On Friday at Elisabeta Palace, Prime Minister Luca Niculescu had lunch offered by Margareta, Custodian of the Crown, and Prince Radu. Radio România Actualități reported that he attended. In his Facebook post, carried by Mediafax and Adevărul, the head of government thanks them for the welcome and says he had “the honour and the joy” of being there.

The text is not a speech at the table. It is a public message after the lunch. “The Royal House had an essential contribution to the modernisation and development of Romania, and devotion to the country and respect for democratic values remain important landmarks for our society.” Of King Michael he writes that he “defended, including in the most difficult moments of history, the ideals of freedom and Romania’s belonging to the Western world,” and that a “deep gratitude” is kept for his memory. The post does not name the moments.

He closes with a linking sentence, still his own: respect for history and for the values that define the nation “unites us and guides us in building Romania’s future.” During the day Gândul wrote that the prime minister arrived with a bouquet of white flowers, that the meeting began in the palace garden, and that after lunch he was to sign the Golden Book in the Hall of Kings. The signature is not in his message, nor in Radio România’s evening report.

Romania is a republic. Margareta’s titles belong to the order of the Royal House, not to an office in the Constitution, Adevărul notes. She was born on 26 March 1949 in Lausanne, the eldest daughter of King Michael I and Queen Anne. In 1997 the king designated her dynastic successor, in 2007 he gave her the title Custodian of the Crown, and since 2017, after her father’s death, she has led the Royal House. She has been married to Prince Radu since 1996. She led the Romanian Red Cross from 2015 to 2023; the organisation is now under her patronage.

Image: Wikimedia Commons — the entrance toward Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest, photograph by Rsandu (CC BY-SA 4.0). The frame shows the residence, not Friday’s lunch.

Sources consulted: King Michael honoured by the prime minister at a Royal House lunch — Radio România Actualități; Prime Minister Luca Niculescu, lunch offered by Margareta and Prince Radu — Mediafax; Prime Minister Luca Niculescu attended a lunch offered by Princess Margareta — Adevărul.