| Greek royal family Βασιλική Οικογένεια της Ελλάδος (Greek) | |
|---|---|
 Greater coat of arms since 1936 | |
.svg) Personal standard of the kings of Greece | |
| Parent family | House of Glücksburg |
| Country |  Kingdom of Greece |
| Place of origin | Glücksburg,Schleswig-Holstein |
| Founded | 30 March 1863; 162 years ago (1863-03-30) |
| Founder | George I |
| Current head | Crown Prince Pavlos |
| Final ruler | Constantine II |
| Connected families | Danish royal family Spanish royal family Mountbatten-Windsor |
| Motto | Ἰσχύς μου ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ λαοῦ (The people's love is my strength) |
| Properties | Old Royal Palace Royal Palace Tatoi Palace Mon Repos Palace of St. Michael and St. George |
| Deposition | 1 June 1973; 52 years ago (1973-06-01) |
| Website | greekroyalfamily |
| Greek royal family |
|---|
.svg) |
Queen Sofía of Spain |
TheGreek royal family (Greek:Βασιλική Οικογένεια της Ελλάδος[1][2]) was the ruling family of theKingdom of Greece from 1863 to 1924 and again from 1935 to 1973. The Greek royal family is a branch of theDanish royal family, itself acadet branch of theHouse of Glücksburg. The family had replaced theHouse of Wittelsbach that previously ruled Greece from 1832 to 1862. The first monarch wasGeorge I of Greece, the second son of KingChristian IX of Denmark.[3] The current head of the family is former Crown PrincePavlos, who assumed the role on 10 January 2023 upon thedeath of his father, former KingConstantine II.
With the1974 Greek republic referendum and Article 4 of theConstitution of Greece, all family members have been stripped of their honorific titles and the associated royal status. Many family members born after 1974 still use the titles "Prince of Greece" and "Princess of Greece" to describe themselves, but such descriptions are neither conferred nor legally recognised by the Greek state as royal or noble titles.[4] The family accepts that these terms are not royal titles, but rather personal identifiers.[5][6][note 1]
As of 2024, the family has assumed the last name "De Grèce" (Ντε Γκρες; "of Greece"), first used by Greek author and dynastPrince Michael of Greece and Denmark for his pen name asMichel de Grèce, as the only one familiar to them.[7]
After the overthrow in 1862 of thefirst king of the independent Greek state,Otto of Bavaria, aplebiscite in Greece was initiatedon 19 November 1862,[note 2] with the results announced in February the following year,[note 3] in support of adoptingPrince Alfred of the United Kingdom, laterDuke of Edinburgh, to reign asking of the country.[8] The candidacy of Prince Alfred was rejected by theGreat Powers. TheLondon Conference of 1832 had prohibited any of the Great Powers' ruling families from accepting the crown of Greece, whileQueen Victoria was opposed to such a prospect.[9]
A search for other candidates ensued, and eventually,Prince William of Denmark, of theHouse of Glücksburg, the second son of KingChristian IX and younger brother of the then newAlexandra, Princess of Wales, was appointed king. The Greek Parliament unanimously approved on 18 March 1863[note 4] the ascension to the Greek throne of the prince, then aged 17, asKing of the Hellenes under the regnal name of George I.[10] George arrived in Greece in October 1863.[10]
Theroyal coat of arms of Greece still used by the royal family is a blue shield with the white cross of Greece with the greatercoat of arms of Denmark of 1819–1903 in the centre. This was consequently also the arms of Denmark when the Danish prince William accepted the Greek throne as KingGeorge I. As such this includes the three lions of the arms ofDenmark proper, the two lions ofSchleswig, the three crowns of the formerKalmar Union, thestockfish ofIceland, the ram ofFaroe Islands, the polar bear ofGreenland, the lion and hearts of theKing of the Goths, thewyvern of theKing of the Wends, the nettle leaf ofHolstein, the swan with a crown ofStormarn, the knight on horseback ofDithmarschen, the horse head ofLauenburg, the two red bars of theHouse of Oldenburg and the yellow cross ofDelmenhorst. The same shield is in the personal standard of the Kings of Greece. The shield is supported by two figures ofHeracles,[11] similar to the "wild men" of theCoat of arms of Denmark. The shield also has theOrder of the Redeemer, while the royal motto reads " Ἰσχύς μου ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ λαοῦ" ("The people's love is my strength").[12]
George I marriedGrand Duchess Olga Constaninovna of Russia, and they had seven surviving children. After a reign of almost fifty years, George I was succeeded by his eldest son,Constantine I, who had married in 1889,Princess Sophia of Prussia, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and sister ofKaiser Wilhelm II. In turn, all three of Constantine's sons,George II,Alexander andPaul, would occupy the throne.[13]
The dynasty reigned in Greece during theBalkan Wars,World War I,World War II (during which Greece experiencedoccupation by the Axis), theGreek Civil War, and most of theGreek military junta of 1967–1974.
