Michael I ( ; 25 October 1921 – 5 December 2017) was the last king of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947.
Shortly after Michael's birth, his father, Crown Prince Carol, had become involved in a controversial relationship with Magda Lupescu. In 1925, Carol was pressured to renounce his rights (in favour of his son Michael) to the throne and moved to Paris in exile with Lupescu. In July 1927, following the death of his grandfather Ferdinand I, Michael ascended the throne at age five, the youngest crowned head in Europe. As Michael was still a minor, a regency council was instituted, composed of his uncle Prince Nicolas, Patriarch Miron Cristea and Chief Justice Gheorghe Buzdugan. The council proved to be ineffective and, in 1930, Carol returned to Romania and replaced his son as monarch, reigning as Carol II. As a result, Michael returned to being heir apparent to the throne and was given the additional title of Grand Voievod of Alba-Iulia.
Carol II was forced to abdicate in 1940, and Michael once again became king. Under the government led by the military dictator Ion Antonescu, Romania became aligned with Nazi Germany. In 1944, Michael participated in a coup against Antonescu, appointed Constantin Sănătescu as his replacement, and subsequently declared an alliance with the Allies. In March 1945, political pressures forced Michael to appoint a pro-Soviet government headed by Petru Groza. From August 1945 to January 1946, Michael went on a "royal strike" and unsuccessfully tried to oppose Groza's communist-controlled government by refusing to sign and endorse its decrees. In November 1947, Michael attended the wedding of his cousins, the future Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in London. Shortly thereafter, on the morning of 30 December 1947, Groza met with Michael and compelled him to abdicate, while the monarchy was abolished. Michael was forced into exile, his properties confiscated, and his citizenship stripped. In 1948, he married Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma, with whom he had five daughters. The couple eventually settled in Switzerland.
Nicolae Ceaușescu's communist dictatorship was overthrown in December 1989, and the following year Michael attempted to return to Romania, only to be arrested and forced to leave upon arrival. In 1992, Michael was allowed to visit Romania for Easter, where he was greeted by huge crowds; a speech he gave from his hotel window drew an estimated one million people to Bucharest. Alarmed by Michael's popularity, the post-communist government of Ion Iliescu refused to allow him any further visits. In 1997, after Iliescu's defeat by Emil Constantinescu in the presidential election of the previous year, Michael's citizenship was restored and he was allowed to visit Romania again. Several confiscated properties, such as Peleș Castle and Săvârșin Castle, were eventually returned to his family.
Early life
Michael was born in 1921 at Foișor Castle on the Royal Complex of Peleș in Sinaia, Romania, the son of Crown Prince Carol of Romania and Crown Princess Elena. He was born as the paternal grandson of the then reigning King Ferdinand I of Romania and maternal grandson of the then reigning King Constantine I of Greece. Michael's parents had married on 10 March 1921, and he was thus born just seven months after the wedding.
When Carol eloped with his mistress Elena Magda Lupescu and renounced his rights to the throne in December 1925, Michael was declared heir apparent. Michael succeeded to the throne of Romania upon Ferdinand's death in July 1927, before his sixth birthday.Bucur, Marie "Carol II" pages 87-118 from Balkan Strongmen: Dictators and Authoritarian Rulers of South Eastern Europe edited by Bernd Jürgen Fischer, West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2007 p. 97. Later, Michael attended a special school established in 1932 by his father.
Reign 1930s and the Antonescu era
A regency, which included his uncle, Prince Nicolae, Patriarch Miron Cristea, and the country's Chief Justice (Gheorghe Buzdugan, and from October 1929, Constantin Sărăţeanu) functioned on behalf of the five-year-old Michael, when he succeeded Ferdinand in 1927. Notably, Queen Maria was absent from the regency, despite having been a figure of authority until then. The oath was taken before parliament on 20 July 1927. The main political parties had different attitudes toward the regency: the National Liberal Party supported it, while the National Peasants' Party even discussed the possibility of bringing Carol II back to the country. In 1930, Carol II returned to the country at the invitation of politicians dissatisfied with the regency in the context of the Great Depression, and was proclaimed king by the Parliament. Michael was demoted to crown prince with the title "Grand Voivode of Alba Iulia". This title had been proposed by Mihail Manoilescu and provoked protests in parliament from Nicolae Iorga. Following his father's restoration, Michael's mother was exiled to Florence, and a strict visiting regime was imposed, allowing her to see her son only for a few weeks each year. In November 1939, Michael joined the Romanian Senate, as the 1938 Constitution guaranteed him a seat there upon reaching the age of eighteen."Ce citeau românii acum 68 de ani?", Ziua, 29 November 2007.
