UPDATE: King Michael I of Romania died in Switzerland at the age of 96
UPDATE: King Michael’s body will be brought to the Peleș Castle in Sinaia, and then will be moved to the Royal Palace in Bucharest. The king will be buried at the New Episcopal and Royal Cathedral in Curtea de Argeș.
05 Decembrie 2017, 13:05
King Michael I of Romania died, on Tuesday at 13:00hrs, EET, at his private residence in Switzerland, at the age of 96. Princess Maria stood at Mihai I's bedside until his death.
The Royal House announced in a press release that King Michael’s body will be brought to the Peleș Castle in Sinaia, and then will be moved to the Royal Palace in Bucharest. The king will be buried at the New Episcopal and Royal Cathedral in Curtea de Argeș.
The detailed program of the funerals is to be announced on Wednesday.
Books of condolences will be open starting December 6 at the Peleș Castle in Sinaia, Royal Palace and the Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest. They will be available to the public for 40 days. Condolences can also be submitted online at http://www.familiaregala.ro/mesaje/. The funeral church service will take place at the Patriarchal Cathedral. At the wishes of the Crown Custodian, the funeral will follow the tradition of His Late-Majesty’s predecessors.
All who want to lay flowers and wreathes are invited to do so, starting on Wednesday at the Royal Palace on Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, at the main entrance.
Mihai Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was born a prince on Oct. 25, 1921, in Sinaia, Romania. His father was Crown Prince Carol; his mother, Princess Helen, belonged to the Greek royal family. Other relatives belonged to Prussian royalty, and his great-great-grandmother was Queen Victoria of England.
The Kingdom of Romania was a constitutional monarchy in Southeastern Europe which existed from 1881, when prince Carol I of Romania was proclaimed King, until 1947, when King Michael I of Romania abdicated and the Parliament proclaimed Romania a republic. Romania was run by a king only five times in its history, including Michael twice: He was king from 1927 to 1930, and again from 1940 to 1947.
The Royal House of Romania currently has only a symbolical status, as Romania is a republic ran by the President and Parliament.
King Michael of Romania decided to withdraw from the public life in 2016, after being diagnosed with leukaemia.
Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei
