"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 had left in Romania. There are reports that Romanian communist authorities allowed King Michael to depart 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,"
"was advancing westward beyond the borders of USSR to defeat Nazi Germany and its allies. It was in this context that the Soviet forces crossed into Romania and occupied Northern and Eastern Moldavia. On August 23, 1944 King Michael launched a coup d'état, thereby overthrowing the pro-Nazi government of Ion Antonescu, and putting Romania's Army on the side of the Allies. As a result, King Michael was the last monarch behind the Iron Curtain to lose his throne, on December 30, 1947. The coup facilitated the advance of the Red Army into Romania at an accelerated pace, and enabled the"
"had moved to Copăceni Castle. On the evening of 30 December 1947, King Michael abdicated. Much later, he claimed that he was forced to do it at gunpoint, with the Palace surrounded by troops from the Tudor Vladimirescu Division, an army unit completely loyal to the Communists. Following King Michael's abdication and throughout the period of the ""Socialist Republic of Romania"", the Palace fell into disuse until 2001, when the former Royal Family returned to Romania after nearly five decades of exile. At that time, they were given official use of the Palace by a bill signed by Traian Băsescu,"
"were waiting for him, and demanded that he sign a pre-typed 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"
"Michael was a third cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Harald V of Norway, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden and Queen Elizabeth II. In addition to being the claimant to the defunct throne of Romania, he was also a Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 10 May 2011, when he renounced this title. For most of his life, he would have been in line of succession to the British throne had he not married a Roman Catholic (though the ban on marriage to a Roman Catholic was lifted in the 2011 Perth Agreement"
"Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, most of the Banat became part of Romania. Also, Bukovina was incorporated in 1918. Ferdinand died in 1927. His eldest son, Crown Prince Carol, having renounced his rights, Carol's only son Michael ascended the throne. In 1930, however, Carol reclaimed the throne and was crowned Carol II. Carol was forced to abdicate in 1940, and Michael re-mounted the throne. His reign, and that of the dynasty, ended when he was forced to abdicate by a communist regime in 1947. On 10 May 2011, following lawsuits brought in Germany"
"2012, celebrating Michael's 91st birthday, a square in Bucharest was renamed after him. On 1 August 2016, he became a widower when Queen Anne died at the age of 92. On 2 March 2016, the Royal Council announced King Michael's retirement from public life; with tasks assumed by Crown Princess Margareta, his daughter. After surgery, King Michael was diagnosed with chronic leukemia and metastatic epidermoid carcinoma and faced a complex and lengthy treatment. In June 2017, the Royal House stated in a press release that ""His Majesty's health is fragile but stable. King Michael is quiet, has soulful appreciation and"
"and Leninist theories and principles and kept him close as Gheorghiu-Dej steadily gained power after their release from prison in 1944. In 1946-1947, he was a member of Romania's Gheorghe Tătărescu-led delegation to the Paris Peace Conference. On 30 December 1947, Gheorghiu-Dej and Prime Minister Petru Groza forced King Michael to abdicate. Years later, the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania, Enver Hoxha alleged that Gheorghiu-Dej personally pulled a gun on the King and threatened to kill him unless he gave up the throne. Hours later, the legislature, fully dominated by the Communists as a result of"
"the awarding of honorary citizenship of Romania to Stalin, in August 1947. Early on the morning of 30 December, Groza summoned Michael back to Bucharest, ostensibly ""to discuss important matters""; the king had been preparing for a New Year's party at his palace in Sinaia. When Michael arrived, Groza presented the king with a pretyped instrument of abdication and demanded that Michael sign it. According to Michael's claims, when he refused, Groza threatened to launch a bloodbath and arrest thousands of people. Michael eventually signed the document, and a few hours later parliament abolished the monarchy and declared Romania a"
"an audience with the king, who received them along with his mother. The two politicians asked Michael I to signed a declaration of abdication. The king refused, and the two men threatened that if he persisted, thousands of young monarchists would be executed in retaliation. Forced with this blackmail, Michael I renounced the crown. Only hours after the announcement, the Romanian People's Republic was proclaimed. Michael I and Helen left Romania with some partisans on 3 January 1948. Despite their close links with the Communists, Princesses Elisabeth and Ileana were also forced to leave the country a few days later,"
"1947, Groza requested a meeting with Michael where he was forced to abdicate. Michael was forced into exile, his properties confiscated, and his citizenship stripped. He married Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma in 1948, with whom he had five daughters, and eventually settled in Switzerland. Nicolae Ceaușescu's communist dictatorship was overthrown in 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"
