Constantine II of Greece facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Constantine II
Constantine II in 1987
King of the Hellenes
Reign	6 March 1964 – 1 June 1973
Predecessor	Paul
Successor	Monarchy abolished
Prime Ministers	See list Georgios Papandreou Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas Ilias Tsirimokos Stefanos Stefanopoulos Ioannis Paraskevopoulos Panagiotis Kanellopoulos Konstantinos Kollias Georgios Papadopoulos
Head of the Royal House of Greece
Tenure	1 June 1973 – 10 January 2023
Successor	Pavlos
Born	(1940-06-02)2 June 1940 Athens, Kingdom of Greece
Died	10 January 2023(2023-01-10) (aged 82) Athens, Greece
Spouse	Anne-Marie of Denmark ​ (m. 1964)​
Issue	Princess Alexia Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece Prince Nikolaos Princess Theodora Prince Philippos
House	Glücksburg
Father	Paul of Greece
Mother	Frederica of Hanover
Religion	Greek Orthodox
Military career
Allegiance	Kingdom of Greece
Service/branch	Royal Hellenic Army Royal Hellenic Navy Royal Hellenic Air Force
Rank	Stratarches Stolarches Aitherarches

Constantine II (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Βʹ, Konstantínos II; 2 June 1940 – 10 January 2023) was the last King of Greece, from 6 March 1964 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy on 1 June 1973.

Constantine was the only son of King Paul and Queen Frederica of Greece. As his family was forced into exile during the Second World War, he spent the first years of his childhood in Egypt and South Africa. He returned to Greece with his family in 1946 during the Greek Civil War. King George II died in 1947, and Constantine's father became the new king, making Constantine the crown prince.

He acceded as king in 1964 following the death of his father, King Paul. Later that year he married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark with whom he eventually had five children. Although the accession of the young monarch was initially regarded auspiciously, his reign saw political instability that culminated in the Colonels' Coup of 21 April 1967. The coup left Constantine, as the head of state, little room to manoeuvre since he had no loyal military forces on which to rely. As a result, he reluctantly agreed to inaugurate the junta on the condition that it be made up largely of civilian ministers. On 13 December 1967, Constantine was forced to flee the country, following an unsuccessful countercoup against the junta. He remained (formally) the head of state in exile until the junta abolished the monarchy on 1 June 1973. The 1973 Greek republic referendum on 29 July, ratified the abolition. There were questions concerning the validity of this referendum and whether people were pressured to vote for a republic. Therefore, a fresh referendum was held after the restoration of democracy in 1974. This second referendum was held after the fall of the junta as the 1974 Greek republic referendum on 8 December 1974 and confirmed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the Third Hellenic Republic. Constantine, who was not allowed to return to Greece to campaign, accepted the results of the plebiscite.

Constantine was also a competitive sailor and Olympian, winning a gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics in the Dragon class, and later serving on the International Olympic Committee. Along with his fellow crew members of the Nireus sailing vessel, he was named one of the 1960 Greek Athletes of the Year.

Early life

Prince Constantine's parents Prince Paul and Princess Frederica in 1939

Constantine was born in the afternoon of 2 June 1940 at his parents' residence, Villa Psychiko at Leoforos Diamantidou 14 in Psychiko, a suburb of Athens. He was the nephew of George II, and also the second child and only legitimate son of the childless king's younger brother and heir presumptive, Crown Prince Paul. His mother, Princess Frederica of Hanover, was the only daughter of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick and Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia. The birth of a male heir to the throne was anxiously awaited by the Greek royal family and was celebrated with a 101–gun salute from Mount Lycabettus in Athens. According to Greek naming practices, being the first son, he was named for his paternal grandfather, Constantine I. At his baptism in Athens, the Hellenic Armed Forces acted as his godparent.

At birth, Prince Constantine had an elder sister, Princess Sofia, born in 1938, who would later become Queen of Spain as the wife of the now retired Juan Carlos I of Spain. The family was later joined by a younger sister, Princess Irene, born in 1942.

