Michael I

The new King of Rumania, Michael I, five years old, was playing solemnly by himself on the lawn of the Little Pelesh. To this small chateau, some 50 miles from Bucharest, he had been brought last week, following his investiture, and barely 18 hours after the death of his grandfather, King Ferdinand I. Even as His Majesty rolled over lazily on the soft turf and gazed idly down upon the wooded valley of Pelesh, statesmen were busy in Bucharest drafting his first proclamation.

"SOLDIERS!" the proclamation began--a classic opening, and one much used by the late Napoleon Bonaparte. A shrewd opening, too, for it would attest that the boy-king's first thought was for his army. Excellent! Now presses were humming. Soon the first state paper of King Michael was eagerly read:

"SOLDIERS!--After a reign, brilliant and glorious for the race, the fatherland, and the army--a reign conducted with great sacrifice and stern decision--our great and beloved king has closed forever his eyes, which never ceased to contain unlimited affection. Under his leadership you have conquered, you have forged the national unity of all Rumanians, and with laurels gathered on the battlefields, you have crowned his brow and your own.

"SOLDIERS, we are confident that all, from the chiefs of the army to the humblest soldiers, will give proof of that spirit of discipline which is the pride of the army, and that you will remain worthy of the confidence which your country has placed in you, devoting all your strength and souls to the fatherland and throne.

(Signed) MICHAEL."

Since everyone knew that King Michael's signed proclamation had been drafted by Premier Jon Bratiano, the ruling oligarch of Rumania (TIME, July 11), it was perhaps "natural" and "fitting" that the boy-king's first state paper should thus bristle with elderly, drawing-room conceits. It was like Jon Bratiano, 63, to approve phrases such as "laurels gathered on the battlefields," and "eyes [King Ferdinand's] which never ceased to contain unlimited affection." What did phrases matter to the Dictator? A man-king approaching his second childhood had simply been replaced by a boy-king in his first.

Memorable Beginning. As small Michael I went in last week to his first kingly supper at the Little Pelesh, and afterward as he was put to bed, how much did he remember of the strange, crowded day of his investiture?

The day began at 2:15 a.m. when King Ferdinand I, 61, died at the Castelui Palace, in the arms of Queen Marie. "I feel so tired," said Ferdinand, "so tired. . . and yet I feel no pain." Thus six years of acute suffering from a cancerous growth were ended, at last, for His Majesty Ferdinand Victor Albert Mainrad von Hohen-zollern-Sigmaringen, King of Rumania, and successor to the Tsars of Russia as Defender of the Holy Sepulchre.*

When the English governess of little Michael ran to wake him with news of the king's death and first addressed her charge as "your Majesty,"this large, serious eyes betrayed a vague puzzlement. Three days later he was still digesting his new title.

"Has my name changed?" he asked, "why do you call me 'Majesty'?"

Smiling, the governess explained once more the nature of what had occurred. Still Michael was doubtful. "They will let me play just the same, won't they?" he was said to have said.

Investiture. During the afternoon which followed the death of Ferdinand, a smart cavalcade of the Household Cavalry trotted through Bucharest as the advance guard of a procession. Came the Prefect of Police, then the Marshal of the Court. Came finally a State carriage, in which sat the young king between two royal ladies: 1) Princess Ileana (Michael's aunt) who rode in the procession because her mother, now only "Dowager Queen Marie," was "prostrate with grief"; 2) Princess Helene of Greece and Rumania (Michael's mother) who would now be queen had not her husband, onetime Crown Prince Carol, renounced and abdicated his rights (TIME, Jan. 11, 1926), and proceeded to Paris, where he now lives (see below).

Crowds cheered in apparent joy and loyalty as the cavalcade drew up at Parliament House. There the Deputies and Senators vigorously applauded. Soon Princess Helene, whose eyesight is some-what impaired, led her son carefully up to the base of the Royal Tribune.

