It is important to recall that the only reason that the public knows that King Michael was suffering from cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease when he died is due to Crown Princess Margarita suing her nephew, which led to a more complete picture of the king's health condition being admitted to the court through some kind of discovery. Otherwise, that fact would have never been established; the only diagnosis that the Royal Household announced was cancer. If the king was suffering from those diseases in 2017, then it is likely he was dealing with them for some time beforehand.
Deeply misleading to play the disinheritance off as "Nicholas just having a child out of wedlock" when in reality Nicholas only took (legal) responsibility of his firstborn when he was explicitly asked by the court to do so and to the best of our knowledge has no contact with his daughter to this day.
King Michael was a deeply conscientious man so I have no doubt he found Nicholas' behaviour appalling on a personal level (seeing his great-granddaughter treated like that) but certainly also on a "professional" level. When you – at the very minimum – can't even assume responsibility for your own actions, how on earth can you be trusted to rationally assume leadership of your house? Actually, disinheriting Nicholas for being unreliable was very much in line with the kind of honesty and righteousness, King Michael always operated with and Nicholas attempting to contest this is simply laughable.
I agree with you that it is misleading for people to assume that Nicholas was disinherited because he had a daughter, Iris, with Nicoleta Cîrjan out of wedlock. However, it is misleading because the child was conceived in May 2015. The reports of the time stated that Nicholas informed Margarita and Radu of the situation whenever he learned Nicoleta was pregnant - which according to Nicoleta’s recollections was in July 2015. Apparently, Nicholas and Radu were already not getting along well. Nicholas had moved out of Elisabeta Palace to his own flat by then. This affair did not sit well with Margarita and Radu when they were told of it. Nicholas was disinherited “by his grandfather” on 10 August 2015. His daughter Iris was born in February 2016. The pregnancy was probably just the nail that was needed to close Nicholas' metaphorical coffin in the eyes of his aunt and uncle.
Further, Nicholas did not recognize his daughter Iris after he was ordered by a court to do so. He took that step after a DNA test was conducted; this test had been requested by Nicholas, presumably at the advice of legal counsel, and then there was a lengthy back and forth between Nicholas and Nicoleta about where the test would take place. This led to the delay of Iris’s official recognition until 2019. It is worth nothing that when she was interviewed in October 2016, Nicoleta had this to say about Nicholas: "He is a warm man who cares about those around him.” It is inaccurate for people to assume that Nicholas has no contact with his first child, because he does. Although it is a private matter, and if any of the parties involved ever read this then I hope they will forgive me for writing this, I feel compelled to confirm that he does have contact with her and that he does provide for her. I will not go into further details about that, as there is much more to that story. Although, based on my knowledge, I will affirm that Nicholas’s first daughter has had much more contact with her paternal family than Nicholas's two children with his wife Alina, and that has been a clear choice by Crown Princess Margarita and Princess Helen.
It is interesting that so much has been made public by Casa Regala to try and damage the reputation of one of their family members, who was dedicated to their role and still remains popular. The same institution has done so much to bury the actual past of some current “working” members. If members of this forum feel an inclination to quickly judge Nicholas, then they might be also interested in the nature of the first marriage of Radu Duda to Viorica Tanta Begnescu and what that indicates about the personality of the current Prince Consort of Romania.
Lastly, it was clear by March 2016 that King Michael and Queen Anne of Romania were both in ill health. At this point, one of the couple's grandchildren took to a public forum [this forum, in fact] to comment on the issues that were faced by family members who were not in favour with the Custodian of the Crown and her consort. Angelica de Roumanie Kreuger, the only daughter of Princess Irina of Romania, wrote: "
I'm sure as long as his grandchildren from Irina are allowed to visit they will. I know the king has meet [sic] his first great-grand child but so far no others." The same day, Angelica left the following insightful comment: "
I'm sure if the royal family was more family oriented then the family would be closer." When I posited that Queen Anne seemed to have been the unifying force trying to keep the family together, her granddaughter replied: "
Yes, unfortunately the daughters didn't get along for many years. Just sad that it made the grandchildren so distant. Hopefully the family will find a way to keep together for the next generation." These comments from Angelica Kreuger made it clear that a number of the family members of King Michael and Queen Anne were kept from seeing their loved ones.