Just days after the Second Vienna Award, the pro-Nazi anti-Soviet regime of Prime Minister Marshal Ion Antonescu staged a coup d'état against Carol II, whom he 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 in September 1940. (Although the Constitution was restored in 1944, and the Romanian Parliament in 1946, Michael did not subsequently take a formal oath nor have his reign approved retroactively by Parliament.) Michael was crownedFundamental Rules of the Royal Family of Romania, The Romanian Royal Family website as. Retrieved 8 January 2008 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. "The Joys of Suffering," Volume 2, "Dialogue with a few intellectuals", by Rev. Fr. Dimitrie Bejan – "Orthodox Advices" website as of 9 June 2007 Although King Michael was formally the Supreme Head of the Army, named Conducător ("Leader of the people"), and entitled to appoint the Prime Minister with full powers, in reality he was forced to remain a figurehead for most of the war, until August 1944. Ioan Scurtu, Theodora Stănescu-Stanciu, Georgiana Margareta Scurtu, The History of the Romanians between 1918 and 1940 ("Istoria românilor între anii 1918–1940") , page 280. 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 Italy in 1941. "Comí con Hitler, era estirado y frío. Mussolini parecía más humano"
Turning against Nazi Germany
In 1944, World War II was going badly for the Axis powers, but Antonescu was still in control of Romania. By August 1944, the Soviet conquest of Romania had become inevitable, and was expected in a few months."Bulgaria". Encyclopædia Britannica. On 23 August 1944, Michael joined the pro-Allies politicians, a number of army officers, and armed Communist-led civilians in staging a coup against Antonescu. Michael ordered his arrest by the Royal Palace Guard. On the same night, the new Prime Minister, Lt. General Constantin Sănătescu—appointed by King Michael—gave custody of Antonescu to the communists (in spite of alleged instructions to the contrary by the King), and the latter delivered him to the Soviets on 1 September."23 August – radiografia unei lovituri de Palat", paragraph "Predaţi comuniştilor", Dosare Ultrasecrete, Ziua, 19 August 2006 In a radio broadcast to the Romanian nation and army, Michael issued a ceasefire just as the Red Army was penetrating the Moldavian front, proclaimed Romania's loyalty to the Allies, announced the acceptance of the armistice offered by the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union, and declared war on Germany.Dictatura a luat sfarsit si cu ea inceteaza toate asupririle ("The Dictatorship Has Ended and along with It All Oppression") – From The Proclamation to The Nation of King Michael I on The Night of 23 August 1944, Curierul Naţional, 7 August 2004 However, this did not avert a rapid Soviet occupation and capture of about 130,000 Romanian soldiers, who were transported to the Soviet Union where many perished in prison camps."Romania – Armistice Negotiations and Soviet Occupation". countrystudies.us.
Although the country's alliance with Nazi Germany 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","Hitler Resorts To 'Puppets' In Romania" , The Washington Post, 25 August 1944. an "unconditional""King Proclaims Nation's Surrender and Wish to Help Allies", The New York Times, 24 August 1944 "surrender". It has been suggested by Romanian historians that the coup may have shortened World War II by six months, thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives.Constantiniu, Florin, "O istorie sinceră a poporului român" ("An Honest History of the Romanian People"), Ed. Univers Enciclopedic, București, 1997,
At the end of the war, King Michael was awarded the highest degree (Chief Commander) of the American Legion of Merit by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. "Cuvintele lui Harry S. Truman", Romanian, Prince Radu's blog, includes scan of citation, 23 June 2011 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. Armata Română în Al Doilea Război Mondial. Romanian Army in World War II. Bucharest: "Meridiane" publishing house, 1995, p. 196
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, "What was done in Romania between 1945 and 1947 it has also been done since 1989", Ziua, 24 August 2000 King Michael eventually gave up his opposition to the communist government and stopped demanding its resignation.