Biography of Michael I von Rumänien

Michael I of Romania (born 25 October 1921 in Sinaia; died 5 December 2017 in Aubonne, Switzerland) was the last king of Romania. He reigned as a child from 1927 to 1930 under a regency and a second time from 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947. In Romanian history his name is especially connected with 23 August 1944, when the country broke with the Axis powers.

A child on the throne

Michael was born in Sinaia as the son of Crown Prince Carol and Princess Helen. After the death of his grandfather Ferdinand I, he became king on 20 July 1927 at the age of five. A regency governed in his name. In 1930 his father Carol returned to Romania and took the throne as Carol II. Michael again became heir to the throne and grew up in a royal family whose position was shaped by internal crises and wider European upheaval.

Second reign during the war

On 6 September 1940 Michael became king again after Carol II abdicated. In the following years real political power lay largely with Marshal Ion Antonescu and his authoritarian regime. Romania stood alongside Nazi Germany. Michael was young and institutionally constrained, but he became a figure on whom parts of the opposition to Antonescu placed their hopes.

23 August 1944

On 23 August 1944 the decisive break came. Michael had Antonescu arrested and supported the change of government through which Romania severed its Axis alignment and joined the Allied side. The step changed Romania's role in the war, but it did not spare the country Soviet influence and later communist rule. For that reason the day remains strongly debated in Romanian history.

Abdication and exile

After the war pressure from the communist-dominated government increased. On 30 December 1947 Michael was forced to abdicate. The monarchy ended, the Romanian People's Republic was proclaimed, and Michael went into exile. In 1948 he married Anne of Bourbon-Parma. In the following decades the family lived mainly abroad. After the end of communist rule, Michael was able to travel to Romania again and became a symbolic link between the prewar monarchy, exile and postcommunist public memory.

Death and afterlife

Michael I died in Aubonne, Switzerland, on 5 December 2017. His coffin was brought to Romania; the funeral connected state representation with the history of the former royal family. Michael's life spans almost the whole twentieth century of Romania: monarchy, war, dictatorship, exile and the difficult return of historical memory after 1989.