TheCruise of the Kings (Greek:Η κρουαζιέρα των γαλαζοαίματων,romanized: I krouaziéra ton galazoématon,lit. 'The cruise of the blue-bloods') was a royal cruise around theMediterranean Sea in the summer of 1954, organised byQueen Frederica andKing Paul of Greece.
The cruise aimed to promotetourism in Greece and was drafted by Frederica. It occurred from 23 August to 3 September 1954 on the royal yachtAgamemnon. Royals from over 25 reigning and formerly reigning royal families were in attendance. A second cruise was scheduled for August 1956, but thenationalisation of the Suez Canal and its closure by the British government, as well asgrowing violence in theLevant, prevented the cruise from playing out smoothly. The cruise was transformed into a shorter stay inMon Repos,Corfu.
The cruise was drafted byFrederica of Hanover, thequeen consort of Greece as the wife ofPaul of Greece, to promote and "open the doors" totourism in Greece, specifically in theGreek islands.[1] The growth of tourism was hoped for as it would assist in economic recovery followingWorld War II and theGreek Civil War. Another aim of the cruise was to rebuild ties between European royal families followingWorld War I and World War II.[1]
According to Frederica's memoir, she was approached in 1954 byEugenios Eugenidis, a Greek shipowner, who asked her to visit one of his transatlantic liners and give it her name. When this is done, the shipowner typically gives abrooch. However, Frederica requested that Eugenidis instead assist her in organising a cruise for the royal families in Europe.[1]
The Greek Consul in Naples of the time, Tylpados, also revealed to the French news outletCombat that "several engagements" were hoped to be announced by the end of the cruise.[2]Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark claimed in 2003 that "some marriages or engagements" amongst royals was one of the aims the cruise.[3] The only marriage that was arranged during the cruise was that ofPrince Alexander of Yugoslavia andPrincess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma.[4] However, King Paul's oldest daughterPrincess Sophia andPrince Juan Carlos of Spain first met on the cruise andthey would marry eight years later.[5]
Eugenidis'Agamemnon first departed on 23 August 1954 from the French port ofMarseille, whereCharlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and her family boarded the yacht as the first royals to participate. At around 11:00 a.m., theAgamemnon stopped inNaples, where the majority of royal guests, including Paul, Frederica, and theGreek royal family, were picked up. The Greek royals had arrived in Naples at around 8:20 am that same day, having taken the yachtNavarino from Greece. It took almost three hours for all the guests to board the ship in Naples. At around 1:45 pm, theAgamemnon departed Naples with its guests and sailed towards theIonian islands.[6]
On board the yacht and at any locations where it stopped, it was agreed that royal protocol be abolished, which freed guests from any royalorder of precedence, allowing them to "mingle more" in a less formal environment, according to historian Julián Cortes Cavanillas. More informal standards, Frederica hoped, would help rebuild familial ties between the guests.[6]
The cruise's first stop wasCorfu, where the final guests, former kingUmberto II of Italy and his family, were picked up. The Italian royal family was banned from staying in Italy due to the1946 Italian institutional referendum and the proclamation of theItalian Republic, so they were unable to be picked up from Naples. After they had boarded, theAgamemnon made numerous stops, including inOlympia,Heraklion,Rhodes,Santorini,Mykonos,Skiathos,Sounion and thenAthens, via the port ofFaliro. On 31 August, the cruise's royal guests touredEpidaurus and viewed a performance ofEuripides'Hippolytus.[6]
The following day, the Greek royal family departed theAgamemnon and returned toTatoi Palace.[6] Over the next two days, the yacht first stopped in Corfu, where the Italian royals departed, and then in Naples, where the rest of the guests left to return to their home countries.[7] Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark described the cruise as "great fun" and a "beautiful event".[3][5] The cruise was seen as successful and attracted a lot of media attention. Many shipping companies soon organised cruises that followed the same route as theAgamemnon. In her memoirs, Frederica noted that the growth in cruises around Greece led to "hotels and other land-based services and facilities" growing in revenue and generating more tourist money for the country.[1] On the other hand, domestically the cruise was received with mixed feelings: many Greek people resented what they perceived as the lavish bride-show out on for the Queen's royal relatives, which cost the cash-strapped Greek state 140,000 US dollars in addition to the funds provided by Eugenidis. Frederica's popularity took a hit and began to decline from that point on.[8][9]
Francis of Bavaria, a participant, reports in his memoirs the anecdote that the queens of Greece, the Netherlands, Italy and Romania went ashore in a harbor in the middle of a crowd of nephews and nieces, and a waiting journalist called out to them: "What is the purpose of this trip?", whereupon the Dutch QueenJuliana replied with a friendly smile: "Oh, you know, this is ourunion’s company outing."[10]
Following the first edition of the cruise in 1954, which Frederica described as "a great success", she wished to reboot the event two years later.[1] There were plans for the cruise to be on the yachtAchilles. However, a few days before the cruise was scheduled to begin, theSuez Crisis became apparent as thePresident of Egypt,Gamal Abdel Nasser, attempted to nationalise the canal, resulting in its closure by the British government. In addition, there was growing violence in theEastern Mediterranean and theLevant. As a result, Frederica and Paul decided to alter the event from a cruise to a stay inMon Repos, the royal residence in Corfu.[7] The guest list thus had to be shortened significantly.[11]
In the 1954 cruise, 110 royal dignitaries of twenty nationalities were in attendance.[1] Additionally, over fifteen different languages were spoken. Frederica recorded that despite language barriers, there "was not the slightest difficulty during the ten days that the cruise lasted".[1]
TheKing andQueen of the HellenesPrince andPrincess George of Greece and DenmarkPrince Michael of Greece and DenmarkIn 1954, [shipowner] Eugenides asked me to visit one of his transatlantic liners and give it my name. When this type of request is made, it is customary to offer the godmother a large brilliant brooch. However, on this occasion I had an idea and asked Eugenides if, instead of this traditional gift, he would give me the necessary means to organize a cruise during which I would invite all the royal families of Europe […]. There were different reasons for organizing this cruise. First, Paul and I wanted to open the doors of Greece to tourism. […] But the first thing we needed was to get the world's attention. As the world press was responsible for giving wide publicity to the cruise, everything worked very well. Immediately afterwards, shipping companies began to organize cruises exactly following the program and itinerary of ours, and soon hotels and other land-based services and facilities began to bring tourist money to the country. Another reason was that, since World War I , royal families had not reunited internationally. […] The trip was a great success. We were 110 people, of twenty nationalities and speaking 15 different languages; despite this there was not the slightest difficulty during the ten days that the cruise lasted. […]
