The three sons of King Constantine II left disappointed with their meeting with the Greek authorities on January 11, 2023, the day after their father’s death. Looking grim, in their mourning suits, Pavlos, Nikolaos and Philippos failed to get the last king of the Hellenes to have a state funeral on Monday, January 16.
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“Paul II” and his brothers leave their meeting with the Greek authorities disappointed
King Constantine II, who became King of the Hellenes in 1964, overthrown in 1973, is died at 82 on January 10, 2023 in a hospital in Athens, after several days of hospitalization. The day after his disappearance, his three sons had an appointment with the Greek authorities. An interministerial committee was organized at the Maximou Palace of Prime Minister Kyriákos Mitsotákis to finalize the organization of the funeral of the former head of state.
It is the crestfallen mine, in addition to being afflicted by mourning, that the three sons of King Constantine II left their meeting. Crown Prince Pavlos, eldest son of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie, emerged first from the building, now leading the dance. Since the death of his father, he is now the new head of the Royal House of Greece.
At the end of the ministerial meeting, the Prime Minister decided that the former Head of State “will be buried privately.” Burial will take place at Tatoi Palace Cemetery, near his ancestors, on Monday, January 16, 2023 after the religious service. At the funeral, the only state representative will be the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni. For its part, the patriarchate accepted the family’s request that the funeral be celebrated at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, during a service led by Metropolitan Hieronimos II. “The provisions of ecclesiastical rules, order and etiquette” will be respected during the office. The government specifies that the protocol will be respected for the foreign dignitaries who will make the trip.
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The Greek royal family and its new leader will attend the funeral of Constantine II on January 16, 2023
the Crown Prince Pavlos finds himself at the head of the royal family at the age of 55. These are the very first photos of the man who is considered by monarchist supporters to be de jure the new king of the Hellenes. King Constantine II never recognized the flawed referendum of 1974 having definitively abolished the monarchy in Greece and he never abdicated. The last photos of the Greek royal family were taken hours before the king’s death, as the princes and princesses went to a church to pray.
The siblings, who live scattered around the world, met in Atènes a few days ago after learning of their father’s hospitalization. They took turns in his hospital room, after leaving intensive care. The king suffered from serious health problems, mainly mobility, following strokes suffered in recent years. Queen Emeritus Sofia of Spain, elder sister of Constantine II, had also visited Greece, just after attending the funeral of Benedict XVI in the Vatican. Sofia was accompanied by their sister, Princess Irene, who usually lives with her in Spain.
Crown Prince Pavlos and his wife, Crown Princess Marie-Chantal live in New York State with their five children. Princess Theodora, the late king’s second daughter, also lives in the United States where she pursues an acting career. Princess Alexia, the eldest of the siblings, lives with her husband and their four children in the Canary Islands, in Lanzarote. Prince Philippos, the youngest of the siblings, married in October 2021 in Athens with the Swiss Nina Flohr, travels the world with his young wife. Only Prince Nikolaos, younger brother of Crown Prince Pavlos, moved to Greece with his wife, Princess Tatiana, a few years ago, now devoting himself full-time to photography.
The Greek dynasty has been a younger branch of the Glücksbourg family, since the election in 1863 of a son of King Christian IX as King of the Hellenes. The Glücksburgs still rule Denmark, Norway and in a strictly agnatic line over the United Kingdom today, the father of King Charles III being born Prince of Greece and Denmark. The Glücksburgs, in full Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg form, are themselves a younger branch of the family of the Counts of Oldenburg.
The Greek royal family, which has never really cut ties with its Danish family of origin, has had a tormented history, over several generations marked by repeated periods of exile. King Constantine II, himself born in exile during the Second World War, then forced into exile by the dictatorial regime of the colonels, was stripped of his nationality following the 1974 referendum. Stateless, he finally obtained nationality Danish, offered by the homeland of his wife in 1983. According to Prime Minister Kyriákos Mitsotákis, the fact that Constantine II does not have Greek nationality, is the main reason for refusing to organize a state funeral.
State funerals typically involve a funeral procession, the state’s organizational costs, and the presence of the highest authorities in the land. The Prime Minister offered his condolences to the royal family and said the death of King Constantine II marked “the formal epilogue of a chapter that ended definitively with the 1974 referendum”.
