Why King Michael was not restored after the fall of the soviet bloc?

King Michael was popular on Romania, and after the fall of bloc some royal houses did tried to return to the power, like the house of Zog in Albania (that only failed because the government frauded the plebiscite) and Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria, who had a lackluster government and blew his chances of restoration. Romania by the other hand didn't had such movement, can someone explain why? And What could have happened if Michael was restored in 1991?

Edit:

According to Euronews, he was voted in 2012 the most famous personality in Romania, and still he didn't persued a restoration?
 

Tovarich

Banned
I think that with all the Balkan former monarchies, restoration was held back due to the small, but not 0%, chance of ending up with Prince Philip as King.
 
Hmmm... living a comfortable life and running his business. Why leave that and take on a post Soviet ruin?

He visited Romania many times, the video even shows that the authorities delayed as much possible his passport to prevent him from taking power until he was very old, and when he did showed up the people rejoiced at him...

I think that with all the Balkan former monarchies, restoration was held back due to the small, but not 0%, chance of ending up with Prince Philip as King.

All the serbs I know have no argument against monarchy aside from "The King lived in Britain and they helped to bomb us in '99.
 

Kingly

Banned
He visited Romania many times, the video even shows that the authorities delayed as much possible his passport to prevent him from taking power until he was very old, and when he did showed up the people rejoiced at him...



All the serbs I know have no argument against monarchy aside from "The King lived in Britain and they helped to bomb us in '99.
There are lots of arguments against monarchy, and few good ones for it?
 
A cursory look at Wikipedia seems to suggest that nobody was terribly interested in reviving the monarchy:

Michael neither encouraged nor opposed monarchist agitation in Romania and royalist parties have made little impact in post-communist Romanian politics. He took the view that the restoration of the monarchy in Romania can only result from a decision by the Romanian people. "If the people want me to come back, of course, I will come back," he said in 1990. "Romanians have had enough suffering imposed on them to have the right to be consulted on their future." King Michael's belief was that there is still a role for, and value in, the monarchy today: "We are trying to make people understand what the Romanian monarchy was, and what it can still do" (for them).[75]

According to a 2007 opinion poll conducted at the request of the Romanian royal family, only 14% of Romanians were in favour of the restoration of the monarchy.[76] Another 2008 poll found that only 16% of Romanians are monarchists.[77] Michael himself, however, was shown to be much more popular personally with the Romanian people: In a July 2013 survey, 45% of Romanians had a good or very good opinion of Michael, with 6.5% thinking the opposite. The royal family also enjoyed similar numbers, with 41% having a good or very good opinion of it, and just 6.5% having a poor or very poor one.[78]

In short, Michael would have been more than willing to serve as king once more, but felt it was up to the people, not him, to make that decision. The people had much respect for Michael and the royal family as individuals, but little enthusiasm for the institution of monarchy more broadly. Finally, the government itself certainly had no interest in weakening its own power.

I guess your POD could be Michael actively campaigning for it, for the people to have a sudden monarchist fervour, or for the new government to style itself as a reversion to the pre-communist days and duly invite Michael back?
 

cpip

Gone Fishin'
I guess your POD could be Michael actively campaigning for it, for the people to have a sudden monarchist fervour, or for the new government to style itself as a reversion to the pre-communist days and duly invite Michael back?

Were there any prominent Romanian politicians in the post-Communist era who were pro-monarchist, or who might see it as some kind of a wedge issue?
 

Cook

Banned
According to Euronews, he was voted in 2012 the most famous personality in Romania, and still he didn't persued a restoration?

Monarchy is an institution, not an individual; you need a considerably stronger argument than "Joe's a nice guy, let's put him and his kids up in a really big house and pay them lots of money to do sweet fuck all, anyone agree?"
That argument is particularly weak when, as the Romanians had, you've just executed a guy who because he was behaving like a king.
 
Were there any prominent Romanian politicians in the post-Communist era who were pro-monarchist, or who might see it as some kind of a wedge issue?
No idea. But I know Victor Ponta floated it during his failed presidential run in 2014, so I suppose it's possible. Still, I think the biggest hurdle to restoration is that Romania has a semi-presidential system, so any president proposing this would be making their own job obsolete— so it's hard to imagine much enthusiasm for restoration amongst politicians.

I'm just spitballing here, but maybe the way to do it would be for post-communist Romania to adopt a parliamentary system instead, with a largely ceremonial president— looking to Germany instead of France. Already this would make the prospect of a monarchist restoration much less radical: instead of rewriting the constitution and upending the whole political system again, it's just replacing one ceremonial person with another. Then work from a scenario where the PM's ruling coalition is dependant upon a monarchist party, who demand a referendum in exchange for their support. With people indifferent to the presidency— politicians uninterested in the job, the populace probably not even aware of him— people start to reason that, if they're going to have a figurehead of state, then may as well go with the one with the history and pomp behind it. Maybe…?
 
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