The Message of His Majesty King Michael I to mark a quarter of a century since the Fall of Communism

Film of the Message

The Palace of Parliament
Bucharest, 20 November 2014

In 1927, on the death of my grandfather, King Ferdinand, I was proclaimed King of Romania. In the eighty-seven years since then, I have been a direct witness of the rise and fall of both fascism and communism, two criminal systems that left in their wake more than one hundred million dead and many more millions maimed in body and soul.

My life has been one of long and loyal waiting: waiting for Europe to come to its senses, waiting for Romania to be restored to itself. Patience can sometimes be a weapon against historic destiny. Waiting and faith. Love and the sense of duty.

But in my long life I have also known blessed moments. God willed that I be in the front line of my country’s return to the dignified family of free nations, through Romania’s accession to full membership of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

My family and I have laboured greatly in the last twenty-five years, since the Fall of Communism, for a democratic, prosperous, free and dignified Romania. We shall not cease to do so until the end of our days, since we are convinced that the institution of the Royal House is part of our identity as a state and a nation.

Communism was born in Romania in the same year as I was, in 1921. More than nine decades later, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to address you now, in celebrating its fall.

So help us God!

Michael R.