"India and King of Pakistan instead. In 1950 he ceased to be King of India when it became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations and recognised his new title of Head of the Commonwealth; he remained King of Pakistan until his death. Other countries left the Commonwealth, such as Burma in January 1948, Palestine (divided between Israel and the Arab states) in May 1948 and the Republic of Ireland in 1949. In 1947, the King and his family toured Southern Africa. The Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, Jan Smuts, was facing an election and hoped to"
"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 Gheorghiu-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"
"attacking the Soviet Union. Antonescu himself was executed 1 June 1946. By 1947, Romania remained the only monarchy in the Eastern Bloc. On 30 December that year, Michael was at his palace in Sinaia when Groza and Gheorghiu-Dej summoned him back to Bucharest. They presented him with a pretyped instrument of abdication and demanded that he sign it. With pro-Communist troops surrounding his palace and his telephone lines cut, Michael was forced to sign the document. Hours later, Parliament abolished the monarchy and proclaimed Romania a People's Republic. In February 1948, the Communists forced what remained of the Social Democrats"
"ring a few days later, he felt obliged to refrain from a public announcement until he informed his government, despite the fact that the press besieged them in anticipation. Michael returned to Romania, where he was told by the prime minister that a wedding announcement was not ""opportune"". Yet within days it was used as the government's public explanation for Michael's sudden ""abdication"", when in fact the king was deposed by the Communists on 30 December. Anne was unable to get further news of Michael until he left the country. They finally reunited in Davos on 23 January 1948. As"
"Gyanendra was peacefully deposed in May 2008 and the country became a federal republic. One of the world's oldest monarchies was abolished in Ethiopia in 1974 with the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie. The majority of current monarchies are constitutional monarchies. In most of these, the monarch wields only symbolic power, although in some, the monarch does play a role in political affairs. In Thailand, for instance, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned from 1946 to 2016, played a critical role in the nation's political agenda and in various military coups. Similarly, in Morocco, King Mohammed VI wields significant, but not"
"features of democracy such as a constitution, a parliament, political parties etc., it still had a king and was politically oligarchic. As the King Michael continuously refused to abdicate the throne, Groza threatened him with the civil war. Michael wanted to avoid the bloodshed and he gave in on 30th of December, 1947, and on that same day, the Romanian People's Republic was declared. As the Romanian People's Republic was declared, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej became the first president of the country and the Communist politicians, including himself, were eager to establish the foundation of the totalitarian state. As a first step,"
"will uphold his point of view."" Princess Ileana was sceptical: ""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!"" 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"
"who was to give the bride away. The wedding ceremony was held on 10 June 1948 in Athens, Greece, in the throne room of the Royal Palace; the ceremony was performed by Archbishop Damaskinos and King Paul of Greece served as ""koumbaros"". Guests at the wedding included: Michael's mother Helen, Queen Mother of Romania, aunts Queen Frederica, Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, Duchess of Aosta, Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark; cousins Alexandra, Queen Consort of Yugoslavia, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark, Crown Prince Constantine of Greece and Princess Irene of Greece and"
"powers were minimal within Groza's regime, King Michael symbolized the remnants of the traditional Romanian monarchy and, in late 1945, the King urged Groza to resign. The King maintained that Romania must abide by the Yalta accords, allowing the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union to each have a hand in post-war government reconstruction and the incorporation of a broader coalition force he had already organized. Groza flatly rejected the request, and relations between the two figures remained tense over the next few years, with Groza and the King differing on the persecution of war criminals and in"
"King Michael's Coup King Michael's Coup was a ""coup d'état"" led by King Michael I of Romania during World War II on 23 August 1944. With the support of several political parties, the king removed the government of Ion Antonescu, which had aligned Romania with Nazi Germany, after the Axis front in northeastern Romania collapsed in the face of a successful Soviet offensive. The Romanian Army declared a unilateral ceasefire with the Soviet Red Army on the Moldavian front, an event viewed as decisive in the Allied advances against the Axis powers in the European theatre of World War II."
