History of the Kingdom of Greece. Part XIII. Reign of King Paul of the Hellenes

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Duke of Brunswick, Ernest Augustus of Hanover, King Christian IX of Denmark, King Constantine I of the Hellenes, King George I of the Hellenes, king George II of the Hellenes, King Paul of the Hellenes, Princess Frederica of Hanover, Tatoi Palace, World War ii

Paul (December 14, 1901 – March 6, 1964) was King of Greece from April 1, 1947 until his death in 1964. He was succeeded by his son, Constantine II.

Paul was first cousin to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and father-in-law to King Juan Carlos I of Spain, and the grandfather of Spain’s curent monarch, King Felipe VI.

Paul was born on December 14, 1901 at the Tatoi Palace in Attica north of Athens, the third son of King Constantine I of the Hellenes and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia,nthe daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor, and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom.

He trained as an army officer at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and later at the Hellenic Military Academy in Kypseli, Athens. Paul was an army officer cadet in the Coldstream Guards and Lieutenant with the Evzones. To his family, he was known as Palo.

From 1917 to 1920, Paul lived in exile with his father, Constantine I. From 1923 to 1935, he lived in exile again in England, this time with his brother, George II. He worked briefly in an aircraft factory under an alias, and through Viscount Tredegar met and befriended notorious literary muse Denham Fouts, who later alleged an affair, claiming they had themselves identically tattooed with a small blue insignia above the heart. A friend of Fouts, John B. L. Goodwin said Fouts often made up stories about his life, and literary critic Katherine Bucknell thought many of the tales about him were myths. Henry Ch14, annon wrote in his diary that Paul was a bisexual rake before his marriage.

Marriage and children

On January 9, 1938, Paul married Princess Frederica of Hanover, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, and Princess of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She was born on April 18, 1917 in Blankenburg am Harz, in the German Duchy of Brunswick, she was the only daughter and third child of Prince 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.

Ernst August was born at Penzing near Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of former Crown Prince Ernst August of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland and his wife, Princess Thyra of Denmark, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. His great-grandfather, Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, the fifth son of George III of the United Kingdom, became king of Hanover in 1837 because Salic Law barred Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, from inheriting the Hanoverian throne.

Princess Thyra of Denmark was the sister of King George I of the Hellenes the grandfather of King Paul of the Hellenes.

Princess Frederica of Hanover was Paul’s 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, in Athens. They had three children:

1. Sophia, Queen of Spain (born 1938)
2. Constantine II, King of the Hellenes (1940–2023)
3. Irene (born 1942)

World War II

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.

Reign

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). In 1947 he was unable to attend the wedding of his first cousin, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to the future Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom as he was suffering from typhoid fever.

By 1949 the Civil War was effectively over, with the Communist insurgents ceasing the majority of their operations, and the task of rebuilding the shattered north of the country began.

In the 1950s Greece recovered economically, and diplomatic and trade links were strengthened by Paul’s state visits abroad. He became the first Greek Monarch to visit a Turkish Head of State. However, links with Britain became strained over Cyprus, where the majority Greek population favored union with Greece, which Britain, as the colonial power, would not endorse. Eventually, Cyprus became an independent state in 1960.

In December 1959, Prince Maximillian of Bavaria presented King Otto’s coronation regalia to Paul. It had been almost a century since they were last in Greece.

Meanwhile, republican sentiment was growing in Greece. Both Paul and Frederica attracted criticism for their interference in politics, frequent foreign travels, and the cost of maintaining the Royal Family. Paul responded by economising and donated his private estate at Polidendri to the State.

In 1959, he had an operation for a cataract, and in 1963 an emergency operation for appendicitis. In late February 1964, he underwent a further operation for stomach cancer, and about a week later on March 6, 1964, King Paul died in Athens. He was succeeded by his son, Constantine II.

History of the Kingdom of Greece: XII. World War II and the Death of King George II

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Italy, king George II of the Hellenes, Mataxas, Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, referendum on the monarchy, World War ii

On August 4, 1936, King George II of the Hellenes endorsed Metaxas’s establishment of dictatorship – the “4th of August Regime”, signing decrees that dissolved the parliament, banned political parties, abolished the constitution, and purported to create a “Third Hellenic Civilization”.

