European Kingdoms

Romania

In the ancient world, areas of south-eastern Romania formed parts of the kingdom of Thrace. Various tribes, including the Roxolani inhabited areas during the first century BC. Northern areas were under the control of the Germanic tribe of the Gepids in the sixth century AD.

The country of Romania (or Rumania in older usage) become a principality in 1859 under Ottoman suzerainty when it was formed out of the late-Byzantine and then Ottoman-ruled principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. The country gained independence from the Ottomans in 1877. Karl or Karel of the Prussian royal family of Hohenzollern had been brought in to form a new monarchy for Wallachia, and so became the first king of Rumania in 1881.

Kingdom of Rumania (Hohenzollern)
AD 1881 - 1947

1881 - 1914

Karel I

Charles Eitel Frederick of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen of Prussia.

1914 - 1927

Ferdinand

Nephew. Daughter Marie m King Alexander II of Yugoslavia.

1916 - 1918

On 17 August 1916, Rumania, long courted by the First World War Allies, is finally persuaded by promises from France and Russia that it will gain the principality of Transylvania from Hungary. Its war effort is quickly defeated when it attacks into Hungary instead of holding a front against Bulgaria, as agreed. However, when the Russian and Austrian empires collapse it gets what it wants. Furthermore, the ethnic Rumanians of the Russian provinces of Bessarabia and Moldavia declare a Moldavian People's Republic in January 1918, with the Rumanian army close at hand. In April, these regions become part of Rumania proper. The country's gains in populace amount to about a quarter of its total figure.

1927 - 1930

Michael / Mihai

Son of Karel II. Born 1921.

1930 - 1940

Karel II

Son of Ferdinand.

1940 - 1947

Michael / Mihai

Used as a fascist figurehead. Exiled.

1938 - 1944

Russia seizes Moldova (former Moldavia) in 1940, before Rumania becomes an active ally of Germany. After some internal strife, the fascists rule Rumania as part of the Axis Alliance with Nazi Germany. The country is governed by a pro-German dictator, with the king powerless. Antonescu's rule is marked by anti-Semitic atrocities, including racially discriminatory laws, deportations and pogroms. The king and his mother, Queen Helen, are kept informed about the next actions planned against the Jews. The queen then seeks urgent meetings with Antonescu, and manages to have many anti-Jewish measures and orders rescinded, saving many thousands of Jewish lives.

1940 - 1944

Ion Antonescu

Fascist dictator and army marshal. Executed.

1944

In August the king requests a meeting with Marshal Antonescu, and demands his resignation. Antonescu refuses and three soldiers and a captain, listening in the next room, enter and arrest him. A provisional government is formed, and an armistice announced which ends hostilities against Soviet troops who are already pressing towards the country's borders. Within hours, German planes bomb the royal palace and Romania joins the Allies. Antonescu is executed by the Communist authorities after the war.

1947

With the USSR occupying the rest of Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War, Rumania is taken over by communists. The king is forced to abdicate by Petru Groza, the communist prime minister (known as the 'red bourgeois' thanks to his own upper-middle class background). Groza threatens the death of about a thousand pro-monarchy supporters, most of them students who had been arrested at earlier rallies, if the king does not comply. The king signs and an impromptu meeting of parliament witnesses the proclamation of a republic.

Modern Romania
AD 1947 - Present Day

Romania was occupied by Soviet forces at the end of the Second World War and the monarchy was abolished. The largest of the modern Balkan countries, its communist government pursued polices which were independent of Soviet control. The king went into exile in Switzerland where he still lived at the age of ninety-one in 2011, along with his five daughters.

Successive claimants to the Romanian throne are shown with a shaded background.

1947 - Present

Michael / Mihai

'Prince of Hohenzollern' (1947-48). 'King of Rumania' (1948-on).

1949

One of the victims of the newly-established communist state is the heir to the throne of Mexico, Princess Maria, who dies in suspicious circumstances shortly after she is interned along with her husband.

1965 - 1989

Nicolae Ceauçescu

Communist dictator. Executed in a popular uprising.

1989

Communism is discarded and a democratic republic is painstakingly established.

2004

Romania joins NATO.

2007

In January, Romania becomes a member state of the European Union.

Frederick William

Heir. Prince of the Hohenzollerns of Germany.