"Michael, after his 1940 departure from Romania. Michael could see no point in meeting his father who had humiliated his mother so many times via his open affairs and did not attend his father's funeral. Carol died in Estoril, on the Portuguese Riviera, in 1953. His coffin was placed inside the Pantheon of the House of Braganza in Lisbon. His remains were finally returned to the Curtea de Argeș monastery in Romania in 2003, the traditional burial ground of Romanian royalty, at the request and expense of the government of Romania. They lie outside the cathedral, the burial place of"
"naught in 1955, a military coup overthrew the kingless monarchy in Cambodia in 1970 and a Communist takeover ended the monarchy in Laos in 1975. Cambodia's monarchy later saw an unexpected rebirth under an internationally mediated peace settlement with former king Norodom Sihanouk being restored as a figurehead in 1993. In a referendum in Brazil in 1993, voters rejected an attempt to restore the country's monarchy. Unsuccessful efforts to restore the monarchies of some of the Balkan states in the former Eastern Bloc continue. Former King Michael of Romania and Prince Alexander of Serbia have been allowed to return, gained"
"princely house of Hohenzollern, changed the name of his family to ""of Romania"", and gave up all princely titles conferred upon him and his family by the German Hohenzollerns. On 1 August 2015, Michael signed a document removing the title Prince of Romania and the qualification of Royal Highness from his grandson, Nicholas Medforth-Mills, who was also removed from the line of succession. The former king took the decision ""with an eye on Romania's future after the reign and life of his eldest daughter, Margareta"". The former king hoped that ""Nicholas will find in future years a suitable way to"
"after the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and was only allowed to return to the country in 1992. King Michael's Coup King Michael's Coup was a ""coup d'état"" led by King Michael I of Romania during World War II on 23 August 1944. With the support of several political parties, the king removed the government of Ion Antonescu, which had aligned Romania with Nazi Germany, after the Axis front in northeastern Romania collapsed in the face of a successful Soviet offensive. The Romanian Army declared a unilateral ceasefire with the Soviet Red Army on the Moldavian front, an event viewed as"
"casualties. The Paris Peace Treaty at the end of World War II rendered the Vienna Awards void: Northern Transylvania returned to Romania, but Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and southern Dobruja were not recovered. The Moldavian-SSR became independent of the Soviet Union only with the latter's 1991 demise and turned into the Republic of Moldova. In 1947, King Michael I was forced by the Communists to abdicate and leave the country. Romania was proclaimed a people's republic and remained under direct military and economic control of the USSR until the late 1950s. During this period, Romania's resources were drained by the ""SovRom"""
"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 head of state, 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,"
"recovering from World War II, the revolt in the oil-rich Dutch East Indies saw sharp criticism of the Queen by the Dutch economic elite. Around the same time, Wilhelmina's health started failing her, forcing her to cede her monarchial duties to Juliana temporarily towards the end of 1947 (14 October through 1 December). She considered abdication, but Juliana pressed her to stay on for the stability of the nation, urging her to stay on the throne until 1950 so she could celebrate her diamond jubilee. Wilhelmina had every intention of doing so, but exhaustion forced her to relinquish monarchial duties"
"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. As Princess Anne was Roman Catholic, the couple asked for a dispensation from Pope Pius XII for the marriage. Negotiations with the Vatican broke down when Michael refused to promise to raise any future children Catholic, as it would have been deemed illegal under"
"cousin once removed), who was to become his wife. 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 leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej"
"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"
"of Greece, to allow the court to use her villa in Herăstrău Park (nowadays known as the Elisabeta Palace). The Elisabeta Palace would serve as the residence of the royal family until 1947, when Michael I was forced to abdicate and left in exile, and again after 1997, when the family was returned several former properties. In 1945, the Throne Hall in the Royal Palace was superficially repaired, in a hurry, to host the ceremony of decoration for King Michael I, by the Soviets. They awarded the King the Order of Victory, their highest military decoration, for his merit in"
"on 12 January. In exile, Michael I and Helen settled for some time in Switzerland, where the deposed sovereign bitterly observed the Western acceptance of the establishment of a republic in Romania. For her part, Helen was mostly concerned with the state of their finances because the Communists allowed them to part with almost nothing. Despite their promises, the new Romanian authorities nationalized the properties of the former royal family (20 February 1948) and deprived the former monarch and his relatives of their nationality (17 May 1948). At the same time, the king and his mother had to deal with"