Why King Charles will find true peace alone in Transylvania

Next month, the brand new king will board a plane to a country that holds a special place in his heart.

This trip will not be a state mission, as some might have expected of our new monarch. It won’t be a family visit either – his wife, Queen Camilla, is staying home.

No, this will be a personal pilgrimage, one that underscores the deep passions that shaped Charles III’s life.

The destination? Transylvania, specifically an idyllic corner of the Zalan Valley, 2,400 kilometers from Windsor in Romania.

Here, rolling wildflower meadows and pine forests meet the winding foothills of the Carpathians.

Here, rolling wildflower meadows and pine forests meet the winding foothills of the Carpathians

A three-hour drive from the nearest airport, it’s a land of unpaved roads where farmers still rely on horse and carts.

The king’s decision to visit seems curious, but perhaps less so when you consider our monarch’s many idiosyncratic interests and passions.

Because it is here – or at least to these parts – that he has been attracted again and again since his first visit to Romania in 1993.

Why? “He is a man of peace in Transylvania,” says botanist John Akeroyd.

‘He has a place where he sits outside; sometimes you see him sitting there writing and it’s just beautiful. He probably works very hard, but he can relax there.’

John is certainly well placed to know – he has visited Transylvania with Charles almost every year for the past two decades. He has been called the “king’s favorite botanist,” though he shrinks from the suggestion.

Because it is here – or at least to these parts – that he has been attracted again and again since his first visit to Romania in 1993.

“The first time I met him, we were walking together. He went off the path and I followed him and he just looked out over the landscape and said, ‘This is the landscape of my children’s books.’ It really is Brothers Grimm – a mosaic of forest, meadow, pasture and fields.’

Charles could also have a genetic appeal to the country. He has a distant relationship with Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula. As he once memorably joked, “I have a bit of a stake in the country.”

He can trace his lineage back through his great-grandmother, Queen Mary, the consort of George V, to Vlad IV, the infamous ruler’s half-brother.

No wonder he seems to have been preoccupied with Romania for much of his life. In the late 1980s, during the ruthless communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, Charles was horrified to learn of the dictator’s plans to cut down forests and level traditional villages.

It is known that in 1989 he sent one of his ‘black spider’ letters to the then Secretary of State Sir Geoffrey Howe.

And he declared in an extraordinary speech: ‘It is difficult, I find, to remain silent as the peasant traditions and old buildings of a fellow European society are bulldozed to make way for a uniform, deadly mock-modernity.’

The dictator was overthrown and executed the same year. But the love affair between Charles and Romania was just beginning.

He bought his first house in Transylvania in 2002, in the village of Viscri – a property he still owns, but is now an exhibition space.

More than 20 years later, the citizens of Viscri are vociferous fans of their royal visitor, not least because, upon learning that the village’s sewage system was about to collapse, he quietly paid £2 million for a new ecological wastewater treatment plant.

It was through local landowner and close friend (and another of Vlad’s relatives) Count Tibor Kalnoky that Charles took ownership of the property formerly known as the guest house of HRH Prince of Wales – now The King’s Retreat.

Listening to Charles describe his dream of a secluded embrasure, the Earl realized that he only knew the property. It was a dilapidated farm in need of major renovation, located in Zalanpatak, population: 120.

The king and his retinue slept on pull-out beds and used outdoor toilets during the renovations.

It was worth it, because today the guest house – opened in 2010 – exudes an atmosphere of understated, comfortable authenticity.

In this house Charles will stay next month, in a simple wooden bed. It’s nothing like the stately homes in his glittering real estate portfolio. Neither fortified nor grand, it’s even available to rent for £143 per person per night – all inclusive – when the King is away.

But peace and tranquility are the driving force. No television, no radio, but plenty of books – perfect for the king who likes to read for an evening.

When Charles stays here, he likes simple things: books, watercolors. But these visits have a deeper purpose, underlined by the creation of The Prince of Wales’s Foundation Romania in 2015, focused on community skills programs, preserving heritage and finding ways to help farmers discover new markets.

“His people get him to look at projects like rebuilding a church or someone making tiles, as well as some food manufacturers,” says John.

But above all, John explains that the fauna of Romania is a constant source of fascination for the king: ‘It is a great privilege to walk around with him and point out the flowers. He knows most of the names and has a great knowledge of botany. Not only does he like flowers, he knows them.

‘He understands why wildflower meadows are important; he understands the connections between plant-rich landscapes and the production of high-quality, healthy food. That has been a theme in his life.

“Romania gets a bad press, but it is a very beautiful country, with its traditions and culture rooted in the countryside.”

Among the rich biodiversity thriving here is one of Europe’s rarest, most spectacular orchids, the lady’s slipper, along with over 200 species of butterflies.

Besides wolves, there are more brown bears in Romania’s forests than anywhere else in Europe. The website of the King’s guesthouse even warns that they can sometimes be found ‘through the backyard’.

In the UK, more than 97 per cent of our wildflower meadows have disappeared since World War II, but not in Transylvania. The region’s abundance of flora is believed to have been, in part, the inspiration for the Coronation Meadows Initiative launched by Charles to mark his mother’s 60th year on the throne.

He even planted a meadow in Highgrove with seeds from Transylvania, but it failed to flower. Nevertheless, honey from Transylvania is still sold at the Highgrove store.

Botany, horticulture and conservation are passions we have long associated with the king. Therefore, his visit to Romania so soon after the coronation should not come as a surprise.

Still, John wasn’t sure if Charles would make it this year, but he’s pleased with his timing.

“I used to tease him about going at the wrong time — he went from early to mid-May and missed most of the flowers,” he says.

As far as the flora is concerned, Charles should have better luck in June.

In early summer, however, this remote corner of Europe is prone to rain, which might explain why the annual retreat is one King Charles makes without his wife.

“I was once honored to fly with the royal party,” says John. “She wished me luck at the end and said, ‘I hope the weather is good.’ Then she and her mates got back on a plane and went on holiday to Greece!’