King, Constantine II of the Hellenes, Has Died.

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Anne-Marie of Denmark, Athens, Duke of Edinburgh, King Charles III of the United Kingdom, King Constantine II of the Hellenes, Kingdom of Greece, Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

King Constantine II of the Hellenes, whose reigned for nine years from March 6, 1964 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy on June 1, 1973, has died at a private hospital in Athens, late on Tuesday. He was 82.

Constantine II (June 2, 1940 – January 10, 2023) was the last King of the Hellenes (Greece).

King Constantine II was a second cousin of British monarch King Charles III. For most of his years in exile, Constantine lived in Hampstead Garden Suburb in north London.

His older sister, Queen Sophia of Spain, is the wife of former King Juan Carlos I of Spain. The current King Felipe VI of Spain is his nephew. Constantine II was also the cousin of Greek-Danish Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh and the husband of the late Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

Christian IX of Denmark’s second son, Vilhelm of Denmark, was elected King George I of the Hellenes in 1863, a few months before his father ascended the Danish throne.

Christian IX was of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and this family ruled in Greece from 1863 – until the monarchy was abolished in 1974. There was also a period of time when Greece was a Republic, 1922 and 1935, until the monarchy was restored under King George II of the Hellenes.

Constantine was the only son of King Pavlos of Greece and Friederike, Princess of Hanover, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, and Princess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the only daughter and third child of Ernst August of Hanover, then reigning Duke of Brunswick, and his wife Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, herself the only daughter of the German Emperor Wilhelm II.

The Greek Royal Family was forced into exile after the First World War and then again during the Second World War. Constantine returned to Greece with his family in 1946 during the Greek Civil War. King George II died in 1947, and Constantine’s father became King Pavlos I, making Constantine the Crown Prince.

Constantine became king in 1964 following the death of his father, King Pavlos I. During the same year the new Greek King married his cousin Princess of Denmark with whom he eventually had five children.

Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, is the youngest daughter of King Frederick IX of Denmark and his wife Ingrid of Sweden. Ingrid of Sweden was the daughter of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught (a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom).

Anne-Marie’s sister is Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

King Constantine II, continued to style himself King of Greece and his children as princes and princesses even though Greece no longer recognised titles of nobility. This is not unusual for former Royal Families. The Greek Royal Family are still Prince and Princesses of Denmark. Constantine travelled with a Danish passport, as a Danish prince.

It took Constantine 14 years to return to his country, briefly, to bury his mother, Queen Frederica in 1981, but he eventually moved back permanently.

His five children are Princess Alexia, Crown Prince Pavlos, Prince Nikolaos, Princess Theodora and Prince Philippos; and nine grandchildren.

If the Greek monarchy remained extant King Constantine II would have reigned for 59 years and his son, Crown Prince Pavlos, would now be King Pavlos II of the Hellenes.

Frederica of Hanover, Queen of the Hellenes. Conclusion

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Anne-Marie of Denmark, Frederica of Hanover, Frederik IX of Denmark, Greek Civil War, King Constantine II of the Hellenes, King Paul I of the Hellenes, Military Junta, Queen of the Hellenes

Queen consort

On April 1, 1947, George II died and Frederica’s husband ascended the throne as Paul I, with Frederica as Queen Consort p. A Communist insurgency in Northern Greece led to the Greek Civil War. The King and Queen toured Northern Greece under tight security to appeal for loyalty in the summer of 1947.

Queen Frederica was constantly attacked for her German ancestry. Left-wing politicians in Greece repeatedly used the fact that the German Emperor Wilhelm II was her grandfather, and that she had brothers who were members of the SS, as propaganda against her.

She was also criticized variously as “very Prussian” and “was a Nazi”. When she was in London representing her sick husband at the wedding of his first cousin Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark to King George VI’s elder daughter Princess Elizabeth in November 1947, Winston Churchill remarked on German Emperor Wilhelm II being her grandfather.

Queen Frederica had replied acknowledging the fact, but reminding him that she was also descended from Queen Victoria, and that her father would be the British king if the country had operated under the Salic Law (allowing only males to inherit the crown).

During the civil war, Queen Frederica set the Queen’s Camps or Child Cities a network of 53 camps around Greece where she would rescue children of members of DSE and former partisans.

The role of these Queen’s Camps is disputed as a means of propaganda by the monarchy through the educational program. There were allegations, generally by opposition or communist sources, which held that children were illegally adopted by American families while they were in the Queen’s Camps. Children were most likely provided with education and care.

The Greek Civil War ended in August 1949. The Sovereigns took this opportunity to strengthen the monarchy, they paid official visits to Marshal Josip Broz Tito in Belgrade, Presidents Luigi Einaudi of Italy in Rome, Theodor Heuss of West Germany, and Bechara El Khoury of Lebanon, Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari of India, King George VI of the United Kingdom, and the United States as guest of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

However, at home in Greece and abroad in the United Kingdom, Queen Frederica was targeted by the opposition, because as a girl she had belonged to the Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls), a branch of the Hitler Youth group for young women; her supporters argued that evading membership in the group would be difficult under the existing political climate in Nazi Germany at the time.

Her November 16, 1953 appearance in Life as America’s guest was taken on one of the many state visits she paid around the world. Also that year she appeared on the cover of Time. On May 14, 1962 her eldest daughter Sofia married Prince Juan Carlos of Spain, (later King Juan Carlos I of Spain) in Athens.

Frederica has been described as “inherently undemocratic”. She was notorious for her numerous arbitrary and unconstitutional interventions in Greek politics and clashes with democratically elected governments.

She actively politicked against the election of Alexander Papagos. At home in Greece and abroad in the United Kingdom, she was targeted by the opposition. In 1963 while visiting London, rioting by Greek leftists demonstrating against the situation with the political prisoners of the Greek civil war, forced her to temporarily seek refuge in a stranger’s house. Her interference in politics was harshly criticized and possibly was a significant factor in the strengthening of republican sentiments.

Queen dowager

On March 6, 1964, King Paul died of cancer. When her son, now King Constantine II of the Hellenes, married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, daughter of King Frederik IX of Denmark and Princess Ingrid of Sweden, later that year on September 18, Queen Frederica stepped back from the majority of her public duties in favor of her daughter-in-law. She remained a figure of controversy and was accused in the press of being the éminence grise behind the throne.

She retired to the countryside where she lived an almost reclusive life. However, she continued to attend Royal events that were family-oriented, such as the baptisms of her grandchildren in both Spain and Greece.

Exile

King Constantine II’s clashes with the democratically elected Prime Minister George Papandreou Sr. were blamed by critics for causing the destabilisation that led to a military coup on April 21, 1967 and the rise of the regime of the colonels.

Faced with a difficult situation, King Constantine initially collaborated with the military dictatorship, swearing in their government under a royalist prime minister. Later that year he attempted a counter-coup in an attempt to restore democracy, whose failure forced him into exile. Following this, the junta appointed a regent to carry out the tasks of the exiled monarch.

In 1971, Frederica published an autobiography, A Measure of Understanding.

On June 1, 1973 the junta abolished the Greek Monarchy without the consent of the Greek people and then attempted to legitimize its actions through a 1973 plebiscite that was widely suspected of being rigged. The new head-of-state became President of Greece George Papadopoulos.

The dictatorship ended on July 24, 1974 and the pre-junta constitutional monarchy was never restored. A plebiscite was held on December 8, 1974 in which Constantine (who was able to campaign only from outside the country) freely admitted his past errors, promised to support democracy, and in particular, promised to keep his mother Frederica away from Greece and out of Greek politics. However, 69% of Greeks voted to make Greece a democratic republic.

Death

Frederica died on February 6, 1981 in exile in Madrid of heart failure, reportedly following eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), although a biographer has claimed the surgery was cataract removal.

She was interred at Tatoi (the Royal family’s palace and burial ground in Greece). Her son and his family were allowed to attend the service but had to leave immediately afterwards.

Happy 83rd birthday to Queen Sofía of Spain.

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German Emperor Friedrich III, German Emperor Wilhelm II, King Constantine II of the Hellenes, King Felipe VI of Spain, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, King Paul of the Hellenes, Princess Friederike of Hanover, Princess of Greece and Denmark, Princess Royal, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom., Queen Sofia of Spain

Queen Sofía of Spain (November 2, 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family, who was Queen of Spain from 1975 to 2014 as the wife of King Juan Carlos I.

The Queen is Europe’s most royal person; she has an impresssive lineage (both on her father’s and mother’s side) and she is the (great-) granddaughter, daughter, sister, wife and mother of kings.

Born Princess Sofía of Greece and Denmark she is the first child of King Paul of the Hellenes and Frederica of Hanover.

