King of Romania
| King of the Romanians | |
|---|---|
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Michael I
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| Details | |
| Style | His Majesty |
| First monarch | Carol I |
| Last monarch | Michael I |
| Formation | 15 March 1881 |
| Abolition | 30 December 1947 |
| Residence | Royal Palace |
| Appointer | Hereditary |
| Pretender(s) | Margareta |
The King of the Romanians (Romanian: Regele Românilor) was the sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a People's Republic following Michael I's forced abdication.
The state had been internationally recognized as a principality since 1862, after the creation of the United Principalities, a personal union between Moldavia and Wallachia, at that time vassal states of the Ottoman Empire. Alexander I became domnitor (ruling prince) after the official unification of the two formerly separate states, being elected prince of both states in 1859. He was deposed in 1866 by a broad coalition of the main political parties, after which parliament offered the throne to Karl Hohenzollern who subsequently became the new "Domnitor of Romania" (as Carol I).
Romania's independence from the Ottoman Empire was recognized in 1878 by the Treaty of Berlin. In an expression of full sovereignty, the principality was elevated to a kingdom in 1881, with Carol I becoming King of the Romanians. Carol I died in 1914, and was succeeded by his nephew, Ferdinand I.
In 1927, Ferdinand I died, and the country was left in the care of a regency headed by Nicholas Hohenzollern, during the reign of Ferdinand's young grandson, Michael I (who was only six years old at the time), his father (Carol II) having renounced the throne in 1925. Carol II, unlike Carol I, in the beginning had no desire to rule Romania, and was frequently out of the country exploring the rest of Europe with his mistress. Michael's first reign would be short lived at only three years, until his father Carol II came back to contest the title at the behest of a dissatisfied political faction that staged a sudden 'coup d'état' (in spite of the fact that only a few years earlier he had renounced in official documents, written and signed in front of his own father, all his future claims to the throne of Romania).
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