BUCHAREST (Reuters): Romania's exiled King Michael made a reconciliatory return home at the weekend, dining with the ex-communist president who turned tanks on him a decade ago. King Michael shook hands on Saturday night with President Ion Iliescu - who had him deported on several attempted return trips after the overthrow of communism in 1989.

The king, who has lived in exile for five decades, arrived just a day after Romania's leftist dominated Senate passed a law granting him and other former heads of state 50 percent of the president's pay, a residence and a special guard.

But the ageing monarch's decision to accept an invitation to smooth things over at the start of a two-week visit did not mean he hoped to emulate his Bulgarian neighbour King Simeon and enter politics, his spokeswoman said.

"It means reconciliation and the start of a state of normality. It should have happened 11 years ago," Royal House spokeswoman Simina Mezincescu told Reuters.

Iliescu, who sent tanks to stop the monarch from touring the country in 1990, has admitted he may have been wrong in his past dealings with King Michael.

Stripped of his citizenship and forced to abdicate following the communist takeover of Romania in 1947, King Michael has since lived in Switzerland.

He was deeply moved to return to the room where he was ordered to sign his abdication papers. "It's a personal victory for the king," he said.

Iliescu, who like Michael is in his 70s, said last month the king was free to enter politics if he wished after his Bulgarian counterpart decided to contest a June general election.

Michael says he is not interested, however, despite backing Romania's bid to join Nato on visits in the late 1990s when Iliescu's centrist predecessor was in power.

"A king is forever above politics, his majesty is sworn in as a king," Mezincescu said. "He was proposed to join the presidential race in 1992 but he firmly rejected."

Copyright REUTERS

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