by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

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King Constantine II of Greece was the King of Greece (styled King of the Hellenes) from 1964 until the monarchy was abolished in 1973. He was born on June 2, 1940, at Villa Psychiko, in the suburbs of Athens, Greece. His parents were King Paul of Greece and Princess Frederica of Hanover, both descendants of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter Victoria, Princess Royal who married Friedrich III, German Emperor.

• Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom → Victoria, Princess Royal (married Friedrich III, German Emperor) → Princess Sophie of Prussia (married King Constantine I of Greece)  → King Paul I of Greece (Princess Frederica of Hanover) → King Constantine II of Greece
• Queen Victoria → Victoria, Princess Royal (married Friedrich III, German Emperor) → Wilhelm II, German Emperor (married Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein) → Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia (married Ernst August of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick)  → Princess Frederica of Hanover (married King Paul of Greece) → King Constantine II of Greece

Constantine had an elder and a younger sister:

• Princess Sophia (born 1938), married King Juan Carlos of Spain, had three children
• Princess Irene of Greece (born 1942), unmarried

Constantine on the left with his family around 1947; Credit – www.britannica.com

In April of 1941, during World War II, Germany and Italy invaded Greece and Constantine’s family was forced to flee. The family lived in Alexandria, Egypt, and Cape Town, South Africa before returning to Greece in 1946. King George II of Greece, Constantine’s uncle, died childless in 1947, so Constantine’s father became King and Constantine became Crown Prince.

From 1949 – 1955, Crown Prince Constantine attended the Classical Lyceum Anavryton in Athens. The school was based on the educational principles of Kurt Hahn and modeled on the schools that Hahn created, Salem School in Germany and Gordonstoun School in Scotland. Attending the school gave Constantine the opportunity to associate with other children, many of whom became his life-long friends. Constantine participated in hockey, volleyball, and high jump, acted in school plays, and became Head Boy.

While still in school, Constantine attended military training on weekends and after graduating, he attended all three Greek military academies: Evelpidon Military Academy, Hellenic Naval Academy, and Hellenic Air Force Academy.  In 1960, Constantine went to the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens to study law.

Crown Prince Constantine meeting President Eisenhower at the White House in 1959; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1960, Constantine became one of the royal Olympian medal winners.  In the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics, Constantine won a Gold Medal in Sailing: Mixed Three Person Keel/Dragon Class, the first Greek Gold Medal since the 1912 Stockholm Summer Olympics.

Constantine after being awarded his Gold Medal; Photo source: www.yachtsandyachting.co.uk

In late February 1964, King Paul had surgery for stomach cancer but died soon afterward on March 6, 1964, and Constantine became king at the age of 23. That same evening, the devastated new king swore his oath before the Greek Parliament and his younger sister Irene was recognized as his successor until he married and had children. His elder sister Sofia had converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism when she married Juan Carlos of Spain and therefore had relinquished her rights to the Greek throne.

King Constantine II of Greece swears his oath in the Greek Parliament; Photo: Greek Royal Family

Later that year, King Constantine married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, the youngest daughter of King Frederick IX of Denmark. He had first met his future bride in 1959 when she was 13 years old and he was accompanying his parents on a state visit to Denmark. They met a second time in Denmark in 1961, when Constantine declared to his parents his intention to marry Anne-Marie. In 1962, Anne-Marie served as a bridesmaid at the wedding of King Constantine’s sister Sofia and Juan Carlos of Spain. It was at that wedding that Constantine and Anne-Marie realized that they were falling in love. Constantine proposed during a sailing holiday in Norway, but the engagement announcement was postponed for six months because of Anne-Marie’s young age. They were married on September 18, 1964, two weeks after Anne-Marie’s 18th birthday, in a Greek Orthodox ceremony at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens.