The king, ruling jointly with Prime Minister Metaxas, oversaw a right-wing regime in which political opponents were arrested and strict censorship was imposed. George disliked dealing with both Greek politicians and ordinary Greeks, and preferred to let Metaxas undertake tours of the provinces. King George retained the full control of the army and he was largely responsible for foreign policy making.

World War II

On October 28, 1940, Metaxas rejected an Italian ultimatum demanding the stationing of Italian troops on Greek soil, sparking the Greco-Italian War. The Greeks successfully repelled the Italian invasion and launched a successful counter-attack, eventually occupying the southern half of Albania (then an Italian protectorate). But when the Germans invaded from Bulgaria on April 6, 1941, the Greeks and the British Expeditionary Force were quickly overrun.

Crisis of April 1941 and evacuation to Crete

Following the suicide of Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis on April 18, 1941 in the face of the rapid German advance, George was unable to find a speedy successor, found himself as the de facto head of government as well as head of the armed services. The King had thus a unique opportunity to form a broader government of national consensus, and abolish the hated dictatorial regime—whose sole bastion of support he now was. Though urged to this step by the influential British ambassador, Michael Palairet, George refused.

Instead, several names were put forward to head a government. George initially proposed Konstantinos Kotzias, one of Metaxas’ ministers, but his ties to the regime made him an unfeasible choice; instead veteran Venizelist general Alexandros Mazarakis-Ainian was given the mandate to form a government, but returned it on April 20 partly due to his refusal to collaborate with Metaxas’ hated Security Minister Konstantinos Maniadakis; other figures, such as the former dictator Theodoros Pangalos, were also rejected.

Finally, Emmanouil Tsouderos, former governor of the Bank of Greece, was chosen, chiefly on account of his known Anglophile sentiments, Venizelist past, and Cretan origin-where with mainland Greece being overrun, the government was preparing to evacuate too. As Cretans cherished the memory of Venizelos but was generally seen as anti-monarchical, this appointment was seen as a sop to local sentiment.

On April 23 the King and the government fled the Greek mainland for Crete. Despite a heroic defense of the island by Greek and New Zealand forces alongside the local population in the face of a German airborne attack, Crete soon fell and George was forced evacuated once again-initially to Egypt. Seemingly at the behest of King Farouk of Egypt and his pro-Italian ministers, George soon relocated to Great Britain, as in his previous exile.

Second exile

Throughout the Axis occupation, George remained the internationally recognised head of state, backed by the Greek government-in-exile and the Free Greek Forces. However, the British Foreign Office found George exceedingly difficult to deal with. He was deeply obstinate about upholding what he regarded as his royal prerogatives; he proved notably unwilling to compromise with those who wanted a clear break with the 4th of August Regime.

King George II also resisted British pressure to promise to restore the constitution of 1911, under the grounds that doing so would be to admit he acted illegally in suspending parts of the constitution in 1936. As late as 1942, George kept on cabinet ministers from the Metaxas regime, most notably Maniadakis. Under heavy British pressure, George in a radio broadcast on 28 October 1941 reluctantly proclaimed the end of the 4th of August Regime, and only in February 1942 did he promise to restore articles 5, 6, 10, 12, 14, 20 and 95 of the 1911 constitution.

A deeply paranoid and insecure man, George believed that the British government was plotting to prevent his return to Greece, despite all of the evidence to the contrary. Edward Warner of the Southern Department of the Foreign Office wrote in March 1942 that the king was “under the extraordinary impression that the Foreign Office was ‘pro-Republican and anti-himself'”.

In particular, the king objected to BBC’s Greek language service, whose main radio announcer, G.N. Soteriadis, was a Venizelist. George repeatedly asked that Soteriadis be replaced with a monarchist. One of George’s few friends was the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was determined to see him restored and often backed the king’s complaints against his own officials.

Bowing to Allied pressure, George was forced to appoint Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens as Regent in January 1945. Damaskinos immediately appointed a republican-dominated government. Ill, exhausted and powerless, George bought a lease on a house in Chester Square, Belgravia, and made a home there with his long-time mistress.