Following theNational Schism during World War I and the subsequentAsia Minor Disaster, the monarchy was deposed in March 1924 and replaced by theSecond Hellenic Republic.[13] Between 1924 and 1935 there were twenty-three changes of government in Greece, adictatorship, and thirteencoups d'etat.[citation needed] In October 1935, GeneralGeorgios Kondylis, a formerVenizelist, overthrew the government and arranged for areferendum on restoring the monarchy. On 3 November 1935, the official tally showed that 98% of the votes supported the restoration of the monarchy.[10] The balloting was not secret, and participation was compulsory. AsTime described it at the time, "As a voter, one could drop into the ballot box a blue vote for George II, or one could cast a red ballot for the Republic."[14] George II returned to Greece on 25 November 1935, as king.
Less that a year later, on4 August 1936, George II endorsed the establishment of a quasi-fascist dictatorship led by veteran army officerIoannis Metaxas.[15]
George II followed the Greek government in exile after theGerman invasion of Greece in 1941 and returned to Greece in 1946, after areferendum that resulted in the maintaining of theconstitutional monarchy.[16] He died in 1947 and was succeeded by his brotherPaul. The new king reigned from the time ofGreek civil war until his death in 1964, and was succeeded by his son,Constantine II.[13]
On 21 April 1967, the elected government of Greece was overthrown by a group of middle-ranking army officers led byColonelGeorgios Papadopoulos, and amilitary dictatorship was established. Themilitaryjunta formed a new government sworn in by Constantine II. On 13 December 1967, the king launched a counter-coup that failed[17] and he, together with his family, fled toRome and soon after to London.
The dictatorship nominally retained the monarchy but on 1 June 1973, Constantine II was declared "deposed," and Papadopoulos appointed himself "President of the Republic". Some two months later, on 29 July 1973, the military regime held areferendum, the official result of which confirmed, according to thejunta, theabolition of the monarchy.[16]
After July 1974, the dictatorship fell. The military handed power over toKonstantinos Karamanlis, a conservative[note 5] politician who had been prime minister in the 1950s and early 60s.[18] Karamanlis formed a "government of national unity" and held aconstitutional referendum on 8 December 1974. The voters confirmed the abolition of the monarchy by a vote of 69% to 31% and the establishment of a republicanparliamentary democracy in Greece.[8] Later the upper house of parliament was abolished as well as freedom from prosecution for members of parliament.
The former royal family lost its legal recognition with theconstitutional amendment of 1973, finally ratified by thereferendum of December 1974, and thenew constitution that followed, which defined Greece as a presidential-parliamentary republic. As such, the royal and princely titles have no official status within or outside Greece, but are used in the context established by theTreaty of Vienna in 1815, which states that they are hereditary titles for life, which are retained even if the royal offices to which they are attached cease to exist.[19] In 1996, theCouncil of State ruled that the use of titles was a means of identifying the person and not a title ofnobility.
The issue of the former royal property was settled in 1994, which was registered with the state in exchange for compensation to the former king,[20] and in 2024, the issue of citizenship was settled with the declaration of surnames by family members.
