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King Mihai I / Michael I [1927-1930, 1940-1947]

HM King Michael I was born to King Charles II and his consort, Queen Helen. Bearing the title "Grand Voivode of Alba-Iulia" ("Mare Voievod de Alba-Iulia"), granted during that time to the heir apparent, he first became King at the age of 5, on July 20th 1927, when his father abandoned the throne to marry a woman of common descent, Elena "Magda" Lupescu. Because His Majesty was too young to rule with full prerogatives at the time, a regency was formed by his uncle, Prince Nicholas (King Ferdinand's second son), the patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Miron Cristea, and the president of the High Court of Cassation, Gheorghe Buzdugan. His Majesty was forced to quit the throne upon return of his father in 1930.

The serious crisis of 1940 led to the abdication of King Carol II in favor of his son, Mihai I (Michael of Romania). His second reign (1940-1947) was marked by a series of global-scale events that would permanently alter the course of Romania's development for the coming years: World War II and the spread of communism in Eastern Europe. As political power had been seized in 1940 by the "Legionnaire" movement, led by then-general Ion Antonescu, King Michael was unable to exert his full royal power during this reign. In the fall of 1940, a Nazi military mission entered Romania. This situation, together with the hope of regaining Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina, and the danger of Bolshevism, made the government (led by Ion Antonescu) decide to side with Germany, and declare war on the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941), and subsequently, on the USA and the UK.

His efforts to maintain Romania's sovereignty and integrity did not go silent. As a result of a coup d'état supported by the major political parties and King Michael's personal involvement, on August 23, 1944, the Antonescu regime was overthrown. Michael's action, accomplished with co-conspirators, allowed Romania to switch to the Allied side and had a notable impact on the war.

Romania turned arms against Germany and placed its whole military and economic capability at the service of the anti-fascist coalition. Romania's support of Germany, which was fighting a losing battle on the Eastern Front, ceased and joining the Allied Countries, Romania took part in the war until the May 1945 victory. Antonescu, who was also responsible for the extermination of hundreds of thousands of Jews and Roma during the war, was executed in 1946.

As the result of the military occupation and the agreements of I.V.Stalin and Winston Churchill in Moscow (in the autumn of 1944), Romania fell into the Soviet sphere of influence, with communism becoming its governing system. The communists gradually increased their ranks in the government, with Soviet support. A pro-communist government headed by Petru Groza took over power. On June 1946, Marshal Ion Antonescu was executed.

On the territory of Romania Soviet troops were stationed and the country was abandoned by the Western powers, so the next stage brought a similar evolution to that of the other satellites of the Soviet Empire. The whole government was forcibly taken over by the communists, the political parties were banned and their members were persecuted and arrested.

At first, King Michael opposed the postwar communist regime led by Petru Groza during the so-called "Royal Strike" (1945-46) by refusing to sign any government decrees that required royal sanctioning, but he was pushed into cooperation by increased international political pressure. On December 30, 1947, King Michael I was compelled to abdicate and the same day the people's republic was proclaimed; democratic opposition forces were brutally liquidated. The single-party dictatorship was established, based on an omnipotent and omnipresent surveillance and repression force.

King Michael went into exile, settling first in the United Kingdom, and later, permanently, in Switzerland, where he remained as a symbol of the Romanian people's hopes, of the royal dynasty, and of the prosperity and wealth it brought to the country. In November 1947, at the wedding ceremony of HRH princess Elizabeth of Great Britain (the future Queen Elizabeth II), he met princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma, whom he wed the following year. The King and Queen had five children: TRH Princesses Margaret, Helen, Irina, Sofia, and Maria.

Although the political climate in Romania after the anti-communist revolution did not allow the restoration of the monarchy, King Michael was well received by the Romanian people on the occasion of his return to Bucharest, after having been away from his homeland for nearly 45 years, in 1992.

In 2004 senators refused to hasten debates on a bill to clarify the legal status of properties belonging to the country’s former king. A government request for an urgent debate on the bill was denied 57 votes to 27. In a rare consensus, the Hungarian Union (UDMR), a governing party’s ally, and their archfoes of the opposition Greater Romania Party (PRM) voted against the bill. So did several members of the governing party itself, particularly Senate President Nicolae Vacaroiu and Sen. Antonie Iorgovan. Most Social Democrats supported their government’s request, while the opposition Liberals and Democrats abstained.

Senator Gheorghe Buzatu of the Greater Romania Party argued that uncertainties persisted as to the former king’s assets. He suggested that a commission be set up to make a clear inventory of the ex-royal possessions and determine "what belongs to whom," that is, to discern the private properties of Michael I from what should lawfully be regarded as state property. Another PRM senator objected to the government’s attempt to rush through a bill on which the lawmakers had too little information. "We should first be told what the amount proposed as compensation to the former king stands for," said Valentin Dinescu. UDMR’s Gyorgy Frunda said he failed to see why the matter was so urgent while the state had yet to compensate more than half the country’s population for properties they lost during the Communist regime.

The government’s bill proposed that King Michael I be offered €30 million to compensate him for buildings on the Peles domain, and related goods that the state would rather keep in its own possession. The bill also provided that another building, known as The Knights’ House, should be returned to the former king. In addition, King Michael, Princess Margaret, his oldest daughter, and her husband were to retain use of Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest throughout their lifetimes. The former king was also allowed to use the Peles domain castles-Peles, Pelisor, and Foisor-as venues for important events.

The oldest surviving World War II-era head of state and for decades the patriarch of a waning monarchy, he spent most of his twilight years not in any of a choice of Romanian royal palaces but in a small house overlooking Lake Leman, in the Swiss countryside. But in March 2016, with serious health issues mounting, at age 94 Michael announced his retirement from public life, with duties to be carried out by his eldest daughter, Princess Margareta, the Custodian of the Crown. He was said to be suffering from chronic leukemia and epidermoid carcinoma.

Despite Romania’s salic law, preventing women from inheriting the throne, King Michael has stated that should Romania restore the monarchy, they should also abolish the salic law. He designated his eldest daughter Margareta as Crown Princess. As she and her husband have no children, her second sister’s son Nicholas was designated as ‘Prince of Romania’ in 2007, though this title was taken away in 2015, possibly due to him having fathered an illegitimate child. He was also removed from the line of succession, as was his aunt Princess Irina of Romania, who was arrested for being part of an illegal cock fighting ring.