Return to Greece and death

In elections held on March 31, 1946, the monarchist parties won a clear majority of the parliamentary seats, aided by the abstention of the Communists, and the referendum on the monarchy was set for September 1. Between then and the plebiscite, the electoral registers were revised under Allied supervision.

The announced results claimed 68.4% in favour of the King’s return on an 86.6% turnout. However, even Allied observers acknowledged that the official results were marked by significant fraud by monarchist supporters. In the words of the official Allied observation report, “There is no doubt in our minds that the party representing the government view exercised undue influence in securing votes in support of the return of the King.”

On September 26 George returned to Greece to find the Royal Palace looted, the woods at Tatoi chopped down for fuel, and corpses buried in shallow graves outside. His country faced economic collapse and political instability.

He died of arteriosclerosis on April 1, 1947, after he was discovered unconscious in his room at the Royal Palace in Athens. When the news was announced some thought it to be an April Fool’s Day joke.

His funeral was held on April 6 at the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, He was succeeded by his younger brother, Paul.

History of the Kingdom of Greece: Part XI. Restoration of King George II

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Elisabeth of Romania, Exile, Ferdinand of Romania, General Georgios Kondylis, King Alexander of Yugoslavia, king George II of the Hellenes, Plebiscite, Restoration

From the Emperor’s Desk: for some reason I am unable to post with pictures. I am looking into it and hopefully pictures will be back soon!

First exile

Exiled in Romania since December 1923, the former Greek King and his wife settled in Bucharest, where King Ferdinand and Queen Marie of Romania put at their disposal a wing of the Cotroceni palace for some time. After several weeks, however, the couple moved and established their residence in a more modest villa on Victory Avenue.

Regular guests of the Romanian sovereigns, George and Elizabeth took part in the ceremonies which punctuated the life of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family. Despite the kindness with which his mother-in-law treated him, the ex-King of the Hellenes felt idle in Bucharest and struggled to hide the boredom he felt from the splendors of the Romanian court.

Tried by the humiliations of exile, financial difficulties and the absence of descendants, relations between George and Elisabeth deteriorated. After having first assuaged her weariness in too rich food and gambling, the ex-queen of the Hellenes then carried on extra-marital affairs with various married men.

She took advantage of a visit to her sick sister, in Belgrade, to flirt with her own brother-in-law, Alexander, the King of Yugoslavia. Later, she began an affair with her husband’s banker, a Greek named Alexandros Scavani, whom she made her chamberlain to cover up the scandal.

In the United Kingdom

Restoration of monarchy and the Metaxas regime

After the abolition of the monarchy, in 1924, the anti-Venizelist leaders, except for Metaxas, refused to recognise the new regime. This “regime issue”, that arose just after the proclamation of the Republic, haunted Greek politics for more than a decade and eventually led to the restoration of monarchy.

Was the referendum to restore the Greek Monarchy in 1935 rigged?

In October 1935 General Georgios Kondylis, a former Venizelist who had suddenly decided to throw in his lot with the monarchist forces, overthrew the government and appointed himself prime minister. He then arranged a plebiscite both to approve his government and to bring an end to the republic.

In 1935, Prime Minister Georgios Kondylis, a former pro-Venizelos military officer, became the most powerful political figure in Greece. He compelled Panagis Tsaldaris to resign as Prime Minister and took over the government, suspending many constitutional provisions in the process. Kondylis, who had now joined the Conservatives, decided to hold a referendum in order to re-establish the monarchy, despite the fact that he used to be a supporter of the anti-monarchist wing of Greek politics.

Conduct

Observers of the time expressed serious doubts about the vote’s legitimacy. Besides the implausibly high “yes” vote, the vote was held in far-from-secret circumstances. Voters dropped a blue piece of paper into the ballot box if they supported the king’s return, or a red paper to retain the republic. Anyone who cast a red ballot risked being beaten up.

On November 3, 1935, almost 98% of the reported votes supported restoration of the monarchy. The balloting was not secret, and participation was compulsory.

George, who had been living at Brown’s Hotel in London, returned to Greek soil on November 25. Almost immediately he and Kondylis disagreed over the terms of a general amnesty the King wanted to declare, and George appointed an interim prime minister, Konstantinos Demertzis.

