Michael I of Romania

Michael I (Mihai I ; born 25 October 1921) is the former king of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced to abdicate by the government controlled by the Communist Party of Romania. In addition to being the current claimant to the disestablished throne of Romania, he was also a Prince of Hohenzollern until 10 May 2011, when he renounced this title.

A great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria through both of his parents, and a third cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, he is the last surviving monarch from the Interbellum and one of only two surviving heads of state from World War II,  the other being the former King Simeon II of Bulgaria.

Early life
Michael was born in the Foișor Castle or Peleș Castle, Sinaia, Romania, the son of Carol II of Romania (then Crown Prince of Romania) and Princess Elena of Greece. He was born as the grandson of the then-reigning King Ferdinand of Romania. When Carol II eloped with his mistress Elena "Magda" Lupescu and renounced 'temporarily' his rights to the throne in December 1925, Michael was declared the heir apparent. He succeeded to the throne upon Ferdinand's death in July 1927.

1930s and the Antonescu era
A regency, which included his uncle, Prince Nicolae, Patriarch Miron Cristea, and the country's Chief Justice (Gheorghe Buzdugan, from October 1929 on Constantin Sărățeanu) functioned on behalf of the 6-year-old Michael when he succeeded Ferdinand in 1927. In 1930, Carol II returned to the country at the invitation of politicians dissatisfied with the Regency, and was proclaimed king by the Parliament, designating Michael as Crown Prince with the title "Grand Voievod of Alba-Iulia". In November 1939, Michael joined the Romanian Senate, as the 1938 Constitution guaranteed him a seat there upon reaching the age of eighteen. In September 1940, the pro-German anti-Bolshevik régime of Prime Minister Marshal Ion Antonescu staged a coup d'état against Carol II, whom the Marshal claimed to be 'anti-German'. Antonescu suspended the Constitution, dissolved the Parliament, and re-installed the 18-year-old Michael as king by popular acclaim. (Although the Constitution was restored in 1944 and the Romanian Parliament in 1946, Michael did not either subsequently take a formal oath or have his reign approved retroactively by Parliament.) Michael was crowned with the Steel Crown and anointed King of Romania by the Orthodox Patriarch of Romania, Nicodim Munteanu, in the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest, on the day of his accession, 6 September 1940. Although King Michael was formally the Supreme Head of the Army and entitled to appoint the Prime Minister with full powers named 'Leader of the people' ("Conducător"), in reality he was forced to remain only a figurehead until August 1944. Michael had lunch with Adolf Hitler twice, once with his father in Bavaria in 1937, and with his mother in Berlin in 1941. He also met Benito Mussolini in 1941, in Italy.

Turning against Nazi Germany
In 1944, World War II was going badly for the Axis powers, but the military dictator Prime Minister Marshal Ion Antonescu was still in control of Romania. By August 1944, the Soviet conquest of Romania had become inevitable, being expected in a few months. On 23 August 1944, Michael joined the pro-Allied politicians, a number of army officers, and armed communist-led civilians in staging a coup against Antonescu, whereas it was recognized in the late 1970s that King Michael ordered his arrest by the Royal Palace Guard. On the same night, the new Prime Minister, Lt. General Constantin Sănătescu—who was appointed by King Michael—gave custody of Antonescu to the communists (in spite of alleged instructions to the contrary by the King), who delivered him to the Soviets on 1 September. In a radio broadcast to the Romanian nation and army, Michael issued a cease-fire just as the Red Army was penetrating the Moldavian front, proclaimed Romania's loyalty to the Allies, announced a unilateral armistice with the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR, and declared war on Germany. However, as no armistice had been formally offered by the Allies, the Soviet Army rapidly occupied the country and captured of about 130,000 Romanian soldiers, who were transported to the Soviet Union where many perished in prison camps. Although the country's alliance with the Nazis was ended, the coup sped the Red Army's advance into Romania. The armistice was signed three weeks later on 12 September 1944, on terms the Soviets virtually dictated. Under the terms of the armistice, Romania recognized its defeat by the USSR and was placed under occupation of the Allied forces with the Soviets, as their representative, in control of media, communication, post, and civil administration behind the front. The coup effectively amounted to a "capitulation", an "unconditional" "surrender". It has been suggested that the coup may have shortened World War II by six months, thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives.

