King Constantine was the last king of Greece and reigned for only nine years until the abolition of the Greek monarchy in 1974.
King Constantine
Constantine was the cousin of British King Charles III. He was initially welcomed with open arms and was regarded as an auspicious king. He had already achieved fame and glory when he won an Olympic gold for sailing, which was the first Greek gold medal in sailing since the 1912 Stockholm Summer Olympics. His support dwindled when he acted against the popular prime minister of his country, George Papandreou.
His reign became mired in political instability, which resulted in a military coup in 1967. He was forced to flee his country after his retaliation against the military coup failed. He remained in Rome until the junta abolished the monarchy in 1973.
After the fall of the junta in 1974, a referendum was passed in which the Greeks rejected the monarchy for the second time, making King Constantine the last king of Greece. He remained in exile for 40 years and returned once to attend his mother’s funeral for a few hours. But he eventually returned to his country.
After his exile, he travelled as a Danish prince with a Danish passport. For most of his life, he lived in London and always kept in touch with British King Charles III. He was the godfather to Prince Williams.
Personal Life
Constantine was born on June 2, 1940, to the Greek Royal Family. He was the second child and the only legitimate son of Crown Prince Paul, the younger brother of King George, who was heirless and heir presumptive. He had an older sister, Sophia, who became the wife of former King Juan Carlos I of Spain. By blood, he was also the nephew of Greek-born Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, and husband of the UK’s late Queen Elizabeth II. King George passed away in 1947, and Constantine’s father became king. After the passing of King Paul I, Constantine took over the reign at the age of 23.
Even though monarchy is abolished in Greece, King Constantine continues to dress and present himself as the King of Greece and even styled his children as prince and princess.
After becoming king, Constantine got married to Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark in a traditional Greek Orthodox ceremony. He had five children with her: Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora, and Philippos, and by the end of his life he had nine grandchildren.
Later parts of life
After his exile, he has repeatedly stated that he is in support of a republic, as the people of Greece wanted a republic. According to a survey conducted in 2007, only 11.6% of respondents supported a constitutional monarchy, as more than half of the people in the survey, that is, nearly 50.9%, believed that the dictatorship of the junta had brought benefits to Greece.
In the final years of his life, he was always beset by a series of health problems, which included decreased mobility and serious heart ailments. The king’s ailments have worsened in the past few months which had seen him getting hospitalized many times. He suffered a massive stroke and was hospitalized in Athens. King Constantine passed away on January 10, 2024, at the age of 82. He is now survived by his wife and children.
