Romania Rejects Its Former King Michael--Again

A second attempt in nine months by Romania’s former King Michael to visit his native land ended in frustration Wednesday when he was expelled after 12 hours.

“It was totally unnecessary,” said the 69-year-old former monarch as he arrived here.

Asked if his presence worried Romanian authorities, the ex-monarch said: “They don’t seem to be very settled. They seem to be frightened about everything.”

Michael, his French-born wife, Ana, and Princess Sophie, one of the couple’s five daughters, flew in a Romanian plane to Zurich before dawn after immigration authorities ruled that he should have had an entry visa.

The ex-king, saying his planned 24-hour visit was a private one, wanted to spend Christmas with his compatriots and the night in Curtea de Arges, 85 miles northwest of Bucharest, where his ancestors are buried.

Instead, the royal party spent most of the night in several cars parked near Bucharest airport after their motorcade was intercepted near the city of Pitesti, only two hours after their arrival.

“It was a horrible experience,” said Princess Sophie.

“It was not a change of heart on the part of the authorities, the same thing happened in April,” the ex-monarch said, referring to his first attempt to return after the December, 1989, revolution that toppled the hard-line Communist government of Nicolae Ceausescu.

On that occasion, the couple and two of their daughters went no farther than Zurich. Swissair refused to fly them to Bucharest after Prime Minister Petre Roman said they would not be allowed into Romania.

Michael said customs officers at Bucharest airport duly stamped his Danish diplomatic passport. “They even photographed the stamp on it . . . but they probably got frightened when they realized who we were.”

Michael was forced to abdicate by the Communists in 1947 and had never been back to Romania. He has since lived in Britain, the United States and Switzerland.