Prince Charles, currently on a private visit to Romania, launched his own foundation in Romania, on Tuesday. It is a charitable organisation based at Viscri, Brasov County, that seeks to support the preservation of heritage, sustainable farming and development, according to a release of the Prince of Wales Romania Foundation, quoted by Mediafax.
‘It is a known fact that His Royal Highness has special feelings for Romania. He first visited Transylvania in 1998. A passionate supporter of countryside and an amateur botanist, the Prince of Wales then discovered an idyllic rural region that has been mainly lost in Great Britain’, says the source.
The heir to the throne of Great Britain owns, through his UK charity – the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation – a village house in Viscri, Brasov County, which he offered to his Romanian foundation.
Prince Charles has visited Transylvania many times and ‘each new visit convinced him ever more to help preserve the unique landscape, traditional architecture and a way of life that has not changed in hundreds of years’.
The release notes that ‘an important part of the activity of the new foundation’ would take place at Viscri. The property of the British crown prince will be restored and turned into a Training Centre of the Prince of Wales in Transylvania. The facility will be equipped with a conference hall sitting up to 70 persons, a coffee shop and accommodation ‘to support the local community and the thousands of visitors who travel to Viscri every year’.
According to the quoted sources, the Prince of Wales Foundation is a charity having an educational aim, that supports the preservation of architectural heritage, sustainable farming and development, and is governed by a Board the members of which have been appointed by the Prince of Wales. The current members of the Board are William Nye, Andrew Wright, Paula Wilson and Count Kalnoky. The Executive Director is Aura Woodward, born in Romania.
The Prince of Wales Foundation will begin by offering restoration training to both local communities and foreign students and apprentices. The offer will become richer in time, ‘to support locals in learning new trades and acquire skills that will help them find jobs’.
Apart from the Viscri house, the Prince of Wales charity based in the UK also owns a property in Valea Zalanului, Covasna County.
The Prince of Wales is the patron of Transilvania Fest – a trade show of local produce, culture and crafts specific to the Transylvanian region, as well as the patron of Faure-Alderson Romanian Appeal – a charitable organisation that helps adults and children who suffer from mental disorders. Prince Charles is also the chairman or patron of over 420 different charities, 14 of which make up The Prince’s Charities group.
