More than 800 guests, some of them representatives of 14 Royal Houses in Europe, ex presidents and PMs of Romania, outstanding members of the Orthodox Church and top men of letters together with representatives of Bucharest diplomats gathered in the Romanian Athenaeum, Bucharest, last Tuesday evening to celebrate the 60 years of marriage between King Mihai I of Romania and Queen Ana.
Here are some of the nobles attending the event: Her Majesty Queen Sophia of Spain, His Majesty King Simeon of Bulgaria, His Majesty King Constantine II of Greece, Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke Karl of Austria, Prince Alexander II of Serbia and Yugoslavia.
Romanian artists such as Stefan Caltia, Sorin Ilfoveanu, Sorin Dumitrescu, together with remarkable pianist Dan Grigoare, novelist Augustin Buzura and actor Victor Rebengiuc were also present. After the guests had taken their seats, Their Majesties sat down in the Royal Lodge, together with Queen Sophia of Spain and the Romanian PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu on one side. Her Royal Highness Princess Margareta, the couple's daughter, together with her husband Prince Radu were on the other side.
Ion Iliescu in the back
The ex President of Romania Ion Iliescu sat behind the royal family. Many monarchists there would chat about him, the man who had several times opposed the King's return to Romania after 1989. It is to be noticed that the King elegantly avoided greeting Ion Iliescu during the extraordinary concert played in the Athenaeum.
But he did not do the same with magnates Dinu Patriciu and Dan Voiculescu, who talked to the royal family cordially. Both businessmen shared the Roal Lodge with ex Romanian Presidents Ion Iliescu and Emil Constantinescu.
His Beatitude Daniel, a Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and the Romanian President Traian Basescu did not attend. The Romanian Orthodox Church was represented by other high officials instead.