Mircea Ionnițiu (sometimes incorrectly spelled "Ioanițiu" or "Ioannițiu") (September 27, 1921,

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

– November 13, 1990, Woodland Hills,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n writer, author of memorial notes. In his adolescence, he was a member of the , a special class of pupils that was formed upon the request of

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Carol II of Romania Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930, until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. As the eldest son of King Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I, in 1914. He was the f ...

, for the education of his only son, Prince Michael (proclaimed king as Michael I in 1940). Around 1944, Mircea Ionnițiu was a personal secretary of King Michael I. In this job, he was a direct witness of the August 23rd coup d'état, of the imposition of the first

Petru Groza Petru Groza (7 December 1884 – 7 January 1958) was a Romanian politician, best known as the first Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister of the Romanian Communist Party, Communist Party-dominated government under Soviet Union, Soviet Sovie ...

cabinet through

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

pressure (March 6, 1945) and of the king's forced abdication on December 30, 1947. Ionnițiu left Romania on January 3, 1948, in the

Royal Train A royal train is a set of railway carriages dedicated for the use of the king or other members of a royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial tr ...

, together with the Royal Family of Romania that was departing in forced

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

. Later, in 1984, he wrote his memoirs about these historical events in his book ''Amintiri și reflecțiuni'' (''"Memories and Reflections"''), published by Editura Enciclopedică in 1993.

Bibliography

* Mircea Ionnițiu, ''Amintiri și reflecțiuni'', Editura Enciclopedică, 1993, * Tudor Vișan-Miu, ''La școală cu Regele Mihai''. Povestea Clasei Palatine, Editura Corint, 2016, * Nicolae Drăgușin, ''Abdicarea forțată a Regelui Mihai'', in ''

România liberă Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea t ...

'', January 4, 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ionnițiu, Mircea 1921 births 1990 deaths Writers from Bucharest 20th-century Romanian male writers Romanian memoirists Romanian expatriates in the United States Romanian monarchists