(16 Dec 2017) ROMANIANS, EUROPEAN ROYALS PAY RESPECTS AT KING MICHAEL'S FUNERAL
Tens of thousands of Romanians joined European royals on Saturday to pay their respects to late King Michael as a state funeral got underway.
Michael, who ruled Romania twice before being forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died at age 96 in Switzerland this month.
Britain's Prince Charles, Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, and Spain's former King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, were among those at a pre-funeral service at the Royal Palace where Michael's body had been laying in state for the past two days.
Among non-European royals attending the funeral was Princess Muna al-Hussein, mother of King Abdullah II of Jordan.
In the hours before the coffin was taken out of the palace, Romanians gathered silently, many in tears, in Revolution Square where Michael's coffin was laid on a dais outside the palace.
Church bells tolled around the city intermittently to mark the solemnity of the moment and a choir of priests sang as his coffin was taken out.
The crowd cheered and shouted "King Michael!" as the coffin, led by Orthodox priests and a guard of honour, was transported by an army jeep towards the cathedral where there the funeral will take place.
His body will then be taken by royal train to the central Romanian city of Curtea de Arges where he will be buried next to his wife Anne de Bourbon-Parme who died last year.

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