Alexandru Al. Ioan Cuza

Alexandru Al. Ioan Cuza was a Romanian aristocrat and politician. He was the eldest of the sons adopted by Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza and his consort, Elena Rosetti-Cuza. Public opinion and historians generally agree that both Cuza brothers were Cuza's natural sons from his mistress Maria Catargi-Obrenović, though another hypothesis has them as born to Maria from her liaison with Cezar Librecht, the Postmaster General and spy chief. His biological and his adoptive mother both belonged to the boyar aristocracy of Moldavia. Through Catargi, Alexandru and Dimitrie were half-brothers of Milan I Obrenović, the King of Serbia, and of General Radu Catargi. During his brief political activity, Alexandru was repeatedly described as a Russophile or more specifically an agent of the Russian Empire, resembling in this Maria and her father, Costin Catargi.²