Her father, Paul, was the third son of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia, daughter of German Emperor Friedrich III of Prussia, and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom (herself the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort). Princess Sophia was eleven years younger than her eldest brother, the future German Emperor Wilhelm II.

On January 9, 1938, Paul married Princess Frederica of Hanover, his first cousin once removed through Friedrich III, German Emperor, and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom, and second cousin through Christian IX of Denmark.

During most of World War II, from 1941 to 1946, when Greece was under German occupation, Paul was with the Greek government-in-exile in London and Cairo. From Cairo, he broadcast messages to the Greek people.

King Paul returned to Greece in 1946. He succeeded to the throne in 1947, upon the death of his childless elder brother, King George II, during the Greek Civil War (between Greek Communists and the non-communist Greek government). Paul was first cousin to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and maternal grandfather to Spain’s current monarch, King Felipe VI.

Queen Sofía’s mother, Friederike, Princess of Hanover, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, and Princess of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the only daughter and third child of Ernst August, then reigning Duke of Brunswick, and his wife Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, herself the only daughter of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. As a descendant of Queen Victoria, Friederike was, at birth, 64th in the line of succession to the British throne.

Queen Sofia is a member of the Greek branch of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg dynasty. Her brother is the deposed King Constantine II of the Hellenes her sister is Princess Irene.

Princess Sofía spent some of her childhood in Egypt where she took her early education in El Nasr Girls’ College (EGC) in Alexandria. She lived in South Africa during her family’s exile from Greece during World War II, where her sister Irene was born. They returned to Greece in 1946. She finished her education at the prestigious Schloss Salem boarding school in Southern Germany, and then studied childcare, music and archeology in Athens. She also studied at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. She was a reserve member, alongside her brother Constantine, of Greece’s gold medal-winning sailing team in the 1960 Summer Olympics.

Standing in back: King Paul of the Hellenes. Front L to R: Constantine, Irene, Queen Friederike, Sofía

As her family was forced into exile during the Second World War, she spent part of her childhood in Egypt, returning to Greece in 1946. She completed her secondary education in a boarding school in Germany before returning to Greece where she specialised in childcare, music and archaeology.

Sofía met her paternal third cousin the then Infante Juan Carlos of Spain on a cruise in the Greek Islands in 1954; they met again at the wedding of Prince Edward Duke of Kent, her paternal second cousin, at York Minster in June 1961. Sofia and Juan Carlos married on May 14, 1962, at the Catholic Cathedral of Saint Dionysius in Athens. Her bride’s gown was made by Jean Dessès and she was attended by her sister Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, the groom’s sister Infanta Pilar of Spain, and Sofía’s future sister-in-law Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark (later Queen of the Hellenes), along with Princess Irene of the Netherlands, Princess Alexandra of Kent, Princess Benedikte of Denmark, Princess Anne of Orléans and Princess Tatiana Radziwill.

In 1969, Infante Juan Carlos, who was never Prince of Asturias (the traditional title of the Spanish heir apparent), was given the official title of “Prince of Spain” by the Francoist dictatorship. Juan Carlos acceded to the throne in 1975, upon the death of Francisco Franco. Juan Carlos, after his accession to the Spanish throne, returned with his family to the Zarzuela Palace.

The couple have three children: Elena (born December 20, 1963); Cristina (born June 13, 1965); and Felipe (born January 30, 1968). They were born at Our Lady of Loreto Nursing Home in Madrid. Their four grandsons and four granddaughters are Felipe and Victoria de Marichalar y de Borbón, Juan, Pablo, Miguel and Irene Urdangarín y de Borbón, and Infanta Leonor, Princess of Asturias and Infanta Sofía, all of whom are in the line of succession to the Spanish throne.

Sofia is also a great-granddaughter of the last German Emperor, Wilhelm II, and second cousin of the current Prince of Wales. She is a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom through her father and also a great-great-great-granddaughter through her mother.

Sofia takes special interest in programs against drug addiction, travelling to conferences in both Spain and abroad. The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is named after her, as is Reina Sofía Airport in Tenerife.
Sofia is an Honorary Member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts and of the Spanish Royal Academy of History. She has received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Rosario (Bogotá), Valladolid, Cambridge, Oxford, Georgetown, Evora, St. Mary’s University (Texas), and New York.

On June 19, 2014, Juan Carlos abdicated in favour of their son Felipe VI.

Following the abdication of her husband as King in 2014, Sofía focused on her sponsoring activities, spending her time between La Zarzuela and, in the Summer months, the Marivent Palace in Palma de Mallorca.