Constantine's birth took place during the beginning of World War II. He was just a few months old when Fascist Italy on 28 October 1940 invaded Greece from Albania, beginning the Greco-Italian War. The Greek Army was able to halt the invasion temporarily and was able to push the Italians back into Albania. However, the Greek successes forced Nazi Germany to intervene. The Germans invaded Greece and Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, and overran both countries within a month, despite British aid to Greece in the form of an expeditionary corps. On 22 April 1941, Princess Frederica and her two children, Sofia and Constantine, were evacuated to Crete in a British Short Sunderland flying boat, along with most of the Greek royal family. The next day they were followed by King George and Prince Paul. However, the imminent German invasion of Crete quickly made the situation untenable, and Constantine and his family were evacuated from Crete to Egypt already on 30 April 1941, a fortnight before the German attack on the island.

Constantine and his family then spent the next four years in exile in Egypt and Cape Town, South Africa, (where his sister Irene was born) with his family. He returned to Greece with his family in 1946. King George died in 1947, and Constantine's father became the new king, making Constantine the crown prince.

Crown Prince

Prince Constantine in 1959

Constantine was educated at a preparatory school and later a boarding school (Victoria College in Alexandria, Egypt, where his classmates included King Hussein of Jordan and actor Omar Sharif). A fellow student recalled him as "a good chap, a young man with all the right instincts. He was at his best on the playing fields."

Constantine served in all three branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces, attending the requisite military academies. He also attended the NATO Air Force Special Weapons School in Germany, as well as the University of Athens, where he took courses in the school of law.

Constantine II of Greece

Medal record
Men's sailing
Representing  Greece
Olympic Games
Gold	1960 Rome	Dragon

Constantine was an able sportsman. In 1960, aged 20, he won an Olympic gold medal in sailing (dragon class), which was the first Greek gold medal in sailing since the Stockholm 1912 Summer Olympics. He was also a strong swimmer and had a black belt in karate, with interests in squash, track events and riding. In 1963 Constantine became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He resigned in 1974 because he was no longer a Greek resident, and was made an Honorary IOC Member. He was an honorable member of the International Soling Association and honorable President of the International Dragon Association.

Reign

In 1964, Paul I's health deteriorated rapidly. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer and was operated on for an ulcer in February. Prior to this, Constantine had already been appointed regent for his ailing father while waiting for his recovery. However, as the king's condition worsened, the crown prince went to Tinos to get an icon considered miraculous by the Greek Orthodox Church. The holy image, however, was not enough to cure the sovereign, and on 6 March 1964, King Paul died and the 23-year-old Constantine succeeded him as King of the Hellenes. The new king ascended the throne as Constantine II, although some of his supporters preferred to call him Constantine XIII to emphasize the continuity between the former Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Greece.

Due to his youth, he was also perceived as a promise of change. Greece was still feeling the effects of the Civil War of 1944–49 between communists and monarchists, and society was strongly polarised between the royalist/conservative right and the liberal/socialist left. The accession of Constantine coincided with the recent election of Centrist George Papandreou as prime minister in February 1964, which ended 11 years of right-wing rule by the National Radical Union (ERE). It was hoped that the new young king and the new prime minister would be able to overcome past dissensions.

After the resignation of Andreas Papandreou, Constantine appointed a new government led by Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, who failed to ensure the Parliament's confidence. After this failure, Novas was succeeded by Ilias Tsirimokos, who also failed to form a stable government and was dismissed. Constantine next appointed some of Papandreou's dissidents, known as the July Apostates and led by Stefanos Stefanopoulos, to form a government of "king's men", which lasted until December 1966, amidst mounting strikes and protests, supported by the right-wing ERE.

When Stefanopoulos resigned in frustration, Constantine appointed a caretaker government under Ioannis Paraskevopoulos, which called elections for May 1967. This government did not even last until the scheduled elections. It was replaced on 3 April 1967 by another caretaker government under the leader of the ERE, Panagiotis Kanellopoulos.

