The ‘Geordie prince’ returning to Romania
The country’s answer to Harry and Meghan hope to reunite their royal family – even after losing his royal title – they tell Matthew Bell
When the last king of Romania died in December, any dreams for the restoration of the monarchy could have gone with him.
King Michael I, a distant cousin of our Queen, was a 96-year-old national hero who toppled the fascist dictator Ion Antonescu in 1944, only to be deposed himself by Communists three years later. He spent his life in exile in Switzerland and England, and was only allowed to return to Romania in 1990 after the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu, though the royal family has never been restored to its role as head of state.
At his funeral, however, where mourners included Prince Charles, a new figure of hope emerged. All eyes were on Nicholas Medforth-mills, a 32-year-old British public schoolboy who grew up in County Durham and was educated at Shiplake College, outside Henley-on-thames.
The only son of Princess Elena, the second of King Michael’s five daughters, Medforth-mills is his eldest male heir – and at the centre of a bitter row over the line of succession to a throne that no longer exists.
Tall, dark, handsome and down to earth, Medforth-mills cuts a statesmanlike figure when we meet at London’s Goring Hotel, immaculately turned out in a sombre dark suit and black tie, a sign he is still in mourning. Known as the “popular prince” in Romania, with his beautiful new wife Alina Binder by his side, it’s no stretch to see why the couple have been dubbed the country’s “Harry and Meghan”.
Not everyone is quite so enthusiastic. Once a favourite of the King, who anointed him Prince Nicolae al României in 2007, by August 2015 he had fallen from favour and been stripped of his title, for reasons he insists remain unclear.
Some say the King was furious when news broke that he had fathered an illegitimate child with a Romanian environmental activist, reviving memories of the antics of the King’s father, the playboy Carol. Others, that he disliked Nicholas’s jostling for position with his eldest daughter, Crown Princess Margareta (an ex-girlfriend of Gordon Brown), who has no children with her husband, Prince Radu.
Medforth-mills was removed from the line of succession, with the palace releasing a statement declaring that Romania should be led by “a ruler of modesty, well balanced, with moral principles, respect and always thought for others”. The former prince returned to Britain and his family – including his mother – still refuse all contact.
Yet as the dust settles, following the death of King Michael, one thing is clear: Medforth-mills is not about to disappear. Meeting him, one feels here is a young pretender-inwaiting, ready to fill the void left by his grandfather. In 2008, he gave an interview saying that if the Romanian people asked him to be king, he would not decline.
This weekend, Medforth-mills and his wife are moving permanently back to Romania to start a new life. When we meet they are midway through packing up their homes in London and Henley, where they married in a quiet civil ceremony last month.
Ostensibly, they will be carving out their own lives as private citizens: Nicholas has co-founded an education charity, and Alina works for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots’ Association (her father flew planes). But clearly they are poised to embrace public life and will soon release details of their official wedding in September, likely to be a lavish affair generating much coverage in Romania’s popular gossip press of eastern Europe’s most glamorous couple. Speaking exclusively to The
Daily Telegraph, Medforth-mills refutes the idea that he wishes to pose
Once a favourite of the king, by 2015 he had been stripped of his title
a threat to his aunt’s authority. “I’m not out there to compete with them, I never was,” he says with his gentle Geordie lilt. “I never considered myself in competition. The bigger picture is that we are the Romanian royal family, and our intentions are to benefit the country, whether that’s economically, or socially. That’s what we’re here to do, and that’s what we should do.” He speaks warmly of the British Royal family: “Their unity is something that we should be emulating. We should go forward as one.”
That is clearly not a view shared by his relations, who filed a complaint to Swiss police in November, alleging he had tried to force his way in to King Michael’s home in Aubonne, Switzerland, and had “physically and verbally aggressed” three staff members. Princess Elena condemned her son for disregarding “the privacy, suffering and dignity” of her father.
To read reports of the family fallout is to imagine a power-hungry monster; yet in person Medforth-mills appears dedicated to serving his ancestral homeland. He talks passionately of the need to rid Romania of corruption, which has mired its politics for so long, and the huge potential the country has to grow as an economy through tourism, IT and agriculture.
Why does he think his family have set against him? “I really don’t know. It’s very difficult to put my finger on it. I have ideas, but there is no one thing. It was all very abrupt: they cast me out of the family and it’s very saddening.”
A statement released at the time appeared to suggest Nicholas had decided to step down because he found the duties of a prince too onerous. That was a fabrication to which he did not consent, he says. “I didn’t agree to it but [the royal house] gave it out anyway.”
He confirms that he fathered a daughter out of wedlock, though he does not believe that was the cause of the rift. Nicoleta Cîrjan, the mother of the child, wrote in a blog post that Medforth-mills had refused to have anything to do with her or Iris, now two, and offered no financial or emotional support.
For his part, he claims she refuses to co-operate in a DNA test to establish paternity. “Unfortunately, as an unmarried man, the law does not permit me to force this issue.” Why won’t she agree to it? “We don’t understand. It’s important for us, taking steps as a couple, for myself and my wellbeing, but also for the country.” Born in 1985 to Princess Elena and her British husband, Robin Medforth-mills, a geography professor at Durham University, Nicholas grew up in the North East. His parents divorced in 2001 and his father died when he was seven, having been for much of his life in Africa, where he worked for the UN.
After school in Oxfordshire, Medforth-mills spent several years in Africa, at one point working with the British Army in Kenya. When he returned to Britain, he spent several years as a freelance outdoors instructor. “I travelled around the UK, more or less living out of my car. I loved every moment and learned a lot.”
Meanwhile, in Romania, the government had begun to restore confiscated property to the Royal family, including, in 2005, the Elisabeta Palace. In 2011, to mark his 90th birthday, King Michael made his first address to parliament, calling for an end to the bad political habits of the past.
The following year, Nicholas made his first visit to Romania, and accompanied his uncle, Radu, on a tour of duty. Having never spoken his mother’s tongue, he decided to spend a month in the eastern city of Iasi, where British ambassadors go to learn Romanian.
His interests in sport and education led him to organise a sponsored 1,000km cycle ride that took him to every city in Romania bar one, in 2015. The event garnered much publicity and support, eliciting comparisons with Prince Harry, who founded the Invictus Games – comparisons Medforth-mills is only too happy to entertain.
“I think he’s quite remarkable, given the troubles he went through and how he has now matured and become a real role model to British youth.” He also has huge admiration for Prince Charles, who is adored in Romania for his conservation work and fights against illegal logging.
“Anybody who has the position or has the visibility like someone in a royal family has the gift to be able to make a difference, to help communities and economies grow,” he says. “It’s a gift that should be embraced if the person in question can do so.”
Whether Nicholas is such a person seems to depend very much on who you ask.