Carol Lambrino

Carol visited Bucharest in November 2005. That was the first time he went to Romania after he had attended the funeral of his grandmother Queen Marie in 1938.

In October 1995 a Romanian court ruled that Carol was the legitimate son of King Carol II. His half-brother, Michael, appealed this ruling, but lost the case in an upper court of appeal in 1999. In March 2002, the Supreme Court of Romania ruled that there should be a retrial, and in July 2002 a lower court ruled again in Carol's favour. Michael again appealed, and in January 2003 he again lost the appeal. Michael again appealed in December 2003.

On April 2, 1955, a Portuguese court ruled that Carol was the legitimate first-born son of King Carol II and allowed him to claim the surname Hohenzollern in place of Lambrino. On 6 March 1957, the Portuguese ruling was recognised in France by an Exequatur of the Tribunal of the Grande Instance of Paris. This allowed Carol rights of inheritance to his father's French properties. Carol's younger half-brother Michael appealed this ruling which was upheld by the Court of Cassation, 8 January 1963.

After the death of his father, former King Carol II, in Portugal, 4 April 1953, Carol claimed the right to inherit some of his father's estate in accordance with Portuguese law. In order to do so, it was necessary to prove that he was his father's legitimate son.

Mircea Grigore Carol Hohenzollern (born Mircea Grigore Carol Lambrino; 8 January 1920 – 27 January 2006), also known as Prince Mircea Grigore Carol al României (anglicised as: of Romania) according to his amended Romanian birth certificate or as Carol Lambrino (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈkarol lambrino]), was the elder son of King Carol II of Romania.

Carol Lambrino was born in Bucharest as son of Crown Prince Carol of Romania and his first wife, Zizi Lambrino. At the time of his birth he was registered with the name Mircea Grigore Carol Lambrino. He was named by his father after his youngest brother Prince Mircea of Romania who died in 1916. His grandfather King Ferdinand forced the annulment of his parents' marriage in January 1919 in the Supreme Court of Romania and Carol was born outside the 300-day period allowed to permit legitimacy, on 8 January 1920. The legality of the annulment has been questioned.

After his birth, Carol and his mother were forced to leave Romania and settled in Paris. During his younger years and his reign, including during his personal dictatorship (1938–1940) when he held absolute power in Romania, King Carol II recognized his first-born Mircea Carol as a prince on several occasions. One of these situations was a letter published on the front page by the Romanian daily newspaper Epoca (17 January 1920). Signed by Crown Prince Carol, the document is a statement in which the future king recognized his paternity of Princess Ioana's baby.