Greek dictatorship 1967–1974

Elections were scheduled for 28 May 1967, with expectations of a wide Centrist victory. According to United States diplomat John Day, the Americans worried that, due to the old age of George Papandreou, Andreas Papandreou would have a very powerful role in the next government.

According to United States diplomats Robert Keely and John Owens, who were attached to the United States embassy in Greece at the time, Constantine asked United States Ambassador Phillips Talbot what the attitude of the United States government would be to an extra-parliamentary solution to this problem. The embassy responded negatively in principle, adding that "US reaction to such a move cannot be determined in advance but would depend on circumstances at time". To this day, Constantine denies all this. According to Talbot, after this communication, Constantine met with the generals of the army, who promised the king that they would not take any action before the coming elections. However, they were nervous by the proclamations of Andreas Papandreou and reserved to themselves the right to reconsider possible courses of action according to the results of the election.

A traditionalist, right-wing nationalist group of middle-ranking army officers led by Colonel George Papadopoulos took action first and staged a coup d'état on 21 April. The coup leaders met Constantine at his residence in Tatoi, which was surrounded by tanks to prevent resistance. Constantine later recounted that the officers of the tank platoons believed they were carrying out the coup under his orders. The king argued with the colonels and initially dismissed them. Later in the day, he went to the Ministry of National Defence, where all the coup leaders were gathered, and had a discussion with Kanellopoulos and with leading generals. He agreed to concede to the military demands and swear in the new regime only after the junta agreed to include a number of civilian politicians, with a royalist nominee, Konstantinos Kollias, as prime minister. Panayotis Kanellopoulos, the last legitimate prime minister of Greece prior to the coup, urged the king to use his status as commander-in-chief of the Greek military to order loyal officers to crush the coup. Constantine apparently refused to do so because he feared bloodshed.

From the outset, the relationship between Constantine and the regime of the colonels was an uneasy one. Constantine organised a counter-coup, though no help or involvement of the United States was forthcoming. The king finally decided to launch his counter-coup on 13 December 1967. Since Athens was effectively in the hands of the junta militarily, Constantine decided to fly to the small northern city of Kavala, east of Thessaloniki. There he hoped to be among troops loyal only to him. The vague plan he and his advisors had conceived was to form a unit that would advance to Thessaloniki (Greece's second biggest city and unofficial capital of northern Greece) and take it. Constantine planned to install an alternative administration there. International recognition, which he believed to be forthcoming, as well as internal pressure from the fact that Greece would have been split into two governments would, the king hoped, force the junta to resign, leaving the field clear for him to return triumphant to Athens.

In the early morning hours of 13 December, the king boarded the royal plane together with Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, their two young children, Princess Alexia and Prince Pavlos, his mother, Queen Frederica, and his sister, Princess Irene. Constantine also took with him Premier Kollias. At first things seemed to be going according to plan. Constantine was well received in Kavala which, militarily, was under the command of a general loyal to him. The air force and navy, both strongly royalist and not involved in the 1967 coup, immediately declared for him and mobilised. Another of Constantine's generals effectively cut all communication between Athens and the north.

Under these circumstances, rather than managing to put together a force and advancing on Thessaloniki, middle-ranking pro-junta officers neutralised and arrested his royalist generals and took command of their units, which subsequently put together a force advancing on Kavala to arrest the king. Realising that the counter-coup had failed, Constantine fled Greece on the royal plane, taking his family and premier with him. They landed in Rome early in the morning of 14 December, where they remained in exile through the rest of military rule (although he continued as king until 1 June 1973). He was never to return to Greece as a reigning king.

Constantine stated, "I am sure I shall go back the way my ancestors did." The world had changed significantly though since the monarchy had made its last comeback. Constantine continued to watch events from abroad. He said to the Toronto Star:

I consider myself King of the Hellenes and sole expression of legality in my country until the Greek people freely decide otherwise. I fully expected that the (military) regime would depose me eventually. They are frightened of the Crown because it is a unifying force among the people.