New elections were held in January, which resulted in a hung parliament with the Communists (who were naturally anti-monarchist) holding the balance of power. A series of unexpected deaths amongst the better-known politicians (including Kondylis and Demertzis), as well as the uncertain political situation, led to the rise to power of politician and veteran army officer Ioannis Metaxas.

History of the Kingdom of Greece: Part X. First Reign of King George II

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Battle of Dumlupınar, King Christian X of Denmark, king George II of the Hellenes, National Assembly, Princess Elisabeth of Romania, Revolutionary Government, The Second Hellenic Republic

George II (July 19, 1890 – April 1, 1947) was King of the Hellenes from September 1922 to March 1924 and from November 1935 to his death in April 1947.

George was born at the royal villa at Tatoi, near Athens, the eldest son of Crown Prince Constantine of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophie of Prussia; the daughter of German Emperor Friedrich III and his wife Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom and a daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

George pursued a military career, training with the Prussian Guard at the age of 18, then serving in the Balkan Wars as a member of the 1st Greek Infantry. When his grandfather was assassinated in 1913, his father became King Constantine I and George became the Crown Prince.

After a coup deposed Constantine I during World War I, Crown Prince George, by then a major in the Hellenic Army, followed his father into exile in June 1917. George’s younger brother, Alexander, was installed as king by Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and the allied powers because George, like his father, was viewed as a germanophile.

King George II of the Hellenes

When Alexander I died following an infection from a monkey bite in 1920, Venizelos was voted out of office, and a plebiscite restored Constantine to the throne. Crown Prince George served as a colonel, and later a major general in the war against Turkey.

During this time he married his second cousin, Princess Elisabeth of Romania on February 27, 1921 in Bucharest. Princess Elisabeth was a daughter of King Ferdinand of Romania and Princess Marie of Edinburgh.

Marie of Edinburgh was born into the British royal family. Her parents were Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (later Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the fifth child and only surviving daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine.

King George II and his wife Princess Elisabeth of Romania were second cousins and shared common descent from Emperor Paul of Russia and his wife Duchess Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg. Princess Elisabeth was a great-great-great granddaughter of Emperor Paul through his eldest son Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. King George II was a great-great grandson of
Emperor Paul through a younger son Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich of Russia (brother of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia).

On March 10 that same year, his younger sister Princess Helen, married his brother-in-law from his recent marriage to the future King Carol II of Romania.

When the Turks defeated Greece at the Battle of Dumlupınar, the military forced the abdication of King Constantine I, and Crown Prince George succeeded to the Greek throne on September 27, 1922 as King George II of the Hellenes.

Princess Elisabeth of Romania

After the Battle of Dumlupınar the position of the monarchy remained precarious. The military-led “Revolutionary Government” tried and convicted six leading royalists to death as scapegoats for the country’s military defeat, and gradually steered the country in the direction of a republic.

On October 18, 1923, the Revolutionary Government proclaimed elections to be held on December 16 for a National Assembly which would decide on the country’s future form of government. The Revolutionary Government however, headed by Gonatas, had passed an electoral law which heavily favoured the Venizelist Liberal Party and the other anti-monarchist parties.

The royalist parties abstained from the December elections, paving the way for the electoral triumph of the Venizelist parties. The Revolutionary Committee asked King George II to leave Greece while the National Assembly considered the question of the future form of government. He complied and, although he refused to abdicate. King George II left the country on December 19, for exile in his wife’s home nation of Romania

The Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed by parliament on March 25, 1924, before being confirmed by a referendum two and a half weeks later. George and Elisabeth were officially deposed and banished; along with all members of the royal family they were stripped of their Greek citizenship and their property was confiscated by the government of the new republic. Rendered stateless, they were issued new passports from their cousin, King Christian X of Denmark.

A cold, aloof man, George rarely inspired love or affection from those who knew him, and certainly not from the vast majority of his subjects. Many commented that his moody, sullen personality seemed more appropriate for his ancestral homeland of Denmark than Greece. Furthermore, George’s long years spent living abroad had led him to a mentality that was essentially Western European in outlook. He had come to see Greece very much as Western Europeans did at the time, namely as a primitive.

