The Romanian Senate passed a proposal to adopt under an emergency procedure the bill that grants several advantages to Romania’s Royal House.

According to the bill, the head of the Royal House will have the same status as former heads of state. The bill also grants the Royal House the right to use the Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest for free, for a period of 49 years. It also provides that the Royal House will have an administrative service financed from the state budget.

The proposal passed on Monday, November 20, with 81 votes in favor and 19 against, Mediafax reported.

The bill was initiated by Senate president Calin Popescu-Tariceanu and Chamber of Deputies speaker Liviu Dragnea, who are also the leaders of the governing coalition.

The project’s initiators said this legislative proposal was a recognition of the way King Michael, Romania’s last sovereign, served his country. The bill will also assure the continuity of a symbol institution of the Romanian state.

The Royal House only has a symbolical role in Romania as monarchy was abolished in 1948 when the communists forced King Michael to abdicate and leave the country.

The bill comes at a critical moment for the Romanian Royal House as King Michael's health is more frail by the day and a succession line has been announced. At the same time, Nicolae Medforth-Mills, the disinherited grandson of King Michael I, questioned the decision to have his royal title withdrawn. He would have been third in the line of succession if he had not been stripped of the title of Prince of Romania in 2015.

King Michael withdrew from public life in 2016 after being diagnosed with cancer. He passed the responsibility of representing the Romanian Royal House on to his first daughter Princess Margareta.

editor@romania-insider.com