Michael I of Romania

Biography

Michael was born at Sinaia in 1921, the son of Crown Prince Carol. When his father gave up his rights to the throne, Michael became heir, and on the death of King Ferdinand in July 1927 he became king at the age of five under a regency. Carol returned in 1930 and took the crown back, reducing Michael to crown prince.

After Carol was forced out in September 1940, Michael became king again, but real power lay with the dictator Ion Antonescu, who aligned Romania with Nazi Germany. On 23 August 1944 Michael joined opposition politicians and officers in a coup that arrested Antonescu and took Romania over to the Allied side.

Under Soviet pressure he had to accept a communist-dominated government led by Petru Groza in 1945; his refusal to sign its decrees in 1945-1946 failed. On 30 December 1947 the communists forced him to abdicate, abolished the monarchy and sent him into exile. He married Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma in 1948 and settled in Switzerland, working at times as a farmer, pilot and businessman.

After the fall of Ceausescu he was expelled on his first attempt to return in 1990, drew huge crowds on a visit in 1992, and had his citizenship restored in 1997. He spent his later years partly in Romania, lobbied for its entry into NATO and the European Union, and died in Switzerland in 2017.