Prince Charles of Britain, second from left, attends the funeral ceremony in tribute to late Romanian King Michael in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Dec.16, 2017. Tens of thousands of Romanians joined the European royals on Saturday to pay their respects to late King Michael as a state funeral got underway. Michael, who ruled Romania twice before being forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died at the age of 96 in Switzerland this month. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

BUCHAREST, Romania - Tens of thousands of Romanians joined European royals to pay their respects to late King Michael who was remembered for his dignity and morality, as he was given a state funeral Saturday.

Michael, who ruled Romania twice before being forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died at age 96 in Switzerland on Dec. 5.

Britain's Prince Charles, Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, and Spain's former King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, were among those at a pre-funeral service at the Royal Palace where Michael's body had been laying in state for the past two days. The Swedish king saluted as Michael's coffin was placed on a dais.

Non-European royals attending the funeral included Princess Muna al-Hussein, mother of King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Other royals including Henri, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz of Belgium were joined by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis for a sung funeral service, led by the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Daniel.

Bishops wafted incense in the small cathedral where Michael was crowned for the second time on Sept. 6, 1940. Michael, who was a great-great grandson of Queen Victoria, first became king aged 5 after his father Carol II eloped with his mistress and abdicated.

A funeral procession carrying his coffin drove slowly through the Romanian capital to a railway station, where accompanied by a phalanx of priests, the casket was put on a royal train. It will arrive in the central town of Curtea de Arges for burial next to his wife Anne de Bourbon-Parme who died last year.

In the hours before Michael's coffin was taken out of the palace, Romanians gathered silently, many in tears, in Revolution Square. Church bells tolled around the country and a choir of priests sang as the coffin was taken out and was laid on a dais in the square.

Mourner Georgeta Anastasiu, 60, said the late king had been "demonized by the communists, but in the end we found out the truth about him."

She called the king "the last moral example for Romanians."

Earlier, the crowd cheered and shouted "King Michael!" as the coffin, led by Orthodox priests and a guard of honour, was transported by an army jeep toward the cathedral.

Michael's five daughters and his estranged grandson Nicholas Medforth-Mills, who was stripped of his title for allegedly fathering a child out of wedlock, walked behind the coffin.

Journalist Vlad Mixich summed up the mood on social media.

"Today Romania is burying what it could have been; today is the funeral of a dream," he tweeted.

News from © The Associated Press, 2017