Before Michael I loomed 15 steps to Power, which must be taken alone. He hesitated, seemed about to break down into tears. Said Princess Helene, firmly: "Remember you are a king, and the son of kings."* Thus reminded of his royal duty, King Michael ascended the Tribune.

To swear allegiance came the three Regents of Rumania, who will rule until King Michael is of age (1939). Observers necessarily recalled that the Regency Act (TIME, Jan. 18, 1926) was forced through Parliament by Dictator Bratiano with no other purpose than to secure as regents three puppets. First is Prince Nicholas, 23, a youth of no experience in statecraft; and the other two regents, both over 60, and both "Bratiano men," are the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church in Rumania, Miron Cristea, and Supreme Court Chief Justice G. V. Buzdugan. The choice of Chief Justice Buzdugan was especially shrewd because, if the Regency Act is unconstitutional, as many jurists contend, it can only be declared so by the Supreme Court.

The Regents, in pledging their several oaths to King Michael, adopted very different tones of voice and attitudes. Prince Nicholas, uncle of the King, spoke his oath as most youths of 23 would speak to a five-year-old nephew. His Majesty seemed nervous and a little frightened.

Then came the snowy-bearded Patriarch, his long robes sweeping the ground, his voice quavering, and very earnest. King Michael, with the frank innocence of childhood, burst out laughing at this funny old man.

Lastly Chief Justice Buzdugan strode forward, determined not to be laughed at. Shrewd, he muttered his oath rapidly and almost inaudibly, scarcely attracting the attention of His Majesty, whose eyes still rested with a twinkle on the unfortunate Patriarch.

As the ceremony drew to a close and King Michael descended the Tribune he ran happily to Princess Helene, crying: "Let's go home, mama, I'm hungry." Soon a special train carried His Majesty swiftly to his distant chateau, the Little Pelesh. At Bucharest the royal grown-ups turned their attention to the funeral of King Ferdinand.

Two Excluded Mourners. Mlle. Helene Vacarescu, a Rumanian poetess who has received the French Cross of the Legion of Honor in recognition of her talent, was informed last week at Paris that if she sought to attend the funeral of King Ferdinand she would be stopped by Rumanian frontier guards. Why?

The answer is suggested by an engagement ring still worn by Mile. Vacarescu, now an aged spinster. The ring was given her by Ferdinand in the '80s, when he was but a prince and she was the favorite lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth of Rumania, better known by her pen name, "Carmen Silva." Queen Elizabeth, sympathizing with the lovers, permitted them to be constantly together. When news of this came to strict, arbitrary King Carol of Rumania, he broke off the affair by the ruthless step of banishing Mile. Vacarescu from Rumania, and later sending Queen Elizabeth into enforced residence in Germany. Last week Helene Vacarescu, overcome by grief at the death of Ferdinand I, left Paris to spend a period of mourning at Vichy, smart spa.

Carol. Likewise barred from attending King Ferdinand's funeral was his eldest son, Carol. This somewhat notorious prince, father of King Michael, still lives in seclusion in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. He has espoused, respectively in morganatic and natural union, two ladies of nonroyal blood: Mme. Zizi Lambrino, who has borne him a son, Mircea, older by two years than Michael; and Mme. Magda Lupescu, who some time ago displaced Mme. Lambrino (TIME, March 8, 1926).

During the episode of Mme. Lambrino, Carol retained his rights and title of Crown Prince; but with the advent of Mme. Lupescu he abdicated, announcing that he had become a private citizen. This status was confirmed by the Rumanian Parliament, but jurists doubt the constitutionality of the proceedings, which were hastily put through by M. Bratiano, avowedly a foe to Carol. As yet no satisfactory explanation has revealed why the Crown Prince thus played into the hands of the Dictator.

"Carol II." Since "Prince Carol" has thus far lived quietly as a private person, in Paris, he caused great excitement last week by referring to himself as "King Carol II" in communicating to newsgatherers the statement that he would see no one. Reputedly Carol received last week a message from his sister, Queen Marie of Jugoslavia, imploring him not to attempt to return to Rumania, even for the funeral of their father, and advising him not to call himself "Carol II." Seemingly he resolved to take his sister's advice, although newsgatherers and photographers surrounded Carol's villa day and night, hoping that he would dash by airplane to Rumania and seek to claim the Throne.