With Constantine abroad, Colonel George Papadopoulos appointed himself prime minister and General George Zoitakis as regent.

Over the next year the junta sent intermediaries to the king to negotiate the terms on which he might return to Greece. But Constantine insisted on the full restoration of democracy under the existing constitution as a precondition, and Papadopoulos would not agree to this. Instead the regime promulgated a new constitution in November 1968, which retained the monarchy, but stripped it of its powers, and provided for a permanent regency until the king chose to accept the new order. This standoff continued until 1972, when Papadopoulos dismissed Zoitakis and appointed himself regent.

In June 1973, Papadopoulos condemned Constantine as "a collaborator with foreign forces and with murderers" and accused him of "pursuing ambitions to become a political leader". In May, officers of the largely royalist navy staged an abortive coup, although Constantine himself was not involved. Papadopoulos retaliated by declaring Greece a republic on 1 June, a decision which was confirmed by a plebiscite on 29 July. The vote was widely acknowledged to be rigged. Constantine refused to accept the outcome. Papadopoulos then declared himself president, but in November there was a coup within the regime and he was replaced by General Phaidon Ghizikis, who was a front for the new military strongman, Dimitrios Ioannidis.

Restoration of democracy and the referendum

In July 1974, the events in Cyprus led to the downfall of the military regime, and Karamanlis returned from exile to become prime minister. The 1973 republican constitution was regarded as illegitimate, and the new administration issued a decree restoring the 1952 constitution. Constantine confidently awaited an invitation to return. On 24 July he declared his "deep satisfaction with the initiative of the armed forces in overthrowing the dictatorial regime" and welcomed the advent of Karamanlis as prime minister.

The former king visited both Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street and openly declared his hope to be shortly returning to Greece. However, the 1952 constitution was not restored with the overthrow of the illegal junta. Following Karamanlis' resounding victory in the November 1974 parliamentary elections (his New Democracy party won 54.4% of the vote), he called a referendum (held on 8 December 1974) on whether Greece would restore the monarchy or remain a republic.

Although he had been the leader of the traditionally monarchist right, Karamanlis made no attempt to restore the democratic constitution of 1952. The former king was not allowed by the government to return to Greece to campaign for the restoration of constitutional monarchy. He was only allowed to broadcast to the Greek people from London on television. Analysts claim this was a deliberate act by the government to undermine any chance to restore the monarchy.

The left voted overwhelmingly for the republic because the former king was perceived by them as having engaged in political interference far beyond the scope of the prerogative. They also objected to the perceived influence exercised by members of the royal family who had no constitutional role in the political life of the country; the former king's mother, Queen Frederica, being a case in point.

The republic received overwhelming support by the centrist voters who condemned Constantine for, among other things, swearing in the junta in 1967. They also blamed his reluctance to sever all ties with the junta once in exile, and the dismissal of the legitimately elected George Papandreou administration (Apostasia of 1965), the event which some believed led to the coup.

Constantine, speaking from London, freely admitted his past mistakes. He claimed to have sound democratic intentions in the future and promised that his mother would stay away from the country. Local monarchists campaigned on his behalf. The vote to restore the monarchy was only about 31% with most of the support coming from the Peloponnese region. Almost 69% of the electorate voted against the restoration of the monarchy and for the establishment of a republic.

In exile

Constantine remained in exile for forty years after the vote in favour of the republic. He was strongly discouraged from returning to Greece, and he did not return until February 1981, when the government allowed him to return for only a few hours, to attend the funeral of his mother, Queen Frederica, in the family cemetery of the former Royal Palace at Tatoi.

There were also legal disputes with the Greek state. In 1992 he concluded an agreement with the conservative government of Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, ceding most of his land in Greece to a non-profit foundation in exchange for the former palace of Tatoi, near Athens, and the right to export a number of movables from Greece. The latter reportedly included privately owned art treasures from the royal palaces. As such, no formal account of what was removed was ever given or needed to be given. In 1993, Constantine visited Greece, but faced with government insecurity, he was asked to leave. In 1994, the second government of Andreas Papandreou passed new legislation reversing the 1992 agreement and stripping Constantine of his property in Greece and his Greek citizenship.

