Petre was born in
Iași,
Moldavia in 1819 into noble
Mavrogheni family. He was a conservative politician who started his career as
prefect of
Galați in 1849. He then served as the Minister of Finance of Principality of Moldavia in 1861, after which he held the office of Minister of Finance of Romania, serving three terms from 16 February 1866 to 10 May 1866, from 15 July 1866 to 21 February 1867, and from 11 March 1871 to 7 January 1875. He also held the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs from 11 May until 13 July 1866. Mavrogheni was then the Ambassador of Romania to Italy in 1881–1882, to the
Ottoman Empire in 1882–1885, and to
Austria-Hungary in 1885–1887. In 1855, Mavrogheni along with
Mihail Kogălniceanu drafted a bill for legislation which would abolish the
slavery of the
Roma minority in Moldavia. On 22 December 1855 the law was voted on and slavery was abolished. ==References==