HER MAJESTY MARGARETA
CUSTODIAN OF THE ROMANIAN CROWN
A CHILDHOOD FAR FROM HOME
Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 26, 1949. She is the eldest daughter of King Michael and Queen Anne of Romania. She was designated Crown Princess in 1997 and Custodian of the Romanian Crown in 2007. She was born in exile, after King Michael was forced to abdicate in 1947. She spent her early childhood years in the United Kingdom and Switzerland, enjoying a simple and happy upbringing, not very different from that of other children. She grew up surrounded by the affection of her parents, her grandmother Queen Mother Helen, and her four sisters: Elena, Irina, Sofia, and Maria. As a child, Her Majesty spent long periods in Italy with Queen Mother Helen and many holidays in Denmark with her maternal grandparents. Florence and Denmark would remain the places of her childhood to which she would always hold the fondest memories.
She learned about Romania from the stories told by her father and grandmother, and from photographs. She was deeply impressed each time by the solemnity of the New Year’s message delivered by King Michael to the nation via Radio Free Europe. The first thing she learned in Romanian was the prayer “Our Father”, which King Michael recited to his daughters every evening before bedtime.
Her Majesty Margareta attended school in Italy and Switzerland, and later in the United Kingdom, at a boarding school. Returning to Switzerland at the age of 14, she enrolled at the French Lycée. Philosophy, she later recalled, was one of her favorite subjects during high school.
ITALY AND SCOTLAND - FINDING HER OWN PATH
After passing the French Baccalaureate, Her Majesty spent a year in Italy with her grandmother, Queen Helen, at her beautiful residence near Florence, Villa Sparta. “I discovered an entire world with her,” Her Majesty Margareta said of her beloved grandmother. “Queen Helen was my spiritual guide, my mentor, my guiding star. She taught me much about life and opened my eyes to everything that is beautiful and good in the world.”
Young, dynamic, beautiful, slightly rebellious and impulsive, Her Majesty Margareta learned from Queen Helen a refined appreciation for beauty, broadened her cultural horizons, and met remarkable people from her grandmother’s circle: diplomats, artists, intellectuals, scientists, as well as ordinary people—farmers and craftsmen. During her year in Italy, encouraged by Queen Helen, Her Majesty decided to attend university and pursue an international career within the United Nations.
She enrolled at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where in 1974 she obtained a Master of Arts degree in Sociology, Political Science, and International Public Law. Her student years were among the most beautiful of her life—a time of independence and personal growth, marked by lasting friendships and enriching experiences. She fell deeply in love with Edinburgh and Scotland, to the point of jokingly declaring herself “an Honorary Scot.”
A SUCCESSFUL CAREER AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Between 1974 and 1983, Margareta, Custodian of the Crown, worked as a researcher at several British universities, specializing in medical sociology and public health. She later joined United Nations agencies, primarily the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The public health projects she worked on took her across the world, to Africa and Latin America, where she encountered firsthand the suffering and hardships of disadvantaged communities. This experience marked the beginning of a lifelong path in the service of humanity.
After 12 years in Scotland, in 1983 she moved to Rome, Italy, where she obtained a position within the United Nations. She first worked at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), addressing issues related to rural development. Three years later, she joined the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), where Margareta, Custodian of the Crown, was responsible for relations with non-governmental organizations and provided fundraising support for IFAD programs.
HER MAJESTY MARGARETA EMBRACES THE CAUSE OF ROMANIA
In August 1989, as it became evident that change was imminent in Eastern Europe, Her Majesty Margareta left the United Nations to dedicate herself fully to the cause of Romania, working alongside her father. January 18, 1990, and the emotion she felt when setting foot on Romanian soil for the first time—on that “previously forbidden planet” that was, in fact, her own country—would remain forever engraved in her memory. She would never forget the sadness she felt when visiting, together with her sister Sofia, orphanages and nursing homes in Romania, where children and older people lived in deplorable conditions.
