Over the next few months, the suspicious death of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria (28 August 1943) and the successive arrests of princesses Mafalda of Savoy (23 September 1943) and Irene of Greece (October 1943) after the overthrow of Mussolini by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (25 July 1943), proved to Michael I and his mother just how dangerous opposition to the Axis powers was. The return of the Soviets in Bessarabia and the American bombing over Bucharest forced the king, despite everything, to break with the regime of Antonescu. On 23 August 1944 Michael I organized a coup d'état against the "Conducător", who was imprisoned. In the process, the king and his new government declared war on the Axis powers and asked the Romanian forces not to resist the Red Army, which nevertheless continued its invasion into the country.