A king who led his country through a war, only to be banished by the communists; a princess who broke the heart of a future British PM; another royal stripped of her title after an illegal cockfighting scandal and a handsome prince cut adrift after claims of fathering an illegitimate child but who is now attracting huge support in Romania.

It may sound like something out of TV show Game Of Thrones but it's a real-life drama being played out in the Romanian royal family right now, a power-struggle for a throne that doesn't even exist any more.

A spotlight was thrown on this right royal row thanks to the funeral at the weekend of King Michael of Romania, who died this month at the age of 96. Mourners included Prince Charles, former King Juan Carlos of Spain and King Carl Gustaf of Sweden.

Following Michael's death, eldest daughter Margareta formally assumed his role even though Romania hasn't had an official royal family since Michael was forced to abdicate in 1947.

To make matters even spicier Michael modified the succession to remove his daughter Irina as well as his grandson Nicholas Medforth-Mills, the 32-year-old son of his daughter Elena and her British husband formerly known as Prince Nicolae. Now it seems that Nicholas is back – and is ready to settle a few scores himself.

Michael first became king of Romania in 1927 aged five following the abdication of his father Carol. That reign lasted three years before Carol reclaimed the throne but after being deposed in 1940 Michael was again crowned king.

King Michael led an Allied coup in 1944, significantly helping to shorten the war and in 1947 he was a guest at the wedding of his cousins the Queen and Prince Philip, where he met his own wife Anne. But on his return from Britain he was summoned by the ruling communists and told the monarchy was to be abolished.

The couple spent four decades in exile in Switzerland and Britain before he returned to Romania in 1990 after the fall of Ceausescu but the royal family has never been restored to its role as head of state.

While Michael was recognised as a dignified figure, the contenders for the succession of the lost throne are a mixed bunch.

Eldest daughter Crown Princess Margareta currently leads the family. In the 1970s she attended Edinburgh University, where she fell in love with a young political firebrand by the name of Gordon Brown.

The couple dated for five years before she ended the relationship. "I never stopped loving him but one day it didn't seem right any more," she remembered. "It was politics, politics, politics and I needed nurturing."

For his part the future PM was not so sanguine. "She was the one great love of his life," a close friend of Brown's said. "He has never got over it."

Michael's third daughter Irina moved to America in the 1980s but in 2013 was arrested for being part of an illegal cockfighting and gambling ring. The following year the king altered the line of succession, stripping Irina and her children of their royal titles.

But by far the most controversial contender for the crown is Nicholas Medforth-Mills. As the eldest child of Michael's second daughter Elena he was until 2015 third in line to the throne. But that year a feud soured relations with his grandfather – and he was cut out of his inheritance. Born in Switzerland Nicholas was educated at Shiplake College in Henley on Thames. After university he became increasingly involved with his ancestral homeland and became popular there. Young, handsome and charismatic he even stated in an interview with a Romanian newspaper in 2008: "I am ready to be the king of Romania."

That all collapsed in 2015 after he had a one-night-stand with Nicoleta Cirjan, an environmental activist. The result of that was a baby and despite Nicholas's alleged fatherhood never having been definitively proved, Michael hit the roof.

Nicholas was removed from the line of succession, with the king declaring that the family should be led by "someone with moral principles".

If the Romanians were astonished Nicholas was stunned. Whispers of plots and coercion of the ageing king abounded. The royal family even filed a police complaint after Nicholas tried to "force his way" into his grandfather's home. The final twist is that Nicholas's popularity has continued to grow. Now engaged to Alina-Maria Binder, he and the 29-year-old Romanian have been described as the "Prince Harry and Meghan Markle" of their homeland. "Nicholas has become very popular," says historian Marlene Eilers Koenig. "But there are signs that other members of the family resented his popularity."

At King Michael's funeral on Saturday all eyes were on Nicholas. Whatever anyone else might say it seems that for one deposed prince at least, this particular game of thrones is far from over.