Among the
privileges enjoyed by the Hohenzollern Royal House of Romania was
a postal, telegraphic and telephonic tax exempt for almost the entire
period they ruled Romania's destiny: 10th of May 1866 - 29th of
December 1947.
Other of Romania's state authorities, but only up to The 1st of
January 1930 enjoyed similar privileges.
1. 1. Regulations regarding
correspondence postal tax exempt
Circular postal order NR. 274.658/21st
December 1929 (1, nr.1/1930) established the suppression of all
postal gratuities enjoyed by state, county and city authorities,
starting the 1st of January 1930. Even the letter correspondence
of His Majesty the King, Royal
House and Regency were to be franchised by a special mark.
Will all these, at least since
the 1st of April 1933 Royal house correspondence enjoyed a postal
stamp exempt.
The Law for the Royal Cultural
Foundations, dated Bucharest, the 14th of April 1933, stipulated
the following (2, NR. 88/14th of April 1933):
Art. 1. Carol I Royal University
Foundation, Prince Carol Foundation, Bucharest, Ferdinand Foundation,
Iasi, and the Experimental Research Institute King Carol II from
Cluj will form a union named the Royal Cultural Foundations of Romania.
Art. 2. Besides the cultural
Foundations named at art. 1. Will be established in Bucharest, according
to a special statute, and will join the union, the King Carol II
Literature and Art Foundation, with the goal of helping by all means
the development of a higher culture in Romania
Art. 11. The Royal Cultural
Foundations and Establishments set up for the fulfillment of their
role are juridical persons. They are registration and fiscal tax
exempted, postal tax exempted, as well as any other state, county
or city tax exempted
Almost two years later, circular
postal order NR. 240.620, dated 31st of January 1935 (1, Nr./1935,
page 80) stated that:
regarding the decision
of the P.T.T. direction dated 16th of January 1935, the Royal Cultural
Foundations, as well as the Cultural homes pendants, are entitled
to forward, tax exempt, only letter and message correspondence.
Regarding magazines and various publications edited by the Foundations
and Cultural Homes, as well as postal orders, invitations to balls,
citations, etc. they will be forwarded taxed according to P.T.T.
tariffs.
This order was amended by another
circular order, Nr.34.190/th.of February 1935, by which it was established
that:
Royal Cultural foundations
and Cultural Homes pendants, are entitled to forward, tax exempt,
magazines and different publications edited by the above mentioned
institutes.
For the Prince Mircea Society
from Cluj, there are no known documents, for the moment, that foresee
a postal tax exempt for its postal correspondence, but, probably,
these documents exist.
Although this society did not
have the title "Royal", it was included in this study,
as having the name of a person belonging to the Royal House.
The Law for postal, telegraphic and telephonic exploitation from
1938 (2, Nr. 143/25th of June 1938) established the following gratuities
for the Royal house and the Royal Cultural Foundations:
Art. 77. There are
tax exempted the following:
a) Postal expenditures of all
kinds, telegraphic and telephonic correspondence of His Majesty
The King and His Majesty the High Prince of Alba Iulia, of all members
of the Royal and Princely family
b) Postal expenditures
of all kinds and telegraphic correspondence regarding work attributions
by the Royal and Princely House Administration, the Royal Crown
Domain administration, the Royal cultural foundations, authorities
and private
.
The postal tax exempt for the
Royal house and its Cultural Foundations existed until the 30th
of December 1947, when king Mihai abdicated. .
2.The marking of correspondence
that is tax exempted.
The correspondence
of King Carol the second and his family was sent in envelopes having
in the upper corner the title
CASA M.S. REGELUI (His Majesty's
House), underlined with two thin parallel lines, or other similar
titles
The correspondence of the Royal Cultural Foundations were sent in
envelopes printed in the left upper corner with the name of the
foundation, the address and the monogram of King Carol II CC in
the case of King Carol II Foundations, or a crown in the case of
Ferdinand I Foundation.
A part of these envelopes were
printed with a rectangle, in the right upper side, with the inscription
"Recunoscuta ca / persoana morala / si juridica. Scutita
/ de plata taxelor / de timbru si inre- / gistrare si taxele / postale
prin legea / publicata in Mo-/ nitorul Oficial / Nr. 88/933"
(Known as moral and juridical person. Exempted of postal, fiscal
and registration taxes by law 88/933, published in the official
Bulletin)
On other envelopes the rectangle was
replaced by a rectangular stamp in blue ink (93 x 35 mm):
"Fundatiunea Regelui Ferdinand I / Scutita / de taxele de
timbru si inregistrare, de / taxele postale, precum si de orice
impo- / zite catre stat, judet sau comuna. Legea / pentru Fundatiune
Culturale Regale pub- / licata in Monitorul Oficial, partea I No
88 / din 14 aprilie 1933" (King Ferdinand I Foundation,
fiscal, registration and postal tax exempted, as well as any tax
to the state, county or city. The Law for the Royal Cultural Foundations
Nr. 88/14th of April 1938 published in the Official Bulletin).
Correspondence for Prince Mircea
Society was sent in envelopes printed with its full name in the
left upper corner. In the right upper corner there was a violet
stamp with three lines:
"Scutit de timbru conf. Ord. No.
/ 147144 al Ministerului de Finante / din 7 iunie 1927"
(Fiscal Tax Exempt acc. to order Nr. / 147144 of Ministry of Finance/
from the 7th of June 1927). This text explains of a fiscal and not
a postal tax exempt.
On the back of envelopes sent by Royal Cultural Foundations there
were always attached seals-stamps in different colors (blue, red,
violet, green
) with the name of the department from the forwarding
institution.
It has not been exactly established why an Aviation Fund stamp was
attached near the rectangle with the tax-exempt inscription on such
a correspondence sent from Bucharest in February 1939.
3.Correspondence with
Royal insignia marked with postal stamps.
Between 1933-1947, as well as
in the period before 1930 one can find mail with the Royal insignia
but stamped with postal stamps. The causes for the marking are multiple
and each correspondence has its own explanation.
One must take into account that at the Royal palaces in Bucharest,
Sinaia, Balcic, correspondence was sent by persons other than the
Royal family, using, many times, official Royal family envelopes.
Also, the Royal Domains Administration sent its mail in personal
interest, but used official envelopes, although not tax-exempt.
It is also known of Royal House correspondence marked by postage
stamps, but for a philatelic reason.
Postal regulations very clearly stated postal tax-exempt for Royal
House as well as Royal Cultural Foundations correspondence for the
periods: 1866-1929, 1933-1947.
Bibliography:
1.P.T.T. Bulletin, Bucharest,
1930 - 1947;
2. Romania Official Bulletin,
Bucharest, 1930 - 1947.
Engineer Calin MARINESCU