History of the Kingdom of Greece: Part IX, Second Reign and Abdication of King Constantine I

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Anatolia, Balkan War of 1913, Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir, King Alexander of the Hellenes, King Constantine I of the Hellenes, king George II of the Hellenes, Plebiscite, Prime Minister Venizelos, princess Sophie of Prussia, World War I

As mentioned in my last entry, King Alexander died on October 25, 1920, after a freak accident: he was strolling with his dogs in the royal menagerie, when they attacked a monkey. Rushing to save the poor animal, the king was bitten by the monkey and what seemed like a minor injury turned to sepsis. He died a few days later. The following month Prime Minister Venizelos suffered a surprising defeat in a general election.

Greece had at this point been at war for eight continuous years: World War I had come and gone, but yet no sign of an enduring peace was near, as the country was already at war against the Kemalist forces in Asia Minor. Young men had been fighting and dying for years, lands lay fallow for lack of hands to cultivate them, and the country, morally exhausted, was at the brink of economic and political unravelling.

Constantine I, King of the Hellenes

The pro-royalist parties had promised peace and prosperity under the victorious Field Marshal of the Balkan Wars, he who knew of the soldier’s plight because he had fought next to him and shared his ration.

Following a plebiscite in which nearly 99% of votes were cast in favor of the return of the King, Constantine returned as king on December 19, 1920. This caused great dissatisfaction not only to the newly liberated populations in Asia Minor, but also to the British and even more the French, who opposed the return of Constantine.

The new government decided to continue the war. The inherited, ongoing campaign began with initial successes in western Anatolia against the Turks. The Greeks initially met with disorganized opposition.

In March 1921, despite his health problems, Constantine was landed in Anatolia to boost the Army’s morale and command personally the Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir.

However, an ill-conceived plan to capture Kemal’s new capital of Ankara, located deep in barren Anatolia, where there was no significant Greek population, succeeded only in its initial stages. The overextended and ill-supplied Greek Army was routed and driven from Anatolia back to the coast in August 1922.

Constantine with his family, ca. 1910. Top left: the king holding the toddler Princess Irene. Top right: the future George II. Left: Queen Sophia. Center: Princess Helen. Right: the future Alexander I. Front: the future Paul I. Princess Katherine not yet born.

Following an army revolt by Venizelist officers, considering him as key responsible for the military defeat, King Constantine abdicated the throne again on September 27, 1922 and was succeeded by his eldest son, as King George II of the Hellenes.

Second exile and death

Constantine spent the last four months of his life in exile in Italy and died at 1:30 am on January 11, 1923 at Palermo, Sicily of heart failure. His wife, Sophie of Prussia, was never allowed back to Greece and was later interred beside her husband in the Russian Church in Florence.

After his restoration on the Greek throne, George II organized the repatriation of the remains of members of his family who died in exile. An important religious ceremony that brought together, for six days in November 1936, all members of the royal family still alive. Constantine’s body was buried at the royal burial ground at Tatoi Palace, where he remains.

December 28, 1952: Death of Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Queen of Denmark. Conclusion.

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Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Copenhagen, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, King Christian X of Denmark, King Frederik VIII of Denmark, king George II of the Hellenes, King Haakon VII of Norway, King Peter II of Yugoslavia, Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, World War I, World War ii

On May 14, 1912 while on a return journey from a trip to Nice with his wife and four of his children, King Frederik VIII of Denmark made a short stop in Hamburg, staying at the Hotel Hamburger Hof under the pseudonym “Count Kronsberg”.

That evening, Frederik—while incognito—went out for a stroll on the Jungfernstieg, during which he became faint and collapsed on a park bench at Gänsemarkt. He was discovered by a police officer who took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead; his cause of death was announced as a heart attack. As King Frederik VIII was incognito at the time and had no papers on him, his body was brought to the local morgue, where he was identified by the hotel manager the next morning.

Alexandrine’s husband acceded to the throne as King Christian X, and Alexandrine became Queen Consort of Denmark. She is not considered to have played any political role, but is described as being a loyal support to her spouse.

She was interested in music, and acted as the protector of the musical societies Musikforeningen i København and Den danske Richard Wagnerforening. She was known for her needlework, which she sold for charitable purposes. After the death of her mother-in-law Louise of Sweden in 1926, she succeeded her as the official protector of the various charity organisations founded by Louise. She enjoyed golf and photography.

