January 6, 1948
Former King Michael of Romania is resting in a Lausanne hotel suite, while his aides "unpacked a relatively small amount of royal baggage which included nine cases of gin."
United Press reports that Michael issued a statement, "denying he had abdicated for love, that he brought with him refugees from Romania, or that he had a personal fortune of $1,000,000."
King Michael and his mother, Queen Helen, left Romania with four big trunks, and about 40 pieces of luggage, "hardly more than an American actress carries for a summer vacation." He was also able to bring with him three American cards, a jeep, and a motorcycle.
He has apparently told "his sweetheart," Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma, to stay in Copenhagen until he is "able to settle" in Lausanne.
He released a written statement to the press to clear up several misconceptions:
"Firstly, it is not true the ex-king of Romania left his country to be free to marry and enjoy life.
"Secondly, it is not true, as propaganda claims, the ex-King left Romania with a special train overloaded with baggage and valuable goods. Aside from 15 trunks, solely a small amount of hand baggage has been brought along.
"Thirdly, it is not true that he left Romania with more than 70 refugees. In the ex-king's party are only eight persons who are official functionaries of his household. There are, furthermore, four servants and two Greek families who were allowed by authorities to go along in order to be repatriated. The rest of the party consists of trained personnel.
"Fourthly, it is not true the ex-King took $1,000,000 with him."
Interesting. Did he really describe himself as the "ex-king" so soon after being forced to abdicate? Given that King Michael has always said (accurately) that his abdication was under duress and therefore not really valid, I would not have thought that he would have accepted his deposition as legitimate at such an early date.
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