Disinherited Grandson Causing Drama for Romania's Royals

Nicholas Medforth-Mills says he just wants to see his dying grandfather
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 9, 2017 10:01 AM CST
Major Drama Tearing at Romania's Royal Family
This is a Nov. 8, 2013, file photo of Romania's former King Michael next to grandson Nicholas Medforth-Mills on the balcony of his residence in Bucharest, Romania.   (Octav Ganea/Mediafax via AP, File)

Three generations of Romania's royal family were embroiled in a very public row Thursday as a disinherited prince's attempts to see his ailing grandfather led his own mother to renounce him. Princess Elena accused her son, Nicholas Medforth-Mills, of disregarding "the privacy, suffering, and dignity" of her 96-year-old father, former King Michael, in a statement issued by the royal house. Her comments came after the royal house filed a complaint to Swiss police Tuesday alleging Medforth-Mills had tried to force his way into his grandfather's home in Aubonne, Switzerland, and had "physically and verbally aggressed" three staff members. "I, Nicholas, just wanted to see my grandfather and say goodbye to him in a peaceful, respectful, and Christian way," said Medforth-Mills in a statement on Facebook. Michael is suffering from leukemia and skin cancer.

Medforth-Mills, 32, Michael's only grandson, was one of the most popular members of the Romanian royal family, which hasn't had any constitutional powers since Michael abdicated in 1947, reports the AP. But in August 2015 his grandfather suddenly stripped him of his title. It later emerged that Nicholas may have fathered a child with a Romanian woman, a situation that was said to have affected Michael badly as an echo of his own unhappy childhood. His father, Carol II, married three times and was forced to give up the succession to the throne over an affair while he was still married to Michael's mother, leaving Michael to be king when he was only 5. Carol later did replace his son as king. Princess Elena said Thursday that Michael was refusing to see his grandson over his failure to clarify the paternity of the child, now 2.

(More Romania stories.)

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