At the end of the war, King Michael was awarded the highest degree (Chief Commander) of the Legion of Merit by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. He was also decorated with the Soviet Order of Victory by Joseph Stalin "for the courageous act of the radical change in Romania's politics towards a break-up from Hitler's Germany and an alliance with the United Nations, at the moment when there was no clear sign yet of Germany's defeat," according to the official description of the decoration. With the death of Michał Rola-Żymierski in 1989, Michael became the sole surviving recipient of the Order of Victory.

Reign under communism
In March 1945, political pressures forced King Michael to appoint a pro-Soviet government headed by Petru Groza. For the next two-plus years Michael functioned again as little more than a figurehead. Between August 1945 and January 1946, during what was later known as the "royal strike," King Michael tried unsuccessfully to oppose the Groza government by refusing to sign its decrees. In response to Soviet, British, and American pressures, King Michael eventually gave up his opposition to the communist government and stopped demanding its resignation.

He did not pardon former Marshal Antonescu, who was sentenced to death "for betrayal of the Romanian people for the benefit of Nazi Germany, for the economic and political subjugation of Romania to Germany, for cooperation with the Iron Guard, for murdering his political opponents, for the mass murder of civilians and crimes against peace". Nor did King Michael manage to save such leaders of the opposition as Iuliu Maniu and the Bratianus, victims of communist political trials, as the Constitution prevented him from doing so without the counter-signature of communist Justice Minister Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (who himself was later eliminated by Gheorghiu-Dej's opposing communist faction). The memoirs of King Michael's aunt Princess Ileana quoted Emil Bodnăraș— her alleged lover, Romania's communist minister of defense, and a Soviet spy —as saying: "Well, if the King decides not to sign the death warrant, I promise that we will uphold his point of view." Princess Ileana was skeptical: "You know quite well (...) that the King will never of his free will sign such an unconstitutional document. If he does, it will be laid at your door, and before the whole nation your government will bear the blame. Surely you do not wish this additional handicap at this moment!"

Forced abdication
In November 1947 King Michael travelled to London for the wedding of his cousins, Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, an occasion during which he met Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma (his second cousin once removed), who was to become his wife. According to unconfirmed claims by so-called Romanian 'royalists', King Michael did not want to return home, but certain Americans and Britons present at the wedding encouraged him to do so; Winston Churchill is said to have counselled Michael to return because "above all things, a King must be courageous." According to his own account, King Michael rejected any offers of asylum and decided to return to Romania, contrary to the confidential, strong advice of the British Ambassador to Romania.

Early on the morning of 30 December 1947, Michael was preparing for a New Year's party at Peleș Castle in Sinaia when Groza summoned him back to Bucharest. Michael returned to Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest to find it surrounded by troops from the Tudor Vladimirescu Division, an army unit completely loyal to the Communists. Groza and Communist Party boss Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej were waiting for him, and demanded that he sign a pretyped instrument of abdication. Unable to call in loyal troops due to his telephone lines allegedly being cut and with either Groza or Gheorghiu-Dej (depending on the source) holding a gun on him, Michael signed the document. Later the same day, the Communist-dominated government announced the 'permanent' abolition of the monarchy and its replacement by a People's Republic, broadcasting the King's pre-recorded radio proclamation of his own abdication. On 3 January 1948, Michael was forced to leave the country, followed over a week later by Princesses Elisabeth and Ileana, who collaborated so closely with the Soviets they became known as the King's "Red Aunts." He was the last monarch behind the Iron Curtain to lose his throne.