• Wedding of King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark

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King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie had five children:

• Princess Alexia, born 1965 at Mon Repos, Corfu, Greece; married Carlos Morales Quintana, had four children
• Crown Prince Pavlos, born 1967 at Tatoi Palace, Greece; married Marie-Chantal Miller, had five children
• Prince Nikolaos,  born 1969 in Rome, Italy; married Tatiana Elinka Blatnik
• Princess Theodora, born 1983 in London, England
• Prince Philippos, born 1986 in London, England; married Nina Flohr

At the 2021 wedding of Prince Philippos and Nina Flohr: left to right: Crown Prince Pavlos, Crown Princess Marie-Chantal, the bride’s father Thomas Flohr, Prince Constantine Alexios, King Constantine, and Queen Anne-Marie

On April 21, 1967, a coup d’état led by a group of army colonels took over Greece. A military junta ruled Greece from 1967 – 1974. For more information see Wikipedia: Greek military junta of 1967–74  On December 13, 1967, King Constantine attempted a counter-coup against the military junta which failed, and King Constantine and his family had to flee to Italy. The family lived for two months in the Greek embassy and then for the next five years in a house in a suburb of Rome. King Constantine remained the head of state in exile until June 1, 1973, when the junta abolished the monarchy.  In 1974, after the fall of the junta, a referendum by the Greek people confirmed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the Third Hellenic Republic.

In 1973, the family moved to England, living first in Chobham, Surrey, and later in the London suburb of Hampstead. The Greek government did not permit King Constantine to return to Greece until 1981 when he was allowed to enter Greece for several hours to attend the funeral of his mother Queen Frederica. King Constantine and his family paid a private visit to Greece in 1993. After 2003, when a property dispute between Constantine and the Greek government was settled, Constantine and his family were able to make visits to Greece and purchase a summer home there. In 2013, former King Constantine II permanently returned to reside in Greece.

King Constantine talks with Prince Harry while Queen Anne-Marie chats with the Duchess of Cambridge, now The Princess of Wales, during a luncheon at Windsor Castle; Photo: Zimbio

King Constantine was a close friend of his second cousin King Charles III of the United Kingdom, and a godfather of Prince William, The Prince of Wales. William, in turn, is a godfather of one of King Constantine’s grandchildren, Prince Constantine Alexios, the eldest son of Crown Prince Pavlos. As a descendant of Queen Victoria, King Constantine was related to a number of European royals and was regularly invited to royal functions.

King Constantine II, the former King of Greece, died at Hygeia Hospital in Athens, Greece on January 10, 2023, at the age of 82. He had been admitted to the intensive care unit at the hospital a couple of days earlier. His funeral, attended by many royal guests, was held at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation in Athens, Greece, followed by the burial at the Royal Cemetery on the grounds of Tatoi Palace, the former summer palace of the Greek royal family, near Athens, Greece.

• Unofficial Royalty: Funeral of King Constantine II of Greece

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Greece Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Kingdom of Greece Index Index
• Greek Royal Burial Sites
• Greek Royal Dates
• Greek Royal Weddings
• Kings of Greece
• Profiles: Greek Kings and Consorts

by Emily McMahon
© Unofficial Royalty 2014

Irene of Greece, Duchess of Aosta; Credit – Wikipedia

Born in Athens, Greece on February 13, 1904, Irene was the second of the three daughters and the fifth of the six children of King  Constantine I of Greece and Princess Sophie of Prussia, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The name Irene is derived from the Greek word for peace and the princess may have been given that name due to the so-called Macedonian Struggle, a period of violent skirmishes, guerilla warfare, and political assassinations in the Balkans that began the year of her birth. 

Irene had five siblings:

• King George II of the Hellenes (1890 – 1947), married Princess Elisabeta of Romania, no children, divorced
• King Alexander of the Hellenes (1893 – 1920), married Aspasia Manos, had one daughter
• Princess Helen of Greece, Queen Mother of Romania (1896 – 1982), married King Carol II of Romania, had one son, divorced
• King Paul I of the Hellenes (1901 – 1964), married Princess Frederica of Hanover, had two daughters and one son
• Princess Katherine of Greece, The Lady Katherine Brandram (1913 – 2007), married Major Richard Brandram, had one son

Photo circa 1910, Top left: Constantine holding Irene, Top right: the future George II, Left: Sophia, Center: Helen, Right: the future Alexander I, Front: the future Paul I, Katherine is not yet born; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

The Greek royal family spent a significant amount of time in exile during Irene’s childhood. After her father’s death in 1922, Irene moved with her mother and younger sister permanently to Italy. Irene lived in Florence with her mother and younger sister in a somewhat ordinary villa. During Irene’s time in Florence, she trained as a nurse in a local hospital. She was also seen out at local dance halls and cafes and generally living the life of a typical young adult of the time. She was fond of the Scottish Highlands, regularly taking trips there with Helen. In late 1926, Irene and Katherine simultaneously came down with appendicitis, but both made quick recoveries.

