ruling, the Bulgarian Court has allowed wood-cutting in the lands belonging to the country’s former Tsar Simeon Saxe Coburg.

click to view the picture in TIME

The permission will be effective until a ban on wood-cutting, issued by the head of the State Forest Estate, comes into force.

The decision is controversial because at the beginning of October the lower court banned these activities: the ban was supposed to have immediate effect. This inexplicable twist has left senior politicians and ordinary Bulgarians both mystified and enraged. Many are talking about ‘double standards’ and question why the former Prime Minister is allowed preferential treatment.

The issue is even more divisive because Simeon Saxe Coburg’s very right of owning those lands is in question. In 2003, the Bulgarian Parliament (controlled at the time by Simeon’s party) decided to return seized assets to the Royal family; the compensations included those 450 hectares of forest lands, for which, according to some politicians and most legal experts, there was absolutely no basis. Indeed, just weeks ago several senior Bulgarian officials threatened Simeon Saxe-Coburg with court actions for the ‘disproportional compensations’.

To learn more about Royal Family of Bulgaria, visit this thread.

Marsel Bulgarian Royals Government, Scandal, Simeon II

 Although his life was never controversy-free, Bulgaria’s former Tsar and Prime Minister found himself in the midst of not one but several allegations recently.

click to view the picture in TIME

Several Bulgarian officials threatened Simeon Saxe-Coburg with court actions because he had allegedly been given more than the double of compensation he was entitled to under the country’s restitution process. In 2003, the Bulgarian Parliament, which was controlled by Simeon’s party at the time, decided to return some of the assets of the former royal family. It was later alleged that the compensations included about 450 hectares of forest lands, for which, according to some politicians, there was absolutely no legal basis.

In an interview to Israeli “Maariv” newspaper, the former Tsar denied those assertions: “Who did the land belong to in the past 50 years? Certainly not people: those in power had them. And later, those properties were left without care and were in pitiful condition. What should have I done – spend money on them and their maintenance, or leave them without proper care? When in 1998 the court ruled that as a Bulgarian citizen I had a right to restitution, no one said anything against it. When we donated 90 hectares to Sofia city hall, no one argued we were in right to do so. But from the moment I entered the politics, my opponents have been searching for such things to blacken my reputation”.

In the same newspaper, Simeon Saxe-Coburg denied another allegation – that he’s a heavy gambler. The former Tsar said that he’s visited casinos only 3 times in his entire life, out of curiosity, and all 3 visits were documented. He added: “After I became Prime Minister, I was accused of being a gambler, a Russian spy, a greedy person, whose motivation to return to his motherland was merely to gain back former Crown properties: all those accusation are complete nonsense!” Read more…

Marsel Bulgarian Royals European Union, Government, Interview, Scandal, Simeon II

Just days ago it emerged that the support ratings of Prince Radu’s presidential campaign hit double digits for the first time. That, however, was apparently not enough to keep the husband of Crown Princess Margarita of Romania in fight for Cotroceni Palace: yesterday, Prince Radu announced that his campaign is over.

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The Prince said he was very sad to make the decision but had ‘hopes for the future’. He maintained that the election campaign was not a fair race but merely a fight between different political clans: “Most Romanian politicians act as though the state and public institutions are personal goods. The current president began the process of privatization of the Romanian state. The next president will continue it”.

Radu Duda announced his intention to fun for Presidency in April and registered as an independent candidate, without links to or support of any political party. At the time, Prince Radu declared that should he be successful, he would not seek to restore the Monarchy.

Former King Michael of Romania supported both his son-in-law’s campaign and his decision to end it.

You can read more about the Royal Family of Romania in this thread.

Marsel Romanian Royals Government, Prince Radu, Princess Margarita, Public Opinion

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According to a face-to-face survey ran by Gallup Romania, the support rating of Prince Radu Duda, the husband of Crown Princess Margarita of Romania, has hit double digits for the first time since he launched his presidential campaign in April 2009. Nearly 12% of the Romanians who took part in the survey said they plan to vote for Prince Radu in the 2009 Romanian Presidential Elections. In a separate survey, almost 14.5% of Romanians picked Radu Duda as the candidate they trust most.

