Prince Radu Duda

People often complain about city councils and county boards spending long hours doing beginning-of-the-meeting presentations before finally getting on to the people's businesses, but at least this one is fun to say. Prince Radu Duda of Romania will receive a scroll of welcome from the county Board of Supervisors tomorrow. Go on, say it: Prince Radu Duda of Romania. Wasn't that fun?

Not that Prince Radu Duda of Romania is technically royalty. He did inherit the title, true, but if Wikipedia is steering me straight, somewhere between the royal family abdicating in 1940, regaining power in 1944, abdicating again in 1947 and Romania eventually becoming a democracy, Romania stopped really having a “Royal Highness,” as he is listed on the county's agenda. However, Lourdes Saab, the county's chief deputy of protocol, who arranges visits from dignitaries, said Prince Radu Duda is highly respected in Romania.

“Romania's no longer a monarchy, so if it had a monarchy, he would be royalty,” Saab said. “But he does have a respected government position as a special government representative, equivalent to a cabinet position, and he was instrumental in getting Romania into the EU ... and he has the title, royalty never lose their title.”

This digression from hard-news reporting was brought to you by my fascination with the name of Prince Radu Duda, Prince of Romania.

The county supes will also have substantive things to vote on, such as reducing the chance that people's Social Security Numbers will appear on public records (that story should be in the paper tomorrow), deciding to develop a coordinated countywide gang reduction plan, and contracting with shelter providers to offer five emergency shelters for mentally ill teens and young adults, including one in El Monte.