King Michael’s Visit Stirs Joy and Unease in Romania

King Michael returned to his native Romania after 45 years in exile to celebrate Orthodox Easter amid the cheers of 100,000 adoring subjects.

But his triumphal homecoming stirred new uncertainties about the future of this troubled Balkan country.

Throngs of well-wishers showered his motorcade with flowers and shed tears of joy at the sight of the 70-year-old monarch, belying the official line that Michael von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was just a private citizen in Romania on a holiday visit.

Romanians last year adopted a new constitution describing their country as a republic ruled by a president, implicitly excluding the return of the king as head of state.

By appealing to the Romanian government for a visa for the trip, Michael also broke his own vow never to accept the Communist actions of 1947 that forced him to abdicate and stripped him of citizenship.

But the aging exile has given no indication of conceding defeat in what has been a lifelong battle to recover the throne he occupied for 10 years.

On the contrary, Michael seemed buoyed by Bucharest’s affectionate outpouring and conducted his visit to the capital in a manner more befitting a conquering hero than a commoner.

His silver Mercedes and police escort vehicles halted repeatedly along the crowded route from Otopeni Airport to St. George’s Church so that the twice-dethroned king could wave to the masses or venture out to shake a few hands.

When his motorcade slowed at University Square, where scores of young people were shot to death by Communist forces during Romania’s bloody 1989 revolution, several onlookers were overcome with emotion and threw themselves in homage onto the king’s car.

“Stay with us, King Michael!” chanted the crowd that swelled beyond 100,000 as the monarch arrived for Easter services.

Tens of thousands later followed his entourage back to the Continental Hotel, where Michael drew thunderous applause by repeatedly waving from the window of his third-floor suite.

Although the new constitution was endorsed by a healthy majority of Romanians, many look to the possibility of restoring the monarchy through a referendum or constitutional amendment as a chance to lift the head of state out of the murky depths of Romanian politics.

As Romania’s 23 million people grapple with triple-digit inflation and high unemployment, there is a growing nostalgia for the relative prosperity the country enjoyed before World War II, when Romania was ruled in turns by Michael and his father, King Carol II.

Michael first became king at age 6 in 1927, but three years later he was displaced by his father, who had earlier renounced the crown. When Carol II fled Romania during the Nazi takeover in 1940, Michael again became titular head of state. In 1944, he took part in an anti-Nazi coup that put Romania on the Allied side, but Soviet-installed Communists forced him to abdicate and flee in 1947. A retired aviation specialist, he has spent the past 30 years in Switzerland.

Some Romanians believe he could be a bridge to Western Europe for their poor and politically volatile country.

“This visit is an important symbol for us at this difficult moment. We lack an idol, someone to look up to,” said 18-year-old Cristina Bucica, who stood for hours outside the packed church in vain hopes of catching a glimpse of the king.

Silviu Ciurea, a surgeon with his 5-year-old son propped on his shoulders, said Romania’s post-Communist leaders all lack credibility and that only a monarch “could be our guarantee of democracy.”

The Romanian leadership under President Ion Iliescu had twice thwarted attempts by Michael to visit his homeland. The king was denied travel documents for a planned Easter, 1990, visit, and he was expelled on Christmas, 1990, only hours after gaining entry on a Danish diplomatic passport.