His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Wales will come to King Michael’s funeral, which will take place on Saturday at the Curtea de Arges Cathedral in Romania.
The Romanian Patriarchate’s spokesperson Vasile Bănescu announced on Sunday in Antena 3’s News Magazine that the Royal House of Great Britain will be represented at King Michael’s funeral by Prince Charles of Wales.
A representative of the Spain’s Royal House will also attend the funeral, which will take place on Saturday, December 16. The Orthodox funeral service will be officiated the same day by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest
King Michael was a third-degree cousin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and a first-degree cousin of Spain’s Queen Sofia.
King Michael, Romania’s last sovereign, died on Tuesday, December 5, at the age of 96 at his private residence in Switzerland, after a long illness.
His body will be brought to Romania on December 13 and taken to the Peles Castle in Sinaia and then to the former Royal Palace in Bucharest.
Romania’s Government declared three days of national mourning in his honour, on December 14, 15, and 16.
The Royal House of Romania announced several changes to the funeral program on Saturday. On the day of the funeral, King Michael’s coffin will be carried by a gun carriage from the Royal Palace to the Patriarchal Cathedral, where the funeral service will take place.
Then, the Royal Train will carry the king’s casket to Curtea de Arges, where he will be buried next to his wife, Queen Anne, who died in August last year.
King Michael was Romania’s last sovereign and ruled between 1940 and December 1947, when he was forced to abdicate and leave the country by the communists, who also abolished the monarchy.
Photo courtesy of Robert Nicolae/ Basilica.ro Archive