According to Michael's own account, Groza had threatened him at gun point   and warned that the government would shoot 1,000 arrested students if the king didn't abdicate. In an interview with The New York Times from 2007, Michael recalls the events: “It was blackmail. They said, ‘If you don’t sign this immediately we are obliged’ — why obliged I don’t know — 'to kill more than 1,000 students' that they had in prison.” According to Time Magazine, Groza threatened to arrest thousands of people and order a bloodbath unless Michael abdicated.

However, according to the autobiography of the former head of the Soviet intelligence agency NKVD, Major General Pavel Sudoplatov, the Deputy Soviet Foreign Commissar Andrey Vyshinsky personally conducted negotiations with King Michael for his abdication, guaranteeing part of a pension to be paid to Michael in Mexico. According to a few articles in Jurnalul Naţional, Michael's abdication was negotiated with the Communist government, which allowed him to leave the country with the goods he requested and by some of the royal retinue.

According to Albanian Communist leader Enver Hoxha's account of his conversations with the Romanian Communist leaders on the monarch's abdication, it was Gheorgiu-Dej, not Groza, who forced Michael's abdication at gunpoint. He was allowed to leave the country accompanied by some of his entourage and, as confirmed also by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev recounting Gheorghiu-Dej's confessions, with whatever properties he desired, including gold and rubies. Hoxha also wrote that pro-Communist troops surrounded the palace to counter army units who were still loyal to the king.

In March 1948, Michael denounced his abdication as illegal, and contended he was still the rightful king of Romania. According to Time magazine, he would have done so sooner, but for much of early 1948 he had been negotiating with the Communists over properties he'd left in Romania.

There are reports  that Romanian communist authorities, obedient to Stalin, allowed King Michael to part with 42 valuable Crown-owned paintings in November 1947, so that he would leave Romania faster. Some of these paintings were reportedly sold through the famed art dealer Daniel Wildenstein. One of the paintings belonging to the Romanian Crown which was supposedly taken out of the country by King Michael in November 1947, returned to Romania in 2004 as a donation made by John Kreuger, the former husband of King Michael's daughter Princess Irina.

In 2005 Romanian Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu denied these accusations about King Michael, stating that the Romanian government has no proof of any such action by King Michael and that, prior to 1949, the government had no official records of any artwork taken over from the former royal residences. However, according to some historians, such records existed as early as April 1948, having been, in fact, officially published in June 1948.

According to Ivor Porter's authorized biography, Michael of Romania: The King and The Country (2005), which quotes Queen-Mother Helen's daily diary, the Romanian royals took out paintings belonging to the Romanian Royal Crown on their November 1947 trip to London to the wedding of the future Queen Elizabeth II; two of these paintings, signed by El Greco, were sold in 1976.

According to recently declassified Foreign Office documents, when he left Romania, the exiled king Michael's only assets amounted to 500,000 Swiss francs. Recently declassified Soviet transcripts of talks between Joseph Stalin and the Romanian Prime-Minister Petru Groza show that shortly before his abdication, King Michael received from the communist government assets amounting to 500,000 Swiss francs. King Michael, however, repeatedly denied  that the communist government had allowed him to take into exile any financial assets or valuable goods besides four personal automobiles loaded on two train cars.

Life in exile


In January 1948, Michael began using one of his family's ancestral titles, "Prince of Hohenzollern," instead of using the title of "King of Romania." After denouncing his abdication as forced and illegal in March 1948, Michael resumed use of the kingly title.

On 10 June 1948 in Athens, Greece, he married Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma (born Paris, 18 September 1923), his second cousin once removed. They lived first in England and later settled in Switzerland. The Communist Romanian authorities illegally stripped him of his Romanian citizenship in 1948. He became a commercial pilot and worked for an aircraft equipment company. He and his wife have five daughters.