Her response to these harsh realities was the Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation, a charitable organization she established in 1990 together with her father, King Michael. Through the Foundation, Her Majesty sought— with idealism and courage— to contribute to positive change in the lives of Romania’s most vulnerable people: older adults, abandoned children, families in difficulty, while also offering additional opportunities to talented young people. In 2018, the Foundation celebrated 28 years of experience, good deeds, and successful projects, having helped tens of thousands of people and invested €12 million in Romania since 1990.
Throughout the 1990s, Her Majesty’s main concerns included fundraising abroad for the Foundation and participating in numerous public events and engagements, often representing her father. In 1997 and 2002, Her Majesty Margareta accompanied the King on tours to many European countries, as well as to the United States and Canada, in support of Romania’s integration into NATO.
In 1994, during a visit to one of the orphanages supported by the Foundation, Margareta, Custodian of the Crown, met Radu—today Prince Radu of Romania—who at the time was coordinating an art therapy project led by Ion Caramitru, with the support of the Royal Foundation. The two married in 1996 and spent the first years of their marriage between Romania, Switzerland, and other European countries, traveling to support the Foundation’s projects, Romania’s international diplomatic cause, and Prince Radu’s artistic tours.
Since 2001, Her Majesty Margareta and Prince Radu have lived at Elisabeta Palace, carrying out their public engagements in the capital, across the country, and abroad, contributing to Romania’s modernization, reconciliation with its past, and integration into the European and Atlantic family of nations.
In 2008, Her Majesty experienced two deeply emotional moments alongside her parents and Prince Radu: King Michael’s return to Peleș Castle after 60 years, and the “Diamond Wedding” anniversary of King Michael and Queen Anne.
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
Her Majesty Margareta is the President of The Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation, Honorary President of the Romanian Athletics Foundation, as well as President of the “House of Her Majesty” Association and the Royal Collection Foundation.
Her Majesty has granted High Patronage to the Romanian Red Cross Society, the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, the Romanian Rugby Federation, the Romanian Swimming and Modern Pentathlon Federation, the Romanian Rowing Federation, the Romanian Oină Federation, the National Council of Students, the Logistic Battalion of the 17th Mechanized Brigade of the Republic of Poland, the “Duke of Edinburgh International Award Romania” organization, the Enescu Society in London, the Transylvania Fest Festival, the NEXT International Film Festival, the “Sighișoara Medievală” Festival, the student professional competition “Agronomiada”, the Roșia Montană Cultural Foundation, the “Mark Twain” International Theatre Festival for Children and Youth, the National Initiative “Let’s Do Good Deeds in Romania”, the “Christmas Lectures” conference at the Romanian Athenaeum, the “Grand Prix Nova” International Radio Drama Festival, Transylvania College in Cluj, the “Kangaroo” School Competitions, the annual “People of the Year” Gala, the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile, the Romanian Cycling Federation, the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, and the “Dimitrie Gusti” National Village Museum.
Since June 2005, School No. 114 in Bucharest has borne her name. Her Majesty Margareta and Prince Radu offer eight royal scholarships: the “King Carol I” Scholarship and the “Queen Elisabeth” Scholarship (annually, for two students of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies), the “King Ferdinand I” Scholarship and the “Queen Maria” Scholarship (annually, for two students of the University of Chișinău), the “King Mihai I” Scholarship and the “Queen Ana” Scholarship (annually, for two students of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest), and the “King Mihai I” Scholarship and the “Queen Ana” Scholarship (annually, for two students of the State Agrarian University of Chișinău).
PERSONALITY
Her Majesty Margareta enjoys films, reading, photography, and good music. She loves animals and has a passion for interior decoration and Italian cuisine. She enjoys swimming and generally prefers summer sports. In her youth, she practiced horseback riding, tennis, and hockey. She is happiest when relaxed, and especially when surrounded by the people she loves.
She has lived and traveled in diverse countries and cultures, meeting people from all walks of life—from world-renowned figures to ordinary individuals, whose spiritual richness she values equally. She appreciates people “who speak the truth, behave naturally, and do not seek to flatter.” She dislikes those who always seek to control everything. A sense of humor is a quality she greatly values in others. Friendship, she says, “is not chosen—it simply happens, and it is very much like love.”