Newly crowned King Charles III is the direct descendant of the real-life Dracula "Vlad the Impaler". He actually owns several properties in Transylvania and is the heir to Vlad the Impaler's bloodline. The British royal family also has links to countries across Europe, including Romania.
King Charles III is Vlad's great grandson 16 times removed through the Consort of George V, Queen Mary. This claim is supported by David Hughes genealogical tree in The British Chronicles. King Charles owns several properties in the Romania region, Viscri, in the Zalanului Valley, in Malancrav and in Breb.
Who was Vlad the Impaler?
Vlad III, the Prince of Wallachia, is better known as Vlad the Impaler. He was born in 1431 in Transylvania. Vlad was best known for resisting the Ottoman Turks' invasion of Europe. "He remained a folk hero in the region for his efforts against Ottoman encroachment," says Encyclopedia Britannica.
Vlad led a force to defend Wallachia from an invasion in 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Ottomans. The 1456 battle to protect his homeland proved victorious. Records show Vlad personally beheaded his opponent Vladislav II in a one-on-one combat. Constant warfare and internal strife left his lands in a ruinous state.
He invited hundreds of feuding boyars to a banquet to consolidate power – he had them stabbed and still-twitching bodies impaled (a gruesome form of torture and death whereby a wooden stake or metal pole is inserted through the body either front or back, through the rectum or vagina, exiting near the victim's neck, shoulders or mouth).
"He inflicted this type of torture on foreign and domestic enemies alike: notably, as he retreated from a battle in 1462, he left a field filled with thousands of impaled victims as a deterrent to pursuing Ottoman forces," says Britannica.
Vlad's victories over the invading Ottomans were celebrated across Europe – Wallachia and Transylvania.
Vlad was the second of four brothers born into the Romanian noble family of Vlad II Dracul. His sobriquet Dracula means the "son of Dracul".
"Some in the scholarly community have suggested that Bram Stoker's Dracula character was based on Vlad," says Britannica.
Vlad, whose life was a series of battles to gain and retain control of Wallachia, died in 1476. "Vlad regained his seat in 1476 but was killed in battle the same year. He remained a folk hero in the region for his efforts against Ottoman encroachment.