Return and rehabilitation
On December 25, 1990--a year after the revolution which overthrew the Communist dictatorship--Michael, accompanied by several members of the royal family, landed at Otopeni airport and entered Romania for the first time in 43 years. Using a Danish diplomatic passport, Michael was able to obtain a 24-hour visa. He intended to reach Curtea de Argeş Cathedral, pray at the tombs of his royal ancestors and attend the Christmas religious service. However, on their way to Curtea de Argeș, the King and his companions were stopped by a police filter, taken to the airport and forced to leave the country.

In 1992, the Romanian government allowed Michael to return to Romania for Easter celebrations, where he drew large crowds. In Bucharest over a million people turned out to see him. Michael's popularity alarmed the government of President Ion Iliescu, so Michael was forbidden to visit Romania again for five years.

In 1997, after Iliescu's defeat by Emil Constantinescu, the Romanian government restored Michael's citizenship and again allowed him to visit the country. He now lives partly in Switzerland at Aubonne and partly in Romania, either at Săvârșin Castle in Arad county or in an official residence in Bucharest—the Elisabeta Palace—voted by the Romanian Parliament by a law concerning arrangements for former heads of state.

Later years
Michael cannot be said to have encouraged monarchist agitation in Romania and royalist parties have made little impact in post-communist Romanian politics. He takes the view that the restoration of the monarchy in Romania can only result from a decision by the Romanian people. "If the people want me to come back, of course, I will come back," he said in 1990. "Romanians have had enough suffering imposed on them to have the right to be consulted on their future." King Michael's belief is that there is still a role for, and value in, the monarchy today: "We are trying to make people understand what the Romanian monarchy was, and what it can still do" (for them). According to a 2007 opinion poll conducted at the request of the Romanian Royal House, only 14% of Romanians were in favour of the restoration of the monarchy. Another 2008 poll found that only 16% of Romanians are monarchists.

Michael has undertaken some quasi-diplomatic roles on behalf of post-communist Romania. In 1997 and 2002 he toured Western Europe, lobbying for Romania's admission into NATO and the European Union, and was received by heads of state and government officials.

In December 2003, allegedly to the "stupefaction of the public opinion in Romania",  Michael awarded the "Man of The Year 2003" prize to Prime Minister Adrian Năstase, leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), on behalf of the tabloid VIP. The daily Evenimentul Zilei subsequently complained that 'such an activity was unsuited to a king and that Michael was wasting away his prestige', with the majority of the political analysts 'considering his gesture as a fresh abdication'.

On 10 May 2007, King Michael received the Prague Society for International Cooperation and Global Panel Foundation's 6th Annual Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award, previously awarded to Vladimir Ashkenazy, Madeleine Albright, Václav Havel, Lord Robertson, and Miloš Forman. On 8 April 2008, King Michael and Patriarch Daniel were elected as honorary members of the Romanian Academy.

Michael participated in the Victory parade in Moscow in 2010 as the only living Supreme Commander-in-Chief of a European State in the Second World War. The name of Michael I is listed on the memorial in the Grand Kremlin Palace as a recipient of the Order of Victory.

In old age, Michael has enjoyed a strong revival in popularity. On 25 October 2011, on the occasion of his 90th birthday, he delivered a speech before the assembled chambers of the Romanian Parliament. An opinion poll in January 2012 placed him as the most trusted public figure in Romania, far ahead of the political leaders. Later, in October 2012, celebrating Michael's 91st birthday, a square in Bucharest was renamed after him.

In a July 2013 survey, 45% of Romanians had a good or very good opinion of Michael, with 6.5% thinking the opposite. The Royal house also enjoyed similar numbers, with 41% having a good or very good opinion of it, and just 6.5% having a poor or very poor one.

Changes in House rules
According to the succession provisions of the Romanian kingdom's last democratically approved monarchical constitution of 1923, upon the death of King Michael without sons, the claim to the Crown devolves once again upon the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family (see "Line of succession to the former Romanian throne").

However, on 30 December 2007, on the 60th anniversary of his abdication, King Michael signed the Fundamental Rules of the Royal Family of Romania, by which he designated Princess Margarita as heiress to the throne with the titles of "Crown Princess of Romania" and "Custodian of the Romanian Crown."

