FORMER ROMANIAN MONARCH HOSTED BY BULGARIAN ROYAL-TURNED-PREMIER

Former King Michael of Romania, accompanied by his wife, Queen Ana, his eldest daughter Princess Margaret, and her husband Prince Radu, paid a private visit on 12 and 13 January to Bulgaria at the invitation of Simeon Saxecoburggotski, himself a former monarch who became premier after winning the 2001 parliamentary elections, BTA and Romanian radio reported. Mihai drove from Bucharest to Sofia himself. Saxecoburggotski hosted the visiting Romanian royal family at the Tsarska Bistritsa palace in Borovets, south of Sofia. Asked what Michael's opinion of him is, Saxecoburggotski told journalists: "He thinks I am a good patriot."

from: Radio Free Europe