Ex-King Gets Romania Citizenship
The government on Monday restored the citizenship of former King Michael after expelling the visiting ex-monarch last month, an official said.
Culture Minister Andre Plesu said the decision “means that King Michael will be able to come to Romania whenever he wants.”
In a telephone interview, Plesu said Michael had already been contacted in his Swiss exile through Romania’s embassy in Bern. “As far as I know, the king has accepted” the offer of citizenship, Plesu said.
Michael’s daughter, Sophie, said from Geneva that the family had no immediate comment on the decision.
The former king, 69, and his entourage were deported Dec. 26, less than 12 hours after arriving at Bucharest airport without visas. Michael’s brief stay was the first since 1947 when the Communists forced him to abdicate.
Michael ruled twice, first as boy-king in the 1920s when his father, Carol II, was excluded from the succession, and then after Carol’s abdication in 1941.
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