The recognition of Greek nationality—a recognition that was removed after the dethronement of the dynasty and the amendment of the constitution—was until recently a point of contention between Greek governments and the former royal family, and in particular the former King Constantine. Its resolution, with the recognition of Greek citizenship for Constantine's children and grandchildren on 20 December 2024, has smoothly closed the last open issue of theMetapolitefsi's period in Greece.[21]
The former royal family had lost their Greek citizenship and had beenstateless for almost 30 years,[note 6] under Law 2215 (also known as "theEvangelos Venizelos Law"), of 1994, which also confiscated their property.[22] The law made it a condition for the reacquisition of citizenship that a suffix be declared at the registry office, a declaration that the former King Constantine had refused to make. The former king had said in an interview: "I have no surname. My family has no surname. The law says that I am not Greek and that my family was Greek only when we exercised our monarchical duties, and therefore I had to present myself and declare a surname. The problem is that my family is Danish and the Danish royal family has no surname."[23]
The declaration was finally made on 19 December 2024, when 10 members of the former royal family (Contantine's childrenAlexia,Pavlos,Nikolaos,Theodora,Philippos, and Pavlos' children:Maria-Olympia,Constantine-Alexios,Achileas Andreas, Odysseas-Kimon, and Aristides-Stavros) went to the "Registrar of births, marriages and deaths" ofAthens where they expressly and unconditionally declared their respect for theConstitution, their recognition of thePresidential parliamentary republic and the result of the referendum of 8 December 1974, and their renunciation of all claims of any kind in connection with any past political office or the possession of any title, as well as the renunciation of all claims of any kind connected with the past holding of any political office or the possession of any title.[24][note 7] They chose the surnameDe Grèce, first used by their uncleMichel de Grèce, as the only one familiar to them.[25]Anne Maria—although she lives almost permanently in Athens—refused to apply for a surname, saying "I have no surname because my family, which comes from Denmark, have no surname either", thus identifying her position with that of the late King Constantine, who had refused all these years to choose a surname in order to obtain the Greek citizenship he so desired.[7]
The country's major opposition parties (PASOK andSyriza) have reacted negatively to this choice of surname. In particular, the constitutionalist and PASOK member of parliamentPanagiotis Doudounis believes that this choice of surname is an "indirect non-recognition of the existing state regime". The same opinion was expressed by Syriza, which stated that the Greek legal system does not recognize "titles of nobility", which is what the specific adjective is trying to imply.[26] Athens University Constitutional Law Emeritus ProfessorNikos Alivizatos also criticized the decision of the Minister of the Interior arguing that it doesn't fulfill the requirements of the 1994 law, because "de Grece" is not a "regular surname", but "a declaration of place of origin" and a title of distinction, such as those used by royalty and aristocrats, something that goes against the Greek Constitution.[27] In February 2025 Athens University Administrative Law Professor Panos Lazaratos lodged an objection against the recognition of the surname filed by the members of the former royal family, arguing that it constitutes a form of indirect discrimination against all other citizens, and that it was unlawful to award them the Greek citizenship.[28] The objection will be decided by theCouncil of State.
Despite the abolition of the institution of the monarchy, there was no change in the ownership of the former king's property. The admiral, Marios Stavridis took over the administration of the estate as the legal representative of the family. When the amount of taxes and fines for non-payment, and the ensuing tax proceedings, reached an impasse, the government ofConstantine Mitsotakis, through Law 2086/1992, reached an agreement with the former king to settle the financial arrears. This agreement, condemned by the opposition, was annulled whenAndreas Papandreou became prime minister in 1993.The PASOK government, through Law 2215 of 1994, confiscated all the real estate of the royal family, demanded the return of all the movable property that had been secretly removed from the country in 1992, and set the conditions for granting citizenship to members of the family. Constantine disagreed with the content of the law and began a legal battle that ended in 2002 with the decision of theEuropean Court of Human Rights. The Court ruled in favour of the former king, considering his property to be private property resulting from an inheritance, and set the amount at 13.7 million euros. The issue of the movable property was never raised again.[29]
Asmale-line descendants of KingChristian IX of Denmark, members of the dynasty bear the title ofPrince or Princess ofDenmark and thus are traditionally referred to as "Princes" or "Princesses of Greece and Denmark".[30] With the sole exception ofAspasia Manos (the consort of KingAlexander) and her daughterPrincess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark, as well as descendants from non-dynastic marriages,[31] none of the members wereethnically Greek.[32]
This section only lists living members of the royal family and deceased members who are ancestors of presently living members of the family.
*Member of the extended royal family
Italicised names denote that the individual has died. Bolded names denote that the individual is/was the head of the royal house. Please note that any living members who are not directly descended from Paul are considered extended family.
King George I, who was born as a son ofChristian IX and was elected as the first King of the Hellenes. He marriedOlga Constantinovna of RussiaKing Constantine I, who marriedPrincess Sophia of PrussiaKing George II, who married and later divorcedPrincess Elisabeth of RomaniaKing Alexander, who marriedAspasia ManosKing Paul IKing Constantine II, who marriedPrincess Anne-Marie of Denmark, daughter ofFrederik IX(in Greek and English).svg)