Irene was linked for some time to Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria. Following her sister Helen’s disastrous experience as the wife of King Carol II of Romania, Irene was said to have declared that she would not marry a Balkan royal. Irene was engaged to Christian of Schaumburg-Lippe, her distant cousin, in October 1927. The engagement was broken off reportedly due to Irene’s dislike of Germany.

Irene and her sister Katherine served as bridesmaids for their cousin Marina when she married George, Duke of Kent in 1934. As royal weddings tend to encourage gossip about other possible couples, talk of a future husband for Irene began to simmer again. She was mentioned as being linked to Nicholas of Romania, a family with whom her own already had two links. Her sister Helen and brother George both married into the Romanian royal family. In the late 1930s, Irene was named as a possible bride to the widowed Leopold III, King of the Belgians. Neither of these prospective marriages progressed beyond talks.

Irene was also instrumental in encouraging “Green Week” in Athens, a time when many trees were planted on the streets of the city to encourage natural beauty and shade. Her brother George II liked the idea and appealed to ambassadors of several different countries for donations of trees.

Irene again became engaged in May 1939 to Prince Aimone of Savoy, 4th Duke of Aosta. Aimone was the son of Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta and Hélène of Orléans, once a potential bride for both Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Nicholas II of Russia. Aimone was descended from Ferdinand VII of Spain, Louis-Philippe of France, and Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, and was at one time thought to marry Infanta Beatriz of Spain. The engagement between Irene and Aimone was considered to be “a love match without political significance,” although there was some speculation that the marriage was arranged to ease tension over Italian troops being stationed near the Greek border. The two had known one another for some time, as the Greeks in exile in Italy had become close with the Savoy family.

The couple married in Florence at the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore on July 1, 1939, in the company of numerous other royals. The ceremony was said to have been gorgeous, with the streets filled with flowers and scores of spectators. Aimone’s and Irene’s wedding was one of the last royal weddings before the outbreak of World War II in Europe.

The couple had one son:

• Prince Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta (1943 – 2021), married  (1) Princess Claude of Orléans, divorced 1987, had three children  (2)  Silvia Paternò di Spedalotto, no children

Prince Aimone; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Aimone was named King of Croatia in 1941. Croatia had been established as a puppet monarchy in control of Italy and Greece. He intended to rule under the name Tomislav II, but Aimone accepted the throne mostly out of duty. The region was unstable due to border disputes and the war in Europe; the theoretical monarch of Croatia also held little power as the Ustaše fascist organization controlled the country. Aimone abdicated the throne in 1943 on the orders of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.

At the beginning of World War II, Irene began serving with the International Red Cross in the Soviet Union. In July 1944, after the Allies’ armistice with Italy, Irene, her infant son, her sister-in-law and her two nieces were interned by the Germans at the Hotel Ifen in Hirschegg, Austria, They were liberated by the French in May 1945.

After the fall of the Italian monarchy in 1946, Irene and Amadeo escaped to Switzerland while Aimone fled to Argentina. The couple was effectively separated after this time, having spent little time together during the preceding years. Aimone died in Buenos Aires in 1948.

Irene with her son Amadeo in 1959; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Following her husband’s death in 1948, Irene established herself at Villa Domenico in Fiesole, Italy, near her sister Helena, who lived in Villa Sparta. Irene died on April 15, 1974, after a long illness, at her home in Fiesole, Italy. She is buried at the Basilica of Superga in Turin, Italy.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

October 15, 1980 – Death of Peter of Greece and Denmark

Wikipedia: Peter of Greece and Denmark

With its many overthrows and exiles during the 20th century, the Greek royal family does not lack for interesting stories or unusual characters. However, history has largely forgotten Peter, a French born Greek prince who was a cousin to Kings George II, Alexander, and Paul as well as the current Duke of Edinburgh. But Peter led a very unusual life that led him from India to Egypt to Denmark (with several stops in between), studying various foreign cultures. Peter weathered a morganatic marriage that left him estranged from much of his family, and in his later life shot criticism at his cousin Constantine II for what Peter felt was an illegal change to the Greek succession laws.

