When he came to power, Carol II initially refused to see Helen though he expressed his desire to meet his son, demoted to the rank of heir-apparent to the throne with the title of "Grand Voivod of Alba Iulia" by the Romanian Parliament (8 June 1930). In order to be reunited with Michael, the king therefore resolved to meet to his former wife. Accompanied by his brother Nicholas and his sister Elizabeth, he visited the princess in her villa in the Șoseaua Kiseleff. At the sight of her former husband, Helen showed coldness but she had no other alternative than to offer him her friendship for the sake of their child.