Romanian King Says Farewell to German Roots

Romania's 89-year-old ex-monarch, Michael, has surprised royal observers by announcing that he is breaking his family's bonds with the House of Hohenzollern and abandoning the title Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

The Prussian and then German royal house of Hohenzollern gave Romania its first king, Carol I, who was crowned in 1881. Romania invited in foreign monarchs in order to stop feuds among local princes.

The announcement from King Michael, otherwise a quiet and generally admired person, has caused questions among the general public. “King Michael wants to only underscore the Romanian character of the royal family,” his lawyer, Ioan Luca Vlad, explained.

Some analysts have described it as a PR move. “This is mainly an image move aimed to attracting public interest. But it could mean that the royal family is interested in entering politics and even launching a political party,” a historian, Alin Ciupala, speculated.

The aged sovereign is one of the last surviving heads of state from World War II. He was forced to leave Romania in 1947, when, under Soviet influence, the Communist Party took full control of the country's affairs.

Since the fall of the Communist regime, the royal family has regained popularity in Romania. But Michael has not encouraged monarchist agitation for a restoration and royalist parties have made little impact on post-Communist Romanian politics. He himself says the restoration of the monarchy can only spring from a decision by the Romanian people.

Michael has five daughters and his oldest daughter, Princess Margarita, is known for her humanitarian work and cultural projects in Romania.

The day of May 10 is closely associated with the Romanian Monarchy, as it was on that day in 1866 that Carol of Hohenzollern first became Prince of Romania.

The House of Hohenzollern is one of the most important dynasties in European history, having provided rulers for Prussia, Germany and Romania. The Hohenzollern-Sigmaringens are a cadet branch of the Hohenzollern family.

Michael is not the first European king or ex-king to sever family ties to his German roots. Faced by a rising tide of anti-German hysteria during WW1, Britain's royal family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dumped its German surname and reemerged as the House of Windsor.