A documentary about Michael, the last King of Romania, who defied Hitler only to be deposed and exiled by the communists for half a century is to be aired in Britain this week to mark Queen Elizabeth’s II Platinum Jubilee.
‘The Last King Behind the Iron Curtain’ will air this Friday on the History Sky channel in the UK as part of the Jubilee Celebrations.
Soviet-backed government
Michael, who was forced to abdicate by the newly-installed Soviet-backed government in 1947, was given three days with his mother Queen Helen to leave the country by train.
Caught between Cold War combatants in exile, he spent 50 years without a country. Even after communism ended, he was expelled from Romania twice more before finally regaining his citizenship in 1997.
The film includes never-seen archives of Romania’s Queen Marie in the 1930s and Michael and his mother visiting Britain in the 1940s.
Securitate agents
It tells the story of how he was courted by the CIA who tried to draw him into anti-Communist plots and spied on constantly in his home in Switzerland by Securitate agents.
Yet, despite his tragic destiny, he continued to be a voice for his people oppressed by the communist dictatorship and yearned for the day when he could return home, Chainsaw Films says.
That eventually happened when he was 71. His visit drew one million people who chanted “Long live the king!” which frightened the post-communist government.
Even now, there are mixed messages about the king and the documentary is being screened around the country to show Romanians the true story.
Interview
The film features a never-seen interview with the king who died in 2017. Executive producer John Florescu on Monday told the audience on Monday that Michael was “modest, direct and deep,” at a showing at the National History Museum.
The film also has an exclusive interview with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. “Romania was very unlucky; it was a bargaining counter,” Philip says of the country’s capture by the Soviets when it was cut adrift from the West until 1989.
For his part, the king says he was “very disappointed” that Queen Elizabeth II received Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu at Buckingham Palace in 1978 on a state visit to Britain.
Chicken farmer
After his abdication, the king who had four daughters, worked as a chicken farmer, a test pilot and a Wall Street broker before finally settling in Switzerland where he lived until he died.
It features interviews he gave during dying days of the communist regime—in one with Hungarian state television—he said:
“Romania is an absolute monarchy. Everyone is property of the state,” which apparently infuriated Ceausescu.
Chainsaw Films calls the king’s story “a tale of courage and survival and the triumph of hope.”
It first aired on History Channel last October to mark 100 years since the monarch’s birth.
Known as Regele Mihai: Drumul către casă in Romanian it also showcases interviews with the king’s family, advisers, historians, his personal lawyer and close friends.
Prince Charles
Philip, a second cousin of Michael on his mother’s side, died in April 2020, just short of his 100th birthday. He visited Romania in his childhood for Black Sea coast holidays. Decades later, his son Prince Charles has gone one step further and has deep ties with Romania, which he has been visiting since the late 90s.
The 50-minute documentary is narrated by Romanian actor Marcel Iureş and is a sequel to the 2016 The King’s War or Războiul regelui, which was broadcast on History Channel and History 2. It was filmed and produced in Romania, UK and Switzerland.
John Florescu is the executive producer, Trevor Poots, the producer and responsible for the script, Viorel Chesaru , the senior producer, Mircea Lăcătuş, the producer archives/editor, Dan Drăghicescu, the associate producer, professor Matei Cazacu served as advisor and Laura Beldiman was the researcher and editorial assistant.
