Tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets to bid farewell to the country’s last king (photos here), and millions watched the funeral on TV.

Romania’s late King Michael I was buried on Saturday, December 16, at Curtea de Arges. The funeral procession was broadcast live by many TV stations in Romania, and even online. The state-owned television TVR was the exclusive producer, the other stations taking over the images broadcast by TVR. However, Pro TV was the local television with the most viewers.

The last part of the funeral procession, namely the burial service at Curtea de Arges, was the moment with most viewers. Between 19:00 and 20:00, around five million Romanians watched this moment on TV, with most of them choosing Pro TV – 1.4 million, and Antena 1 and Antena 3 – more than 900,000, reports local Paginademedia.ro.

During the day, nearly 900,000 people watched the funeral processions at Pro TV. The audience was kept at the same level all day, with a morning peak of 1 million viewers and an evening maximum of almost 1.4 million viewers.

Meanwhile, Antena 1 and Antena 3, two local TV stations belonging to same media group (Intact), also attracted many viewers. However, Antena 3 did a little bit better than Antena 1, its audience staying close to 0.5 million viewers during the day, with a peak of 700,000 – 900,000 in the last hours of the funeral.

TVR 1 had an average audience of 300,000 viewers during the day, with an evening peak of some 400,000 viewers.

King Michael I died on December 5 at his private home in Switzerland. The king’s coffin was brought to Romania on December 13, and was then taken to the Peles Castle in Sinaia and the Royal Palace in Bucharest. On December 16, the coffin was taken to Curtea de Arges by Royal Train.

Royalties from all over Europe joined King Mihai I’s funeral in Bucharest and in Curtea de Arges, including Prince Charles of Wales, the heir to the British throne and a supporter of Romania’s Transylvanian heritage, Spain’s former King, Juan Carlos and his wife Queen Sofia, King Carl Gustaf of Sweden and his wife Queen Silvia, Greece’s former Queen Anne-Marie, Henri, Duke of Luxembourg, and Belgium’s Princess Astrid and her husband Prince Lorenz.

Romania’s president Klaus Johannis and his wife, as well as prominent politicians also took part in the ceremonies.

Romania’s King Michael, Queen Elizabeth’s cousin, had blood ties to major European Royal Houses

History: 20 facts about Romania’s last king

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Klaus Iohannis on Facebook)