The Office for Social Research’s poll released today has slightly different data and predicts Prince Radu will get from 6 to 9% of the votes.

Both figures are notably higher than the 2% approval rating Prince Radu had at the beginning of his campaign. Although President Traian Basescu is still comfortably in the lead, Prince Radu and Antonescu are the only candidates whose ratings has gone up since the last survey: all other candidates suffered considerable loss of trust among the voters.

Meanwhile, in a recent interview HSH Karl Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen demanded Prince Radu should stop using the name Hohenzollern. The Hereditary Prince maintains that his father, HSH Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, had no right to grant Prince Radu an ad personam ‘name’ of “Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen” and called Radu Duda’s usage of the title a “farce”.

Neither the spokesman for the Romanian Royal Family, nor spokesman of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm commented on Hereditary Prince’s interview.

Marsel Romanian Royals Government, Interview, President Basescu, Prince Radu, Princess Margarita, Public Opinion

Russian Crown Regalia

One of the prominent Russian politicians recently disclosed that the Kremlin Administration is considering reinstatement of Monarchy (constitutional Monarchy) in Russia, akin to the British model. The Russian Government believes that the Monarch could be the person who would be able to unify the country and serve as an important symbol in troublesome times.

Now, it appears that the Opposition has much the same views.

It can now be revealed that during the recent conference of the Russian opposition (named “Russia after Putin”), leaders of the opposition were discussing the possibility of a Monarchy in Russia. The conference, which took place in July, was attended by all prominent opposition leaders, among them Garry Kasparov, Boris Nemtsov and Vladimir Milov.

However imperfect the current system is, opposition leaders fear that drastic change of the “Putin regime” may lead to the destruction of the country itself. One thing that can ’save the country from such fate’ is a Monarch who will be above politics and who will unify the people. Therefore, the opposition leaders decreed that it would be a wise move to “invite one of the Romanovs to reign over Russia, for the sake of liberal ideas”.

No, this is not a joke. And yes, the idea was seriously discussed for more than an hour and appeared to score considerable support.

Well, it certainly looks like it’s only a matter of time until one of the Romanovs is asked to come and “Reign over Russia”: after all, there are precedents of similar ‘invitations’ in the History of Russia. It remains to be seen who will be quicker – the Government or the Opposition.
There is a hope they will not forget to ask ordinary Russian people what they think about it though.

You can read more about the possibility of restoration of Monarchy in Russia in this thread.

Marsel Russian Royals Government, Restoration

Click here to see the images from RTL.lu

Grand Duke Henri yesterday swore in the new Luxembourg government at the Château de Berg.

The Grand Duke spent the morning in audience with outgoing members of the government, thanking them for their “good and loyal service.” He also awarded the members of the government who had already served a first term the Order of Civil Merit of Adolphe.

In the afternoon, at 2:30, the Grand Duke, as Head of State, swore in the new government. The ceremony is fairly simple; beginning with the Prime Minister (in this case Jean-Claude Jucker), the members swear ”…loyalty to the Grand Duke, obedience to the Constitution and laws of the State.” and “…promise to fulfill my duties with integrity, accuracy and impartiality.” They then shake hands and move on to the next politician.

The Grand Duke’s next act was to sign five Grand-Ducal Decrees to allow the government to take office, specifying the government departments, those with the title of Minister, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, those who have been ministers before and those for whom it will be their first term and the allocation of ministerial responsabilities amongst the fifteen members of the cabinet.

The final engagement of the day was a reception at the château in honour of the new ministers.

For more information, please see this thread.

alex001 Luxembourg Royals Government, Grand Duke Henri

 The Belgian government had appointed a parliamentary commission to discuss the dotation system of the Belgian royals. Every now and then, word came out that the commission wanted to strip Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent of their dotation, but up until now there had been no formal declaration regarding the matter.

