The Nation Mourns for King Michael I

Romania is preparing for national mourning for its last sovereign, King Michael I.

Bogdan Matei, 13.12.2017, 13:42

King Michael I has finally returned home for good. One week after his death at his residence in Switzerland, the body of the last sovereign of Romania was brought back to his country on Wednesday morning, and was laid in state for a few hours at Peles Castle, the royal residence in Sinaia mountain resort, in the Southern Carpathians. The kings acquaintances said that the king was very much attached to the palace, the place where he was born, on October 25th, 1921.

Ceremonies at the palace were reserved for state officials. President Klaus Iohannis, members of Parliament and Government from Romania and the neighboring Republic of Moldova were the only ones present there to present condolences. Everyone wishing to pay homage one last time to the king may do so at the Royal Palace in Bucharest, where his coffin will lie in state until Friday night, in what used to be the throne room.

Thousands have already brought flowers and lit candles in front of the palace, which became a veritable place of pilgrimage as of Tuesday, December 5th, when the kings death was announced. King Michael will be laid to rest on Saturday, December 16th, in Curtea de Arges, in the royal necropolis at the Medieval Christian Orthodox church there.

At final rest there are his wife, Queen Anne, who passed away last year, as well as his three predecessors from the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty, Carol I, Ferdinand, and Carol II. This line came to the throne in 1866, laying the foundations of modern Romania. They achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, and brought together Greater Romania as a country in 1918, when, at the end of WWI, they gathered under the authority of Bucharest all provinces with a majority Romanian population.

According to the Royal House, the funerals in Curtea de Arges are expected to be attended by about one hundred foreign politicians, royal figures and heads of state and government. The authorities in Bucharest have decreed three days of national mourning for the 14th, 15th and 16th of December. Parliament already held a solemn session on Monday, paying homage to the last sovereign, who took the throne in 1940. He was forced to abdicate and go into exile seven years later under pressure from the communist government and Soviet troops.

In 1944, a young King Michael had already written history by taking the country out of its alliance with Nazi Germany and bringing it alongside its traditional allies, Great Britain and the United States. President Klaus Iohannis said that King Michael symbolized the hope of a reborn and free Romania, and he would be remembered as a great statesman.

The kings first born, Crown Princess Margaret, Custodian of the Crown, said that she and the nation have lost a parent. She promised that the Royal House would continue to support all the fundamental institutions of the state in order to help the country progress.