In Transylvania, Anyone With $200 Can Live Like a King. (Well, One Specific King.)

Housed in three rustic buildings beside a 350-year-old village in Transylvania’s Zaran Valley, the Prince of Wales Guest House doesn’t have a front desk or even a lobby. Check-in takes place in the communal dining room and study, where the cook lady hands over the antique keys. Doors open to one of the seven rooms, all of which appear to have been furnished with a Romanian version of House Beautiful, circa 1740. The only modern touches are an electric kettle, radiator and bottled water.

It’s royal treatment, the King Charles way.

On Saturday, the British monarch is crowned in all the bunting and ornate ceremonies that have made the British royal family incomparable masters of the glamorous arts, in a festival that begins with a procession from Buckingham Palace.

It is only the most famous of the royal residences. He has outdone his $25 billion worth of real estate empire, According to Forbes, a portfolio that includes 56 cottages, 12 houses and 7 palaces. Guest houses aren’t fancy by any means, but they’re about $200 a night, include meals, and welcome commoners.

The King has owned the property since 2008 and spends a week in May almost every year with his friends and security guards on vacation here. A quiet corner of the world where time seems to have stopped centuries ago, the King often describes it as one of his favorite places. This is how a man in the midst of the most glitzy celebration on earth this weekend would much prefer the tranquility and privacy he finds in the dirt roads and rugged forests near the Carpathian Mountains, about 1,500 miles from London. suggests.

And while guests visiting here shouldn’t expect to meet the newest Windsor and take the throne, they’re reserved when he’s around, but they roam the same grounds and enjoy the same lush pastures. You can explore it. Those who get the room, which is still called the Prince’s room, can sleep in the same bed.

King Charles has been touting the charm of Romania for decades. “There is an age-old sense of continuity here,” he explained in a Spectator article last year. He says he is related to Vlad the Impaler, the former ruler of the southern region of Wallachia and the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”

“Transylvania is in my blood,” he quipped in a 2011 television interview.British tabloids and Romania Tour Store website He is Vlad’s great-grandson and has stood by him on this, claiming he was removed 16 times.

More definitively, the king was born in Transylvania and is related to Queen Elizabeth II’s great-grandmother, Countess Claudine Redey von Kiss Rede.

Still, the king’s affection for the region is more about the forest than his family. Green spaces and old villages in England tend to be gorgeous and well-kept, says the 56-year-old Romanian nobleman, who oversees guest house renovations and helps maintain places when he’s not working as a veterinarian. Helpful.

“In England it’s like a stage. It’s more artificial,” he said in an interview. There are also chickens walking around here, and that’s the difference between Disneyland and the real thing.”

Tall, urban, and fluent in five languages, Karnoky grew up in exile in Paris. His family lived there after the Communist occupation of Romania. He speaks with a ubiquitous pan-European accent and seems ready to entertain just about anything, with one exception. As the Count of Transylvania, he would like to invite everyone with all his heart to spare Dracula jokes.

“Always terrible,” he said. “Always a cliché.”

He’s included some pretty good stuff in the guest house, so it’s best to leave the Dracula gag to the Count. Winking at the most serious food allergies.

The story of how King Charles came to own a guesthouse in Romania begins with one of Mr. Karnoky’s ancestors. In the 16th century, Balint was the owner of the Zaran Valley, where Karnoki was first recorded. Nearly 100 years later, a series of houses were built for the glassblowers at the nearby glassworks. The factory has long disappeared from what is now the immediate neighboring village of Zalanpatak, population 94.

The Prince of Wales began visiting Romania in the late 1990s. A former house in the historic village of Viscri has attracted throngs of tourists. BBC reportedHe and a relative, the Earl, were friends, and when the then prince asked for help finding a more remote Romanian vacation, the Earl came up with the idea.

“As he was describing his dream home, I realized I might know that very house,” he recalled. They walked from the Count’s house in Mikrosoara, where he walked eleven miles (eleven miles), to a group of buildings of the time in need of a thorough renovation.

“When we arrived, I said, ‘Is this okay?’ And he said, ‘That’s exactly what I was thinking.’

The renovation started with one building and expanded to two more as the number of guests invited by the prince increased. It remains far from sophisticated. (The word “genuine” becomes prominent Guest house website.) Even some modern touches could use tweaks. Because it’s four feet — either the heating was off and the room was freezing, or it was on and the room was sweaty. .

Statues of the King are scattered here and there, and in the Prince’s room is a photograph of his mother as a young woman. However, this is not a shrine. Thrill seekers in the footsteps of monarchs have more convenient options. The flight from London to Bucharest takes him over three hours, and the drive to Zalampattak takes another three and a half hours, sometimes on dirt roads.

The profit from the business here is Romanian Prince of Wales Foundation, to support educational programs and skills training. But as Count said, guesthouses aren’t exactly money machines.The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact. Romania borders Ukraine, so the nearest Ukrainian town is more than 200 miles away from her, but the relative proximity to war with Russia puts many people off.

“It crossed our minds, but it didn’t put us off. The family holds the new king in high esteem, but it wasn’t the reason he left England so far. They were free.” Seeking natural nature, I found nature in every direction I walked.

“It can feel like you’re alone in Scotland, but you’ll hit the road or find a sidewalk with a parking lot or a sign,” said Ben Stephens, Ms Cotton’s brother. .

“We don’t see any other signs of human life here,” Cotton continued. “There are no telephone poles, no cars, no planes, no human tracks, no bear tracks.”

Other than nature walks and food (10 different menus, including various goulashes), activities are quite limited. About $65 adds the option of a picnic and a cart ride pulled by his two horses (bridle employees).

One recent afternoon, the driver steered the horse for 40 minutes before stopping and placing a grate over a small fire pit. Lunch was Roasted Lamb He Rack with Asian Marinade, Shrimp Tacos with Pineapple His Salsa, Strawberry His Ginger with His Trifle. Wait, those are the official coronation dishes that the common people are encouraged to cook. In a nearby field, a shepherd tended about 100 bleating sheep.

The return was through a neighboring village where people were tending their gardens and chasing chickens. Without cars and tractors, this collection of homes would look at least 100 years old. Along the settlement’s only dirt road are Orthodox chapels and Catholic churches, and shops that open whenever someone rings the doorbell. I have a pet that doubles as

Most residents who went out on a recent Wednesday afternoon said they had seen or met King Charles during his visits over the years. , and sometimes exchanged a few words.

“He is very kind and very friendly,” said Ibolya Préda, 87 and a lifelong resident of the village. “He shook everyone’s hand.”

Some villagers explained that the prince at the time invited dozens of people to his guest house, where he supervised a grass-cutting competition. This is a tradition that has been practiced in Transylvania for centuries and involves scythes and enthusiastic arm cleaning. People were divided into teams of 6 people.

“This guy says he was part of the winning team,” said Ivorja’s granddaughter Abigail Preda, who helped translate during the walk. She was talking over the fence with a middle-aged man smoking a cigarette. He said the prize for him and his team was to eat a plate of tokani (a goulash family dish) near the prince.

“He said the prince had armed guards around him,” Preda said. “But they were able to talk to him.”

The consensus was that King Charles did little to change life in the village. The place is likely to leave a more lasting impression on visitors, many of whom have scrawled glowing reviews in guestbooks bearing the prince’s name. And it seems.

“Prince Charles, unfortunately we remain Republicans,” wrote one family in London, using British terminology to describe those who want to abolish the monarchy. Compliment the taste.”