Romania's King Michael was forced to sign a pre-typed abdication, and his grandson was later struck from the succession

Michael I was king of Romania twice and led the 1944 coup that took Romania out of its alliance with Germany. On 30 December 1947 Communist leaders Petru Groza and Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej summoned him to Bucharest, surrounded the palace with troops and presented a typed abdication. He signed. From 1990 he said they threatened to shoot 1,000 arrested students. Declassified files indicate he received assets worth 500,000 Swiss francs before leaving and took 42 crown-owned paintings; he said he left with four cars. Romania later restored Peleș, Pelișor and Săvârșin castles to the family. On 30 December 2007 he signed statutes naming his eldest daughter Margareta as heir. On 1 August 2015 he removed his grandson Nicholas Medforth-Mills from the line of succession and took away his title. He died in 2017 and received a state funeral in Bucharest. Margareta heads the house as Custodian of the Crown. Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest, where he signed, is used by the family under a law for former heads of state but was not returned to them.