Peter was born in Paris, France on December 3, 1908. He was the first child of George of Greece, the second son of George I of Greece, and his French wife Marie Bonaparte. Peter’s sister and only sibling Eugenie was born a little over a year later. The family divided their time mostly between homes in France and Denmark, spending little time in Greece. Peter was educated in London and Paris, where he had planned to study law and politics but instead became interested in anthropology and cultural studies. Peter finally returned to Greece in the 1935 following the restoration of his cousin George II. He served in both the Greek and French armies during his young adulthood.

Due to his royal heritage and place in the line of succession to the Greek throne (he was third in 1935), Peter was considered as a possible husband for at least two European princesses. Peter was said to be a favorite of Juliana of the Netherlands, but Queen Wilhelmina desired a Protestant son-in-law and disliked that Peter’s mother’s fortune had been made through the development of the Monte Carlo casinos. Frederika of Hanover was also suggested as a possible wife for Peter, but she eventually married his cousin Paul in 1938.

Around this time Peter entered into a relationship with Irina Aleksandrovna Ovtchinnikova, a divorced Russian woman separated from her second husband. Peter’s family greatly disapproved of the relationship due to Irina’s commoner status and marital history. Nevertheless, Peter embarked on a trip through present-day India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Sri Lanka with Irina, studying the various groups of people they met. Peter was particularly interested in the polyandry practiced in some areas of the region. Peter and Irina were civilly married September 1939 at the Danish consulate in Madras, India.

The marriage cost Peter both his dynastic rights and his relationship with his father, who swore off contact with his son. Peter maintained contact with his mother and sister, but the onslaught of World War II prevented a long reunion. Peter escaped Greece with the rest of the royal family, settling in Cairo with Irina. The two married religiously in Jerusalem in 1941.

Peter hoped to return to Greece after World War II and the 1944-5 Greek civil war. Peter’s cousin Paul, now king, recognized Peter’s marriage to Irina and offered to let the two return to Greece, but only if Peter renounced his right to the Greek throne, something he had not done despite his marriage to commoner Irina. When Peter refused, Paul barred him from re-entering the country.

After spending a short time in both Denmark and the United States, Peter and Irina returned to India in 1949. The two spent nearly a decade collecting data and traveling around India, Tibet, and Sri Lanka. The two settled for several years in Kalimpong, India, near the borders with Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Tibet. During that time, Peter accused the government of India of helping Communist China in its attempt to overthrow Tibet. Peter was asked to leave India in 1957 after some of his activities were, according to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, “considered undesirable.” Peter resumed his studies in London upon his return, and received a doctorate in anthropology in 1959. His thesis focused on his interest in polyandry and was published as A Study in Polyandry in 1963.

Following his cousin Paul’s death in 1964, Peter entered into a feud with Paul’s son and successor Constantine, who had named his younger sister Irene his successor should he die childless. Peter, who was Constantine’s nearest male relative, was livid and lashed out at Queen Frederika for influencing Constantine into making decisions that (Peter believed) violated Greece’s constitution. Peter called a press conference to air his grievances, also accusing the royal family of extravagance with public money. He continued his fight to be recognized as crown prince of Greece until the birth of Constantine’s son Pavlos in 1967. Peter later apologized for his actions.

After the fall of the Greek monarchy, Peter sold his Greek properties and divided his time between London, Paris, and Copenhagen. He and his wife Irina
separated in the mid-1970s when she relocated to Hong Kong. Peter received an invitation from the Chinese government to resume his studies in Tibet in 1978, which he accepted. Peter was planning a second trip when he died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage in London.

Peter’s memorial mass was held at St. Sophia’s in London. No one in his family reportedly spoke to Irina before or after the service. He requested in his will to be buried at the family cemetery at Tatoi Palace only if Irina could be buried there as well. Although the Greek royal family agreed, the Greek government prohibited a burial at Tatoi. Peter is buried at his Danish home, Lille Bernstorff. Irina was buried next to him after her death in 1990.