This act is considered to be null and void according to some commentators, during the republican form of government and in the absence of approval by the Parliament. On the same occasion, Michael also asked the Romanian Parliament that, should it consider restoring the monarchy, it should also abolish the salic law of succession.

On 10 May 2011, on a background of lawsuits in Germany brought against his family by his German relatives regarding the former name Hohenzollern-Veringen of his son in law, Radu, and of fears expressed by some that the German Hohenzollerns may claim succession to the headship of the Romanian royal house, Michael severed all of the dynastic and historical ties with the princely house of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, changed the name of his family to "of Romania", and gave up all princely titles conferred to him and to his family by the German Hohenzollerns.

Personality and personal interests
Michael has had a reputation for staying silent. He once said to his grandmother, "I have learned not to say what I feel, and to smile at those I most hate."

At age 16, Michael, at that time crown prince, hit a bicyclist while driving a car according to the official Censorship Records, confirmed by the memoirs of the former prime minister Constantin Argetoianu, an accident that apparently resulted in the death of the bicyclist, censored in the press.

Before getting to know his future wife, Anne of Bourbon-Parma, Michael had a romantic relationship with, among others, a Greek woman, Dodo Chrisolegos, a protégée of the former Romanian Communist Party leader Ana Pauker. Some claim that political influences had been exerted upon King Michael through this liaison.

Michael was head of the Romanian Boy Scouts in the 1930s. He is passionate about cars, especially military jeeps. He is also interested in aircraft, having worked as a commercial flight pilot during his exile.

Family
Michael and Anne have five daughters:
 * Margarita (born 1949)
 * Elena (born 1950)
 * Irina (born 1953)
 * Sofia (born 1957)
 * Maria (born 1964)

Titles and styles

 * 25 October 1921 – 28 December 1925: His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Romania
 * 28 December 1925 – 20 July 1927: His Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Romania
 * 20 July 1927 – 8 June 1930: His Majesty The King of Romania
 * 8 June 1930 – 6 September 1940: His Royal Highness The Grand Voevod of Alba Iulia
 * 6 September 1940 – present: His Majesty The King of Romania

Dynastic orders

 * House of Romania: Grand Master of the Order of Carol I

Romanian honours

 * Ord.MichaeltheBrave-ribbon.jpg: Member (1st Class) of the Order of Michael the Brave (1941)
 * 🇷🇴 Romania : Emblema de Onoare a Armatei României ("The Romanian Army's Badge of Honor") - October 24, 2012

Foreign honours and decorations

 * Royal Victorian Order Honorary Ribbon.png: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)
 * CZE Rad Bileho Lva 1 tridy BAR.svg: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion
 * Legion Honneur GC ribbon.svg: Grand Cross of the Légion d'Honneur
 * GRE Order Redeemer 1Class.png: Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer
 * GRE Order of George I - Grand Cross BAR.png: Grand Cross of the Royal Order of George I
 * POL Order Orła Białego BAR.svg: Knight of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
 * Order of the Most Holy Annunciation BAR.svg: Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation (Kingdom of Italy, 1941)
 * Cavaliere di gran Croce Regno SSML BAR.svg: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Kingdom of Italy, 1941)
 * Cavaliere di Gran Croce OCI Kingdom BAR.svg: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy (Kingdom of Italy, 1941)
 * 60 victory rib.png: Jubilee Medal "60 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (Soviet Union)
 * Ordervictory rib.png: Recipient of the Order of Victory (Soviet Union, 6 July 1945) "For the courageous act of decisive turning in the direction of the Romanian policy against Germany and the alliance with the Allies in a time when it was not yet set a clear defeat of Germany"
 * US Legion of Merit Chief Commander ribbon.png: Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit
 * SMOM.svg: Knight of Malta

Other awards

 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Freeman of the City of London
 * 🇨🇿 Czech Republic: Honorary Citizen of Kromeriz