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When you’re part of a Royal Family, you already know you come from a long line of noble ancestors whose lives and achievements have been documented for centuries. King Charles III’s lineage, which goes all the way back to William the Conqueror, really needs no introduction.
But as all European royals, Britain’s new King has roots from all over the continent, even as far as Romania. Little do most people know that the King is actually a descendent of 15th century ruler Vlad the Impaler, who once ruled the lands of Transylvania as is believed to be the inspiration behind the fictional character of Count Dracula.
Vlad the Impaler, also known as Vlad Tepes and Vlad III Dracula, got his nickname from the cruel punishment he would inflict on his enemies. He would decapitate their heads and impale them on stakes.
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(Image: Public Domain)
In one particular incident in 1462, Vlad and his armies impaled the heads of around 20,000 men, women and children during a raid on the city of Târgoviște, which is now part of Romania but was then part of the Turkish-led Ottoman Empire.
Writing about the massacre, 15th-century chronicler Laonikos Chalkokondyles wrote: “The Sultan’s army entered into the area of the impalements, which was seventeen stades long and seven stades wide. There were large stakes there on which, as it was said, about 20,000 men, women, and children had been spitted, quite a sight for the Turks and the Sultan himself.”
Explaining in graphic detail, the chronicler added: “The rest of the Turks were dumbfounded when they saw the multitude of men on the stakes. There were infants too affixed to their mothers on the stakes, and birds had made their nests in their entrails.”
Such was the reputation of Vlad that over 430 years later, in 1897, author Bram Stoker took Vlad’s vicious thirst for violence as inspiration when penning his gothic horror novel about the infamous blood-sucking vampire from Transylvania.
In 1998, the then-Prince of Wales reportedly found out that he was actually a descendent of Vlad, who turned out to be his 16th great grandfather through the consort of George V, Queen Mary. This theory has been supported by genealogist David Hughes, who documented the King’s family tree in The British Chronicles.
(Image: Thierry Tronnel/Corbis via Getty Images))
The Romania Tour Store website states: “It’s also no secret that Prince Charles is very fond of Romania, especially of the Transylvania region. It was after his first visit to Transylvania in 1998 that he found out about his connection to Vlad the Impaler, a connection that he is apparently very proud of.
“Through the Prince of Wales Foundation, Prince Charles has done plenty of charity work in Transylvania, especially in the fields of sustainable development, conservation, and farming systems. Because of his strong involvement in the region, the mayor of the city of Alba Iulia has proposed to grant Prince Charles the title of Prince of Transylvania as recognition for being a prominent ambassador of the Transylvania region all over the world.”
King Charles’ links to Transylvania in Romania aren’t actually too far off in the past. His great-great-great grandmother on his late mother Queen Elizabeth II’s side, Klaudia Rhedey, was born a Hungarian Countess in Transylvania in the 19th century.
In fact, the King is said to own a number of properties in Transylvania, in Viscri, in the Zalanului Valley, in Malancrav and in Breb. The Zalán Valley, now popular with tourists, was reportedly once owned by one of Charles’ ancestors from the 16th century – Bálint (Valentin) Kálnoky of Kőröspatak.
A website about the history of the region states that the King owns a property in the village that is composed of ‘several buildings, and has a patch of forest and extensive flower meadows, with mineral springs and small brooks’.
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