During World War I, she founded Dronningens Centralkomité af 1914 (“The Queen’s Central Committee of 1914”) to the support of poor families. The revolution in Russia brought much heartbreak for Alexandrine as three of her uncles, Nicholas, George and Sergey, were killed by the Bolsheviks.

She survived the 1918 flu pandemic.

King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark

World War II

On April 9, 1940 at 4 am Nazi Germany invaded Denmark in a surprise attack, overwhelming Denmark’s Army and Navy and destroying the Danish Army Air Corps. King Christian X quickly realized that Denmark was in an impossible position.

Its territory and population were far too small to hold out against Germany for any sustained period of time. Its flat land would have resulted in it being easily overrun by German panzers; Jutland, for instance, would have been overrun in short order by a panzer attack from Schleswig-Holstein immediately to the south.

Unlike its Nordic neighbours, Denmark had no mountain ranges from which a drawn-out resistance could be mounted against the German army. With no prospect of being able to hold out for any length of time, and faced with the explicit threat of the Luftwaffe bombing the civilian population of Copenhagen, and with only one general in favour of continuing to fight, King Christian X and the entire Danish government capitulated at about 6 am, in exchange for retaining political independence in domestic matters, beginning the occupation of Denmark, which lasted until May 5, 1945.

In contrast to his brother, King Haakon VII of Norway, and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, King George II of the Hellenes, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, King Peter II of Yugoslavia, President Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia and President Władysław Raczkiewicz of Poland, all of whom went into exile during the Nazi occupation of their countries, King Christian X (like King Leopold III of the Belgians) remained in his capital throughout the occupation of Denmark, being to the Danish people a visible symbol of the national cause (Haakon VII escaped the German advance after refusing to accept a Nazi-friendly puppet regime.)

King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark

The royal couple was given great popularity as national symbols during the World War II occupation, which was demonstrated during a tour through the country in 1946. Before the occupation, she and her daughter-in-law were engaged in mobilising the Danish women.

Her rejection of Major General Kurt Himer, Chief of Staff to General Kaupisch on April 9, 1940 became a symbol for her loyalty toward Denmark before her birth country Germany. When General Himer asked for an audience with the monarch, Christian was persuaded to receive him by his daughter-in-law as he would any other, which was supported by Alexandrine. He asked to do so alone, but Alexandrine told him she would interrupt them.

When the General was about to leave, she came in; and when he greeted her, she said: “General, this is not the circumstance in which I expected to greet a countryman.”

During the German occupation of Denmark, the King’s daily ride through Copenhagen became a symbol of Danish sovereignty. This picture was taken on his birthday in 1940

It was reported, that although Alexandrine was seen as shy and disliked official ceremonies, she had a “sharp” intelligence, and she was, together with her daughter-in-law, Ingrid of Sweden, a true support of the monarch and a driving force for the resistance toward the occupation within the royal house.

It was also reported, that in contrast to the monarch himself and the Crown Prince, the Queen and the Crown Princess never lost their calm when the nation was attacked.

As she was not the Head of the Royal House, she could show herself in public more than her spouse, who did not wish to show support to the occupation by being seen in public, and she used this to engage in various organisations for social relief to ease the difficulties caused by the occupation. Kaj Munk is quoted to describe the public appreciation of her during World War II with his comment: “Protect our Queen, the only German we would like to keep!”

Queen Alexandrine of Denmark

King Christian X used to ride daily through the streets of Copenhagen unaccompanied while the people stood and waved to him. One apocryphal story relates that one day, a German soldier remarked to a young boy that he found it odd that the King would ride with no bodyguard. The boy reportedly replied, “All of Denmark is his bodyguard.”

Later life

At his death in Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen, in 1947, at the age of 76, King Christian X was interred along with other members of the Danish royal family in Roskilde Cathedral near Copenhagen. Although he had been behind the politics of Erik Scavenius, a cloth armband of the type worn by members of the Danish resistance movement was placed on his coffin under a castrum doloris.

When Queen Alexandrine was widowed; she became the first Queen Dowager of Denmark to opt not to use that title.