Many of the objects Peter collected during his studies in Asia are now held at the National Museum of Denmark and in the Danish Royal Library.

List of Peter’s publications available through the Danish Royal Library

by Emily McMahon  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark  source: Wikipedia

Born August 10, 1888, in Pavlovsk, near St. Petersburg, Russia, Prince Christopher was the fifth son of the five sons and the eighth of the eight children of King George I of the Hellenes and  Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia. Christopher was the only one of George’s and Olga’s children not born in Greece. His birth was a surprise, as his eldest sibling was 20 years old at the time of Christopher’s birth.

Christopher had seven older siblings:

• King Constantine I (1868 – 1923), married Princess Sophie of Prussia, had six children including three Kings of Greece: George II, Alexander, and Paul
• Prince George (1869 – 1957), married Princess Marie Bonaparte, had two children
• Princess Alexandra (1870 – 1891), married Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, had two children
• Prince Nicholas (1872 – 1938), married Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, had three children including Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
• Princess Maria (1876 – 1940), married (1) Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, had issue; (2) Admiral Perikles Ioannidis, no issue
• Princess Olga (born and died 1880), died in infancy
• Prince Andrew (1882 – 1944), married Princess Alice of Battenberg, had five children including Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Christopher had an excellent education and became fluent in English, Italian, Danish, Greek, French, and Russian. He entered the Hellenic Army at age 18, fighting in the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars.

Christopher was noted to have an excellent sense of humor and a talent for mimicry, earning him great affection within his family. He was also a talented musician, studying piano for many years. He was also offered the thrones of Lithuania, Albania, and Portugal, all of which he refused. Christopher believed a throne should be accepted only when the prospective ruler was seriously dedicated to leading a country. Christopher did not believe himself to be sufficiently up to the challenge.

Christopher had a romance with his distant cousin Alexandra of Fife (later the Duchess of Fife in her own right) in about 1910. The couple may have become unofficially engaged, although their parents did not approve of a marriage. Whatever the case, the two broke off their relationship. Alexandra later married another cousin, Prince Arthur of Connaught, in 1913.

Christopher with his first wife Princess Anastasia, the former Nancy Leeds. source: Wikipedia

On January 1, 1920, in Vevey, Switzerland, Christopher married Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds, an American widow of a Cleveland tin manufacturer. The two became engaged in 1914, but the wedding was delayed due to the outbreak of World War I. Nancy’s fortune supported the Greek royal family during their war exile. The bride, who was a divorcee as well as a widow, was fifteen years older than Prince Christopher. During her marriage to Christopher, Nancy was known as Princess Anastasia after she joined the Greek Orthodox Church.

Obscure to the American press before his marriage, Christopher was immediately the focus of significant media attention following the wedding. William Leeds, Nancy’s son from her first marriage, later married Princess Xenia Georgievna of Russia, the daughter of Christopher’s sister Maria. Sadly, Anastasia was diagnosed with cancer not long after the wedding and died in London in 1923.

Francoise of Orleans, Christopher’s second wife. source: Wikimedia

Six years later, Christopher made a more acceptable dynastic marriage to French Princess Francoise of Orleans. Francoise was previously linked to Tsar Boris of Bulgaria, who later married Giovanna of Italy. Christopher and Francoise were married in Palermo, Italy on February 11, 1929. The couple may have met and begun their courtship in 1927 at the wedding of her sister Anne to the Duke of Apulia. The bride kept her Catholic faith upon the marriage, and Christopher remained Greek Orthodox.

Christopher and Francoise had one son:

• Prince Michael of Greece (1939 – 2024), married Marina Karella, had two children

Christopher died on January 21, 1940, in Athens, Greece, at the age of 51, after suffering several weeks with a lung abscess. His wife Francoise was by his side and their son Michael had just celebrated his first birthday. A memorial service was held in New York City for the prince at Holy Trinity Cathedral, commemorating his following among Greek Americans. Funeral services were held at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, led by Christopher’s nephew King George II. Flags were flown at half-mast and shops in Athens were closed on the day of the funeral in Christopher’s honor. Christopher was buried with full military honors in the Royal Cemetery at Tatoi Palace near Athens.

Grave of Prince Christopher and Princess Françoise. photo: By Catlemur – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65380068

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.