King of the Romanians (in Romanian: Regele Românilor), rather than King of Romania (in Romanian: Regele României), was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic. The state had been called the Principality of Romania (in French "Roumanie") since 1862, after the Ottoman vassal states of Wallachia and Moldavia had been united in 1859 under Alexandru Ioan Cuza as Prince of Romania, or Domnitor. Cuza had become the prince of the separate principalities in 1859. He was deposed in 1866 by an ad hoc coalition of the main political parties, which then officially offered the throne of the United Principalities to the German Prince of the Royal family, Carol (Charles) of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, to become the new Prince of Romania.

Romania's independence from the Ottoman Empire was recognized in 1878 at the Congress of Berlin; the principality became a sovereign kingdom in 1881, with Prince Carol as King Carol I of Romania. Romania was a constitutional monarchy for most of its existence as a kingdom with the exception of 1938-1944, during the dictatorships of Carol II (1938-1940) and of Marshal Ion Antonescu (1940-1944). On 23 August 1944, King Michael restored the last democratic royal Constitution of 1923. However, during his second reign (1940-1947), King Michael reigned as an unconstitutional king, without an oath on the Constitution and without a vote of the Parliament, initially suspended and reinstated only later, in 1946. Michael was instead crowned and anointed King by the Orthodox Patriarch of Romania, Nicodim Munteanu, in the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest, on the very day of his second accession, 6 September 1940. Michael, thus, reigned the second time as an absolute, unconstitutional King, solely "by the Grace of God", that is by divine right. However, legally, Michael could not exercise much authority besides some prerogatives such as being the Supreme Head of the Army and designating a plenipotentiary Prime-Minister ("Conducător").

In 1927, King Ferdinand died, and the country was left in the care of Michael despite Carol II being his father. Carol II, unlike King 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 term of reign would be short lived at a span of 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). After a ten years rule, King Carol II gave up his royal title and all accoutrements attached in order to be able to leave Romania and marry his mistress Elena Lupescu. The couple ultimately settled in Portugal, and the 'playboy king' was never recalled back to Romania.

In August 1944, with the Soviet troops already deep inside Romania's territory, King Michael deposed the Nazi-allied dictator Ion Antonescu at the urge of the opposition parties, and aligned the country with the Allied forces. Helped by the presence of Soviet forces, Communist gradually took control of the administration. In December 1947 King Michael abdicated and left Romania at the request of the Communist-dominated government, while the Parliament proclaimed the country a republic. After the Revolution of 1989, the former King Michael visited Romania to an enthusiastic reception of a large crowd in the streets of Bucharest, however the country preserved its republican character.

	Picture	Name	Monarch from	Monarch until
1		Carol I of Romania	26 March [O.S. 14 March] 1881	10 October [O.S. 27 September] 1914
2		Ferdinand of Romania	10 October [O.S. 27 September] 1914	20 July 1927
3		Michael (1st reign)	20 July 1927	8 June 1930
4		Carol II	8 June 1930	6 September 1940
(3)		Michael (2nd reign)	6 September 1940	30 December 1947

 

The family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch, known also as the Kirschner line. The Swabian branch ruled the area of Hechingen until their eventual extinction in 1869. The Franconian-Kirschner branch was more successful: members of the Franconian branch became Margrave of Brandenburg in 1415 and Duke of Prussia in 1525. Following the union of these two Franconian lines in 1618, the Kingdom of Prussia was created in 1701, eventually leading to the unification of Germany and the creation of the German Empire in 1871. Social unrest at the end of World War I led to the German Revolution of 1918, with the formation of the Weimar Republic forcing the Hohenzollerns to abdicate, thus bringing an end to the modern German monarchy. The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 set the final terms for the dismantling of the German Empire.

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3c) Irina (b.Lausanne 28 Feb 1953); m.1st Lausanne 10 Dec 1983 John Kreuger (b.Solna, Sweden 3 Aug 1945); m.1st Lausanne 10 Dec 1983 (div 2003) John Kreuger (b.Solna, Sweden 3 Aug 1945); m.2nd Reno 2 Nov 2007 John Wesley Walker (b.Douglas, Missouri 30 Dec 1945)

4c) Sophia (b.Tatoi, Greece 28 Oct 1957); m.Neuilly 29 Aug 1998 Alain Michel Léonce Biarneix de Laufenborg (b.Nancy 10 Jul 1957)

 

2a) Elisabeth (Castle Pelesch 12 Oct 1894-Cannes 15 Nov 1956); m.Bucharest 27 Feb 1921 (div 1935) King George II of the Hellenes (Tatoi 19 Jul 1890-Athens 1 Apr 1947)

 

 

 

6a) Mircea (Bucharest 3 Jan 1913-Buftea 2 Nov 1916)