She died in Copenhagen on December 28 in 1952 at the age of 73 and is interred next to her husband in Roskilde Cathedral.

Are the descendants of the Duke of Edinburgh also Prince/Princess of Greece and Denmark? Part II.

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Foreign Titles, king George II of the Hellenes, King George V of the United Kingdom, Prince of Greece and Denmark, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Princess of Greece Denmark, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Titles in Pretense

In this last entry we examined the history of the Greek monarchy, how it descended from King Christian IX of Denmark, and how all subsequent mail line dynasts have carried the title princess/prince of Greece and Denmark. There has been some question to whether or not it’s Philip’s renunciation of his Greek and danish titles could still be legally carried by his descendants.

It is two fold question. The question involves both the monarchy in Greece and the United Kingdom. As mentioned yesterday, King George II of the Hellenes did accept the renunciation of Prince Philip’s Greek and Danish titles. So what the question is, did the King’s reluctant acceptance of Philip’s renunciation meet the requirement for the renunciation of titles under Greek law at the time? One theory is that Philip’s renunciation of his titles by letter was not sufficient due to the fact that he remained in the line of succession to the Greek throne until the laws of succession to the Danish throne was changed in 1953. At that time Philip and his descendants ceased to be a dynasts to both the Greek and Danish thrones.

However, titles aren’t necessarily connected to succession rights. Many monarchies have dynasts that are in line for the succession to a specific throne yet they do not have official titles. Theoretically, therefore, if one believes that Prince Philip’s renunciation didn’t carry any legal authority or binding, then according to the Greek monarchy Prince Philip and his descendants are also princes and princesses of Greece and Denmark. In fact today many individuals from monarchies that no longer exist do you carry titles in pretense that are not recognized by current governments.

And that is the issue as we examine this topic from the perspective of the Greek monarchy. The Greek monarchy no longer exists and therefore has no jurisdiction on ruling whether or not Prince Philip and his descendants carry the title of prince and princess of Greece and Denmark.

With the monarchy in the United Kingdom the answer is more clear. Prince Philip and his descendants do not legally carry the titles prince or princess of Greece and Denmark. This is due to the fact that foreign titles are no longer recognized under British law.

The general principle is that the Sovereign is the Fount of Honor. For official purposes, only titles granted or recognized by the Sovereign exist.

Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland

The basic reason why the sovereign might not wish to authorize British subjects to bear foreign titles is the “divided loyalty” argument, expressed by Queen Elizabeth I in the famous Arundell of Wardour case in 1597. Thomas Arundell had distinguished himself in the service of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, at the capture of Esztergom (Hungary) in 1595, and was made count of the Holy Roman Empire. The Queen disapproved, and famously said:

as a woman should not follow any man but her husband, so a Subject should not receive any thing but from his owne Prince. I would not my sheepe should be branded with anothers marke: neither would I have them to be at anothers call or whistle

The Warrant of Apr 27, 1932

Curiously, the proximate cause of the Warrant of 1932, put an end to the acceptance of foreign titles once and for all in the UK. This was a repercussion of the Lateran Treaty of 1929. This treaty between Italy on one hand, the Holy See on the other, deprived the British government from the pretext that the Pope was not a sovereign power. No matter how small the Vatican City State, it was now necessary to accept that the Pope could confer titles. 

The Home Office suggested that this was an opportunity to settle the matter of foreign titles. Beside the “divided loyalty” argument, there were practical considerations: foreign titles might be confused with British titles (indeed, such confusion was part of their attraction), determining rules of descent was difficult, recording successions and deciding disputed claims was not practicable (the heralds being in charge of recording the licenses).

The suggestion was made to the King George V, and he agreed in May 1930 that no further Royal licenses would be granted, and asked for some way to deal with existing licences. In July 1930, the king made his decision: the use of foreign titles by British Subjects was abolished and that no further recommendations for Royal Licences were to be submitted to him. 

There it is in a nutshell. Ever since 1930 it has not been legal for a subject/citizen to carry a foreign title. As I stated yesterday, Prince Philip did not have to go through the naturalization process because he was a British subject/citizen from birth. As a descendant of the Electress Sophia of Hanover and the subsequent Sophia Naturalization Act of 1705 which granted British nationality in perpetuity to Sophia’s descendants. However, it was necessary for him to renounce his Greek and Danish titles .

