Until now its lonely mountains have been synonymous with the legend of the vampire, the cruel ruler who drank his victims’ blood, terrified his enemies and could turn into a bat at will.
But Transylvania should also be known as the ancestral home of the Prince of Wales, defender of faiths, with a love of gardening and classical architecture, according to the Romanian National Tourist Office.
Links between the Royal Family and Vlad the Impaler, the 15th century nobleman whose deeds inspired the vampire legend, are being exploited in an attempt to lure tourists to the eastern European country.
Vlad the Impaler (Getty)
The Romanian National Tourist Office is trumpeting the lineage in a brochure distributed at the World Travel Market, a leading industry event which opened in London on Monday.
The Prince himself appears in a video being used to promote the country in which he claims distant kinship with Vlad Tepes, the 15th–century Wallachian ruler on whom the Irish novelist Bram Stoker based his Dracula.
“Transylvania is in my blood,” he jokes in an interview first shown on satelite television last year. “The genealogy shows I am descended from Vlad the Impaler, so I do have a bit of a stake in the country.”
The Romanian National Tourist Office is using the video on Youtube and new brochures try and boost UK visitors by more than seven per cent.
The Prince visits Viscri, Transylvania, back in 2006 (Rex)
The video climaxes with a reference to the Prince of Wales, “who can trace his ancestry back to Romania’s dark and distant past”.
Other literature highlights a short visit by Prince Harry to the country in Easter this year, saying he travelled with Wizz Air, which operates 20 flights a week to four Romanian cities from London Luton Airport.
A spokesman for the Romanian National Tourist Office said the country, which incorporates the region of Transylvania, was looking to use these links with the British Royal Family to increase UK tourists over the coming years.
Maria Iordache, UK director of the organisation, said 118,000 UK tourists visited Romania in 2011.
“It will be more in 2012. We have experienced a 7 per cent increase in UK visitors in the first quarter, which is traditionally a quiet period for tourists from the UK. For the summer and the autumn the percentage increase will be even better.”
According to Royal Highness, a book published in 1982 by Sir Iain Moncreiffe, the former chairman of Debrett’s, the Prince is a great grandson 16 times removed to Vlad III.
He can trace his lineage back through his great grandmother Queen Mary, the consort of George V, to Vlad IV, the half brother of the notorious ruler.
Another link to the country originated with Princess Marie of Edinburgh, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who went on to marry King Ferdinand 1 of Romania and ruled Romania after the First World War.
It has been claimed that porphyria, an iron deficiency which is thought to lie behind the vampire myth, has run in the Royal Family.
The Prince has made no secret of his love for Romania and is believed to travel there frequently.
In 2006, he purchased a farmhouse in Viscri, a village in rural Transylvania, which is available as a guest house at certain times of the year.
The Prince’s farmhouse in Viscri
The prince is patron of the Mihai Eminescu Trust, which works to restore the cultural heritage, economy and nature of Transylvania’s Saxon villages and their surroundings.
In addition to restoring some 180 medieval houses and several churches, the charity has supported traditional rural technologies such as the construction of wood-fired kilns for handmade bricks and tiles, and organic farming.
Transylvanian-born Vlad the Impaler is said to have dispatched more than 100,000 Turkish warriors in battle.
The vampire legend is said to have been inspired by his predilection for eating bread dipped in his victim’s blood. Dracula means “son of the devil” in Romanian.
The country’s alleged links to British royalty, however ghoulish, could prove a welcome boost to its tourist industry.
Thousands of tourists visit the town of Castle Bran, Transylvania, where Vlad III lived, every year.
Castle Bran, Transylvania (Alamy)
Simon Press, from World Travel Market which hosted the exhibition, said: ““Romania has a great deal of tourism potential. It is a beautiful country already receiving many tourists for its nature and culture.
“The link to the British Royal Family and the clear fondness the Royal Family has for the country will only help to promote the country across the Commonwealth and particularly in the UK.”
THE LINK TO AN IMPALER
Vlad the Impaler. Died 1507.
- Half brother of:
Vlad IV, known as Vlad the Monk. (1431 – 1495)
-Father of:
Radu IV Prince of Wallachia from (1495 – 1508)
- Father of:
Mircea the Shepherd. Prince of Wallachia. (1479 – 1560).
- Father of:
Princess Stanca Basarab of Wallachia. (1518 – 1601).
-Mother of:
Zamphira Logofat de Szazsebes. (Died 1602).
- Mother of:
Adam Racz de Galgo. (Living 1609).
- Father of:
Peter Racz de Galgo. (1583-1672).
- Father of:
Christina Racz de Galgo.
- Mother of:
Catherine (Katalin) Kuun de Osdola.
- Mother of:
Ágnes Kendeffy de Malmoviz (born 1727).
- Mother of:
Baron Gregor, Inczédy de Nagy-Várad (died 1816).
- Father of:
Baroness Ágnes Inczédy de Nagy-Várad (1788-1856).
- Mother of:
Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde (1812-1841).
- Mother of:
Francis, Duke of Teck. (1837–1900).
- Father of:
Princess Mary of Teck, later the Queen consort of King George V (1867-1953).
- Mother of:
George VI (1895 –1952).
- Father of:
Queen Elizabeth II (1926).
- Mother of:
Prince Charles (1948)