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| Princess Katherine | |
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| Lady Katherine Brandram | |
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| Born | Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (1913-05-04)4 May 1913 Athens,Greece |
| Died | 2 October 2007(2007-10-02) (aged 94) London, England |
| Burial | 11 October 2007 Royal Cemetery,Tatoi Palace, Greece |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | Paul Brandram |
| House | Glücksburg |
| Father | Constantine I of Greece |
| Mother | Sophia of Prussia |
Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark[1] (Greek:Αικατερίνη; 4 May 1913 – 2 October 2007), styled in the United Kingdom asLady Katherine Brandram from 1947 until 2007, was the third daughter and youngest child of KingConstantine I of Greece and PrincessSophia of Prussia.
Katherine was born on 4 May 1913 in the Royal Palace inAthens, a few weeks after her paternal grandfather, King George I of Greece, was assassinated inThessaloniki. She was baptised on 14 June 1913. Her godparents wereOlga Constantinovna (the Dowager Queen of Greece, her paternal grandmother),Alexandra (the Dowager Queen of the United Kingdom, her paternal grandfather's sister and her maternal grandmother's sister-in-law),George V (the King of the United Kingdom, her mother's maternal cousin and her father's paternal cousin),Wilhelm II, German Emperor (her maternal uncle), The Greek Navy (represented by the Minister of Marine) and The Greek Army (represented by the Minister of War).
Katherine had five siblings – three brothers (George,Alexander andPaul, each of whom would becomeKing of the Hellenes) and two sisters (Princess Helen, who marriedCrown Prince Carol of Romania, andPrincess Irene who marriedPrince Aimone of Savoy, Duke of Spoleto). When she waschristened, the members of the wholeGreek Army andGreek Navy became her godparents. At three years of age, she and her mother were trapped inTatoi Palace, outside Athens, when a fire broke out. The Queen, carrying her, managed to escape in time.[2]
Her father abdicated in 1917, replaced as king by her brotherAlexander. She and her parents wereexiled to Switzerland. They were reinstated following Alexander's death in 1920, but Constantine abdicated again in 1922. Exiled again, this time toSicily, her father died inPalermo in 1923. The family moved toVilla Sparta inFlorence, where Katherine took up painting. Her second brother George became KingGeorge II in 1922, but was deposed in 1924.
Katherine was educated in England, at a boarding school atBroadstairs and thenNorth Foreland Lodge. Her mother died in January 1932, after which she continued to live at the Villa Sparta with her sister, Helen. She and the futureElizabeth II werebridesmaids at the wedding of her first cousin,Princess Marina, toPrince George in 1934.
Her brother George was reinstated as king in 1935, and Katherine returned to Greece with her sister, Irene. She joined theGreek Red Cross when theSecond World War broke out in 1939. In 1941, after Greece had beenoverrun by Axis forces, she fled to South Africa with her third brother, Paul, in aSunderland flying boat, where she worked as a nurse at a hospital inCape Town. She heard no news of her sister Helen for four years. She returned to England in 1946, sailing the last leg from Egypt to England on theCunard linerRMSAscania. On board, she met MajorRichard Campbell BrandramMC (5 August 1911 – 5 April 1994), an officer in theBritish Royal Artillery. They were engaged three weeks after they arrived in England, but their engagement was announced only in February 1947.[3] On 1 April at the Royal Palace, three weeks prior to the wedding, her brother King George had a stroke and died shortly after in Katherine's presence.[4][5] George was succeeded on the Greek throne by Katherine's third brother Paul, who acted as best man at the wedding, which took place according to schedule on 21 April 1947.
She then accompanied her husband to his new army posting inBaghdad, and they later settled in England.[6] On 25 August 1947,King George VI granted her the rank and title of a duke's daughter and she became known asLady Katherine Brandram.[7] She and her husband lived inEaton Square inBelgravia, and later moved toMarlow, Buckinghamshire.
According to her obituary inThe Daily Telegraph, "Lady Katherine lived quietly but remained in close touch with her own and the British royal families. She attended the Queen's wedding toPrince Philip (her first cousin on her father’s side and second cousin once removed on her mother’s side), and was a guest at the service to mark Prince Philip's 80th birthday at St George's Chapel, Windsor, in 2001."[2]
After the death ofInfanta Beatriz of Spain in 2002, Katherine was the last surviving great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, as well the last surviving grandchild ofFrederick III, German Emperor andVictoria, Princess Royal. She lived for almost 87 years after the death of her brother, King Alexander, and her death left her second cousin (on her mother’s side) and second cousin once removed (on her father’s side)Count Carl Johan Bernadotte of Sweden (31 October 1916 – 5 May 2012) as Queen Victoria's last living great-grandchild.
From the time of the death of her eldest sisterQueen Helen, Queen Mother of Romania in 1982, to the time of her own death, she wasQueen Victoria's most senior female line descendant. Her death marked the end of all female-line direct descendants ofFrederick III, German Emperor andVictoria, Princess Royal.[1]
Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark and Major Richard Campbell Andrew Brandram had one child, a son:[1]
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Media related toPrincess Katherine of Greece and Denmark at Wikimedia Commons
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*also a princess of Denmark See alsoHouse of Glücksburg | ||
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