Are the descendants of the Duke of Edinburgh also Prince/Princess of Greece and Denmark? Part I.

Tags

Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, House of Glucksburg, House of House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, King George I of the Hellenes, king George II of the Hellenes, King George VI of the United Kingdom, Prince of Greece and Denmark, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia)

George I, King of the Hellenes, (December 24, 1845 – March 18, 1913) was born as Christian Wilhelm Ferdinand Adolf George, the second son and third child of King Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel. Until his accession in Greece, he was known as Prince Wilhelm. At age only 17, he was elected King of the Hellenes on March 30, 1863 by the Greek National Assembly under the regnal name of George I.

King George I of the Hellenes

King George I of the Hellenes married Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia (September 3, 1851 – June 18, 1926), the daughter of Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg, at the chapel of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg on October 27, 1867 when she was barely 16 and he was he was 21. Over the next twenty years, they had eight children.

Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia

All male line descendants of King George are entitled to the be a Prince of Greece and Denmark. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, was born the only son and fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, was a prince of both Greece and Denmark by virtue of his patrilineal descent from George I of Greece and Christian IX of Denmark.

The Duke of Edinburgh is also member of the House of Glücksburg, itself a branch of the House of Oldenburg. The House of Glücksburg (also spelled Glücksborg), shortened from House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, is a Dano-German branch of the House of Oldenburg, members of which have reigned at various times in Denmark, Norway, Greece and several northern German states.

The question I raise is, are the Duke of Edinburgh’s children and other descendants also princes/princesses of Greece and Denmark?

At birth the Duke of Edinburgh was in the line of succession to both thrones of Greece and Denmark; the 1953 Succession Act removed his family branch’s succession rights in Denmark.

In 1947 Philip was granted permission by George VI to marry Princess Elizabeth. Before the official announcement of their engagement in July of that year, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles, became a naturalised British subject, and adopted his maternal grandparents’ surname Mountbatten.

Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark

However, it wasn’t necessary for Philip to under go the naturalization process due to the fact that he was born a British national as a descendant of the Electress Sophia of Hanover and the subsequent Sophia Naturalization Act of 1705 which granted British nationality in perpetuity to Sophia’s descendants. The act was superseded in 1949 by the passage of the British Nationality Act.

Although born a Prince of Greece and Denmark his upbringing was thoroughly British. On September 22, 1922, Philip’s uncle, King Constantine I of the Hellenes was forced to abdicate and the new military government arrested Prince Andrew, his father, along with others. In December, a revolutionary court banished Prince Andrew from Greece for life. The British naval vessel HMS Calypso evacuated Prince Andrew’s family, with Philip carried to safety in a cot made from a fruit box.

Because Philip left Greece as a baby, he does not speak Greek, and has stated that he thinks of himself as Danish. In 1928, he was sent to the United Kingdom to attend Cheam School, living with his maternal grandmother, Victoria Mountbatten, Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, at Kensington Palace and his uncle, George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, at Lynden Manor in Bray, Berkshire. Philip has always lived in the United Kingdom ever since.

Prince Philip initially started the process of renouncing his Greek and Danish titles in 1941, after he had joined the British Royal Navy. The renunciation of his Greek and Danish titles was done in a private via a letter to King George II, then in exile, in December of that year. The king accepted the renunciation with some reluctance, but only accepted his request due to Philip’s desire to serve in the British Royal Navy. After George II returned there was never any official action taken by the Greek government to remove Philip’s Greek and Danish, but the decision was accepted by the Greek king therefore that action in itself has been considered official by many historians and governmental figures.

However, there are some historians that believed since there isn’t any direct evidence that official documentation was submitted by King George II of the Hellenes to the government to remove Philip’s titles, therefore it is believed that Philip just simply stopped using his titles. Therefore theoretically, do Philip and his descendants still have their Dynastic titles such as Prince/Princesses of Greece and Denmark as well as other dynastic titles, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Stormarn, Dithmarschen, Lauenburg, and Oldenburg? Are they still there, and just in a state of disuse?

Is that true? That is what we’ll examine in part II.