Ferdinand's Will. Despatches from Rumania told of the steady sobbing of Dowager Queen Marie, as the will of King Ferdinand was read, in the presence of herself, the three Regents and Premier Bratiano.

By a codicil added to the original will, Prince Carol is cut off from the inheritance of any real estate but is bequeathed some 6,600,000 lei in cash ($400,000). Queen Marie of Jugoslavia cannot, as a foreign sovereign, own Rumanian real estate, and therefore was willed a legacy in cash and securities. The Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania will receive an income and the use of several palaces during life;" but the residual bulk of the king's fortune and estates was willed chiefly to King Michael-- ($30,000,000), Princess Ileana and Prince Nicholas.

The codicil of King Ferdinand concluded: "I cannot close without remembering with all my heart my dear son Carol, for whom I wish a happy time in the new life which he has chosen against our wishes. ... I demand that he shall not return until all the constitutional authorities allow him to do so."

Ferdinand's Funeral. Three Greek Orthodox services were performed over the body of King Ferdinand: the first at the Castle in Sinaia, where he died; the second in the Chapel Royal of the Cotroceni Palace, in Bucharest; and the last at the ancient Cathedral of Curtea de Arges, a still medieval town 100 miles from Bucharest, where Rumania's royal ties lie buried. At the three services great censers filled the air with smoking perfume, and in Bucharest the priests intoned a resonant Gregorian chant, while the bearded Patriarch stood robed in Biblical and almost regal splendor. Cried the Dowager Queen Marie, kneeling beside her husband's bier: "He was a saint! Oh, a saint on earth. ... I would gladly have given my own life could he have been spared!" Said King Michael, seeking to comfort her: "Don't cry, grandmama."

Peasants stood all along the route of the funeral train, most of them barefoot and in homespun garments. All held bowls of holy water which they emptied reverently upon the slowly chuffing funeral train.

At Curtea de Arges, the Dowager Queen Marie broke down completely, and sobbed aloud, swooned. She recovered at last, sufficiently to lay upon the grave a wreath of lilies, which she had picked herself, and a large pillow of white roses sent from Paris by Prince Carol. Near her there stood during the ceremony her son-in-law, King Alexander of Jugoslavia, her brother-in-law, Prince Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen, and the deposed King George II of Greece. Airplanes dropped flowers, and the earth trembled slightly at a long farewell salute of 101 guns.

* Since King Ferdinand's career passed chiefly among persons now dead, and amid situations now altered or vanished, the briefest summary suffices. His late uncle, Carol von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was the first King of Rumania, having achieved that rank from mere princehood through the masterful intrigue of his great minister, the late Jon Bratiano (father of the present Dictator). Prince Ferdinand succeeded his childless uncle as King in October, 1914. He had married, in 1893, a granddaughter of British Queen Victoria, the Princess Marie of Saxe-Coburg und Gotha (later Windsor). During the War, King Ferdinand & Queen Marie saw their country utterly ravished by German armies under the great Feld-marshall August von Mackensen; but they never wavered from adherence to the Allies and, as a result, Rumania was expanded by the peacemakers into the largest Balkan country. Thus King Ferdinand, although never a dynamic or very statesmanly monarch, was assisted to a great reward by his integrity of purpose, by his magnetic consort, "The Mother-in-Law of the Balkans," and by the powerful dynasty of Jon Bratiano which now overshadows royalty itself in Rumania.

/- Michael speaks Rumanian, English and French.

*A justifiable exaggeration. Michael is, as was Ferdinand, the son of a prince only. --As King of Rumania, Michael I will receive the Crown Jewels ($35,000,000), and a civil list of $500,000 per annum, plus other income of $2,000,000 per annum.