Library in Flames
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Publisher: Polirom Year of publication: 2007 No. pages: 256 ISBN: 978-973-46-0834-8 |
The inspired title of H.R.H. Prince Radu’s book, Library in Flames, refers to the Library of the Carol I Foundation in Bucharest, consumed by flames in 1989 and rebuilt in 2007. The title has a powerful symbolic message: the destiny of the monarchy and the Royal Family for Romania did not end in December 1947, with the banishment of King Mihai I from his country, or in December 1989, when the communist regime was overthrown. After seventeen years of building the democratic institutions of state and a market economy, the absence of the model of competent, durable national leadership represented by King Mihai I and the Royal House in general is ever more acutely felt.
In the form of a selection of diary entries, travel notes, and lectures, Library in Flames is a remarkable and original “treatise on the function of royalty in a democracy. In the coherent and convincing vision of the author, the institution of the Royal Family in Romania signifies the expression of statehood and the emblem of national identity, a symbol of continuity and a factor for modernisation, a store of moral strength, competence and dignity. In order to highlight the political and moral valences of the institution of the monarchy in Romania of yesteryear, today and tomorrow, the work accomplished by King Carol I in founding modern Romania is evoked. The series of evocations continues with Queen Maria, Queen Elisabeta and the Queen Mother, and finally focuses on the dignity and devotion with which King Mihai served and continues to serve his country, with the support of a new generation” of the Royal House, personified by Princess Margareta and Prince Radu.
Romanians have got the message, it would seem. How else can we interpret the fact that two thirds of the citizens who took part in an opinion poll held in 2006 were in favour of a greater involvement in the development and democratisation of Romania on the part of the Royal House? Moreover, the fact that in 2007 King Carol I was declared the greatest Romanian of all time highlights the need for a model that is felt in Romania, a model that is just as necessary as parliamentarianism, as the power of personal example is just as valuable as prosperity… as the legitimacy given by votes does not replace pride… as the intelligence of civil society does not replace generosity, and as political ability cannot supplant loyalty.”
In the vision of the Royal House, Romania’s accession to the European Union offered a series of historic chances, but also a number of new challenges and responsibilities. Far from representing a model of leadership dated in time, the Royal House presented early on a Vision for the Development of Romania over the next thirty years. Structured according to the values of patriotism, steadfastness, democracy and liberty, the Vision pursues the durable construction of Romania as a new member state of the European Union. Following the lines of already traditional arrangements, the projects of the Royal House aim to modernise Romania successfully in accordance with the strategies of the European Union. Since 1 January 2007, the political engagement of the Royal House has also increased. In the context of the political convulsions that erupted after accession, the message of King Mihai, spoken on 10 May 2007, represents a public plea – the first of its kind – for the building of unequivocal and complementary institutions of state.
In this book, Prince Radu of Hohenzollern-Veringen achieves the rare performance of combining a gift for vividly evoking historic figures with the analytical spirit of a researcher in the political sphere. The book’s conclusion is that in Romania, after the fall of the communist regime, royalty has the incontestable opportunity to be useful once more and will be capable of using this chance or the national good.