From the TRF Avatar Gallery

On July 2, the commission finally came up with a final compromise. The current system of dotations will be kept in place until Prince Philippe succeeds his father as King of the Belgians. From then on, only the reigning monarch and the first in line to the throne will receive a dotation, as well as their spouses and the spouse of a deceased monarch. In reality, this means that of all Prince Philippe’s children, only Princess Elisabeth will receive a dotation from the moment that she is a legal adult. The dotation is, however, bound to certain rules. Members of the Royal Family who receive a dotation may not hold any commercial or other paying  position. This rule applies already to those who currently receive a dotation.

From the TRF Avatar Gallery

From the TRF Avatar Gallery

Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent, who are each currently receiving a dotation of over 300.000 EUR a year, will not lose their dotation, not even when their brother becomes King. The commission decided to would be unfair to them to sustain them for so long, and then suddenly take a way their income. They will remain in the old system for life.

The commission also decided that the costs and expenses of the Royal Family must be published each year. This will aid the transparency of the costs of the Royal family. This was not only the wish of the current government, but also of the King himself. After there have been many criticisms of the misty finances of the Belgian court, the King has urged the government to do something about it, so as to avoid further criticism.

For a discussion of the Belgian royals and their finances, see this thread.
For an article about the matter, see here (Dutch).

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Finances, Government, Prince Laurent, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Elisabeth

Image from TRF avatar gallery

 His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai has launched the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Government Excellence Programme. The programme is in the policies of the UAE Prime Minister to identify talented and local cadres to further train them to earn responsibilities. Sheikh Mohammed stressed that the programme is to boost the performance and excellence at the federal level. The excellence could be achieved through creative initiatives based on scientific methodology and embracing of the world-class best practices.

dazzling UAE Royals Government, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid

  Members of the Danish Royal Family are currently in the Arctic nation of Greenland, where they marked the geographically large, populous small country’s new self-rule. Queen Margrethe II, Prince Henrik and Crown Princess Mary arrived on Friday June 19th, and were joined by Crown Prince Frederik on June 20th. The royals attended several events on Saturday, before yesterday’s ceremony in which the new self-governing laws were transferred to the Greenlandic parliament.

On Saturday, Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik visited the University of Greenland, where the royal couple toured the campus before the publication of the Prince’s Blue Marks on the Soul poetry collection occurred in a small ceremony. Henrik read an extract of one of his poems, “Ice”, which is dedicated to Greenland. “I’ve been here ten times and every time I feel an attraction to this vast country,” the Prince told a reporter from Sermitsiaq.

Click to see the PPE gallery

Meanwhile, Crown Prince Frederik accompanied his wife Crown Princess Mary to Mælkebøtten, an institution which provides shelters for children. The event was in connection with The Mary Foundation, as were Mary’s meetings on Friday with various government departments concerned with families and children. As the centre, Frederik and Mary met with the staff and children of the centre. The Mælkebøtten Children’s Choir performed three songs for their royal visitors, a medley of Greenlandic songs.

And yesterday the reason for the royal visit came: the transfer of the new laws which allow Greenland self-governance. Read more…

JessRulz Danish Royals Government, Greenland, Margrethe II, Official Visit, Prince Frederik, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort, Princess Mary, The Mary Foundation

  Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, former deputy prime minister of the UAE, has been appointed by Sheikh Khalifa, President of the UAE, as his representative in the Western Region according to a decree issued by Sheikh Khalifa.

Sheikh Hamdan is also chairman of the UAE Red Crescent Authority, chairman of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi and chairman of the UAE Foreign Aid Coordination Office. He had previously served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and deputy prime minister.

The director general of the Gharbia Development Council, Mohammed Azan Al Mazrouie said: “The appointment of Sheikh Hamdan will give the region’s development a big boost as many achievements are expected to be realised at his hand.”

dazzling UAE Royals Government, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed