by Emily McMahon
© Unofficial Royalty 2013

Prelude

In August 1954, a yacht set sail from Naples on a cruise of the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Ionian Seas. It included numerous stops at various well-known Greek archeological sites, as well as plenty of time on the beach. The trip was funded by King Paul of Greece and reportedly was a brainchild of his wife, Frederika. Aboard was a literal who’s who of European royalty – 104 members of ruling and non-ruling royal families from Greece to Denmark to Spain were along for the ride. What precipitated this glamorous event with such an illustrious guest list?

The official reason for the cruise was to provide a boost for tourism in the Greek isles, along with the re-acquaintance of European royals following two devastating world wars. However, the unofficial purpose (or a hoped-for side benefit?) of the cruise was to bring young bluebloods together for possible royal matches – Frederika sent out approximately 85 invitations to royal guests over 15. This was during a time when marriage to fellow royals was on the decline. When asked about the cruise, the Greek consul in Naples replied, “We hope to announce several engagements at the end of the cruise.”

Despite the expense, the tone of the cruise was rather relaxed for such an impressive group of guests. Royal guests were told to bring casual clothing (but no bikinis) while the issue of precedence was set aside. Royal etiquette was abandoned in hopes of allowing the cruise-goers to relax, mingle, and have fun without the usual stifling expectations of a royal court.

Guests were to be shuttled between sites on the stops by buses to avoid a question of the positioning of cars. A drawing was held for seating at dinner to avoid any squabbles about whose place was whose. In addition, only one personal servant was allowed on board – for the elderly George of Greece. Three Greek detectives were also brought along as a safety precaution.

The royal guests had the option of boarding the Agamemnon at Marseille, France on Saturday, August 21. However, the official cruise began in Naples the following Monday. The Luxembourg grand ducal family along with the Count and Countess of Barcelona and their children were among the guests to board at Marseille. The remaining cruise-goers – with the exception of the Italian royals – boarded the Agamemnon at Naples on August 23. The Dutch royal family even arrived at Naples in style in a personal airplane flown by Prince Bernhard himself.

The voyage started off with a bit of a hiccup for the Greek royals. Arriving at Naples aboard the Greek destroyer Navarinon, the ship crashed into Benewah, a US Navy communications vessel. Although the passengers were jarred, no one was seriously injured – with exception to the ships themselves, both of which sported small dents. A florist from Naples delivering flowers to the royal women also arrived at the port a few minutes late, leaving him with several hundred wilting roses.

The Voyage

August 24: The first stop was Corfu, Greece, the traditional summer residence of the Greek royal family. It was at Corfu that the cruise-goers were treated to a Greek dinner. Earlier that day, fifteen spit-roasted suckling pigs were taken aboard the Agamemnon to feed the royal guests. It was at Corfu that Umberto II and his family joined the royal party via plane from Athens. Umberto could not leave from Italy as he was barred from setting foot in the country.

August 25: The second stop of the trip was at Katakolo-Olympia, in the municipality of Elis on the western coast of Greece. It was here that the passengers toured ancient Olympia, the historic site of the first Olympic Games. King Paul served as a guide at the site.

August 26: Heraklion, Crete was the fourth stop of the cruise. At Heraklion, guests visited the famous archeological museum housing artifacts from prehistoric times through the Roman period. The group visited the ruins Knossos, believed to be the oldest city in Europe.

August 27: The fourth day took the cruise-goers to Rhodes, an island in the Aegean Sea in far eastern Greece near Turkey. Guests toured several sites on Rhodes, including the ruins of the Apollo Temple at the Acropolis of Rhodes, the ruins of Kameiros, and medieval Old Town.

August 28: The fifth stop of the cruise was at Santorini, also known as Thera. At Santorini, passengers toured the cities of Fira and Oia set atop the high cliffs. There was also a tour of the part of the island by burro.

August 29: The island of Mykonos was the sixth stop on the voyage. The royal cruise goers toured several of the Mykonos villages and took in the island’s famous windmills. Several guests also enjoyed time at the beach.

August 30: Royal passengers spent the seventh day of the cruise at Skiathos, an island on the western Aegean Sea near the Greek mainland. Stops on the island included several churches and monasteries dating from the Byzantine and medieval era.

August 31: The eighth stop of the cruise was Cape Sounion, where guests toured the Temple of Poseidon and witnessed the sunset at the cape, a popular tourist’s experience.

September 1: The royal cruise goers spent the ninth day of the tour at Athens, a short distance from Cape Sounion. Guests toured the Acropolis, visited several archeological museums, and enjoyed a shopping excursion.

September 2: On the tenth day of the cruise, the royal guests visited the ancient theatre at Epidaurus, a short trip from Athens. The original theatre dates from the 4th century BCE and is known for its vast size and near-perfect acoustics.

September 3: The eleventh and final stop of the trip was at the ruined city of Delphi. The visitors toured the archeological site that houses ruins of a theatre, a stadium, a hippodrome, several temples, and numerous smaller buildings.

Epilogue

The royal cruise ended on September 4. Upon disembarking the Agamemnon, Paul declared the cruise a success, lamenting that he had the funds to pay for only 11 days instead of a month. He remained coy, however, on whether or not love had found any of the royal guests. Paul remarked only that many new friendships were made, but no engagements would be announced that day.

However, three weeks later news came that the cruise had had its desired effect on at least one young couple. Maria Pia of Savoy, daughter of Umberto II, was rumored to have caught the eye of German prince Welf Henry of Hanover during the trip. But on September 24, an engagement was announced between Maria Pia and Alexander of Yugoslavia, the son of former regent Prince Paul and the former Olga of Greece. Maria Pia and Alexander were married the following February in Portugal.

A somewhat annoyed Infante Juan Carlos of Spain noted on the final day of the cruise that there was not enough privacy on the ship for the younger guests to socialize as “relatives were looking on all the time.” Ironically, it was on this trip that Juan Carlos first met Paul’s and Frederika’s daughter Sophia, who became his wife in 1962. Both were teenagers at the time of the Agamemnon cruise.

The success of the 1954 cruise proposed trip in 1956. However, due to the crisis in the Suez Canal, a second Mediterranean cruise was canceled in favor of a stay at the Greek summer residence on Corfu.

Attendees

Noticeably absent from the cruise were members of the Belgian and British royal families. Marina, Duchess of Kent planned to attend but had to decline due to a tour of Canada.

Germany – Baden
– Ludwig of Baden
– Margarita of Baden

Germany – Hanover
– Ernest Augustus of Hanover, Prince of Hanover (pretender to the throne of Hanover)
– Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Princess of Hanover
– George William of Hanover
– Sophie of Greece, Princess of Hanover
– Welf Henry of Hanover
– Christian of Hanover

Germany – Hesse
– Moritz of Hesse-Cassel (head of the family)
– Henry of Hesse-Cassel
– Otto of Hesse-Cassel
– Carl of Hesse-Cassel
– Rainier of Hesse-Cassel
– Dorothea of Hesse-Cassel

Germany – Hohenlohe-Langenberg
– Gottfried, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (head of the family)
– Margarita of Greece, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
– Kraft of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
– George of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
– Beatrice of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Germany – Mecklenburg-Schwerin
– Christian Ludwig, Prince of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (head of family)
– Thyra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Germany – Schaumburg-Lippe
– Christian, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (head of family)
– Feodora of Denmark, Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe

Germany – Schleswig-Holstein
– Peter, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (head of family)
– Marie Alix of Schaumburg-Lippe, Princess of Schleswig-Holstein
– Friedrich Ferdinand of Schleswig-Holstein

Germany/Poland – Thurn und Taxis and Radziwiłł
– Raymond of Thurn und Taxis, Duke of Castel Duino
– Eugenie of Greece, Duchess of Castel Duino
– Tatiana Radziwiłł, Princess Radziwiłł

Germany – Wittelsbach and Toerring-Iettenbach
– Albert of Bavaria, Crown Prince of Bavaria
– Franz of Bavaria
– Marie-Gabrielle of Bavaria
– Charles-Theodore of Toerring-Iettenbach, Count of Toerring-Iettenbach
– Hans Veit of Toerring-Iettenbach
– Helen of Toerring-Iettenbach

Germany – Württemberg
– Philipp Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg (head of family)
– Rosa of Austria, Princess of Tuscany
– Ludwig Albrecht of Württemberg
– Elisabeth of Württemberg

Austria
– Archduchess Maria Ileana of Austria

Greece
– Paul, King of Greece
– Frederika of Hanover, Queen of Greece
– Constantine, Crown Prince of Greece
– Irene of Greece
– Sophia of Greece
– George of Greece
– Marie Bonaparte, Princess of Greece
– Michael of Greece

Yugoslavia
– Alexander of Yugoslavia
– Elizabeth of Yugoslavia

Romania
– Michael, former King of Romania
– Anne of Bourbon-Parma, former Queen of Romania

Bulgaria
– Simeon, former Tsar of Bulgaria
– Marie-Louise of Bulgaria

Netherlands
– Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands
– Bernard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, Prince Consort of the Netherlands
– Beatrix, Princess of Orange
– Irene, Princess of the Netherlands

Luxembourg
– Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
– Felix of Bourbon-Parma, Prince Consort of Luxembourg
– Jean, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
– Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
– Elisabeth of Luxembourg

France
– Henri d’Orleans, Count of Paris (head of family)
– Isabelle of Orleans-Braganza, Countess of Paris
– Henri d’Orleans (son of the above)
– Francois d’Orleans
– Helen d’Orleans
– Isabelle d’Orleans (daughter of the above)
– Anne d’Orleans
– Diane d’Orleans

Spain
– Juan, Count of Barcelona (head of family)
– Maria de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Countess of Barcelona
– Pilar of Spain
– Juan Carlos of Spain

Italy – Bourbon-Parma
– Rene, Prince of Bourbon-Parma (head of family)
– Margaret of Denmark, Princess of Bourbon-Parma
– Jacques of Bourbon-Parma
– Andre of Bourbon-Parma

Italy – Bourbon-Two Sicilies
– Antoine of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Prince of Two Sicilies

Italy – Savoy
– Umberto II, former King of Italy
– Marie-Jose of Belgium, former Queen of Italy
– Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, Prince of Naples
– Maria Pia of Savoy
– Maria Gabriella of Savoy

Italy – Savoy-Aosta
– Maria Cristina of Savoy-Aosta

Russia
– Dimitri of Russia

Denmark
– Axel of Denmark
– Flemming of Denmark, Count of Rosenborg
– Ruth Nielsen, Countess of Rosenborg
– Viggo of Denmark, Count of Rosenborg
– Eleanor Green, Countess of Rosenborg

Norway
– Astrid of Norway

Sweden
– Margretha of Sweden

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