Constantine sued Greece at the European Court of Human Rights for €500 million in compensation for the seized property. He won a much smaller amount, receiving a monetary compensation of €12 million for the lost property, with a far smaller sum awarded to his unmarried younger sister, Princess Irene, and his aunt Princess Katherine. The Greek government chose to pay out of the "extraordinary natural disasters" fund, but was not obliged by the court's decision to return any lands (the Court of Human Rights awards only monetary compensation).

Constantine, in turn, created the Anna Maria Foundation, to allocate the funds in question back to the Greek people for use in "extraordinary natural disasters" and charitable causes. The court decision also ruled that Constantine's human rights were not violated by the Greek state's decision not to grant him Greek citizenship and passport unless he adopts a surname.

Later life and death

Constantine II and his wife arriving at the Wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling

Constantine II in 2010

Following the abolition of the monarchy, Constantine repeatedly stated that he recognized the Republic, the laws and the constitution of Greece. He told Time, "If the Greek people decide that they want a republic, they are entitled to have that and should be left in peace to enjoy it."

Constantine and Anne-Marie for many years lived in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, Constantine being a close friend of his second cousin Charles III, and a godfather to William, Prince of Wales, his second cousin once removed. He sold his house in Hampstead in 2013.

Constantine was a patron of Box Hill School, a private school in Dorking, in the south of England.

In 2004, Constantine returned to Greece temporarily during the Athens Olympic Games as a member of the International Olympic Committee. On 24 December 2004, Constantine and Anne-Marie and members of the former royal family visited the Presidential Mansion (the former Royal Palace) in Athens where Constantine met President Costis Stephanopoulos, who gave them a tour.

According to a nationwide 2007 survey of 2,040 households conducted on behalf of the newspaper To Vima, only 11.6% supported a constitutional monarchy. More than half of the respondents, 50.9%, considered the dictatorship of the junta had brought benefits to Greece.

During the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, Constantine, in his role as honorary member of the International Olympic Committee, was the official presenter at the sailing medal ceremonies. He was Co-President of Honour of the International Sailing Federation with King Harald V of Norway, since 1994.

In 2013, Constantine returned to reside in Greece. He and his wife Anne-Marie purchased a villa in Porto Cheli, Peloponnese, residing there until they relocated to Athens in the spring of 2022.

In November 2015, his autobiography was published in three volumes by the national newspaper, To Vima. It has not yet been published in English.

Constantine incurred a series of health problems in the final years of his life, including heart conditions and decreased mobility. He died on 10 January 2023, at the age of 82, several days after being hospitalised in Athens for a stroke.

Marriage and children

King Constantine II and Princess Anne-Marie on their wedding day

Constantine and his wife with their youngest children, Theodora and Philippos, by Allan Warren c. 1986

On 18 September 1964, in a Greek Orthodox ceremony in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, he married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark.

The children of Constantine and Anne-Marie are:

• Princess Alexia, born on 10 July 1965 at Mon Repos in Corfu. She was married on 9 July 1999 in London to Carlos Morales Quintana, they have 4 children.
• Crown Prince Pavlos, born on 20 May 1967 at Tatoi Palace in Athens. He was married on 1 July 1995 in London to Marie-Chantal Miller, they have 5 children.
• Prince Nikolaos, born on 1 October 1969 at Casa di Cura Privata Nuova Villa Claudia in Rome. He was married on 25 August 2010 in Spetses to Tatiana Elinka Blatnik.
• Princess Theodora, born on 9 June 1983 in St Mary's Hospital, London, who is pursuing an acting career.
• Prince Philippos, born on 26 April 1986 in St Mary's Hospital, London. He works as a hedge fund analyst in New York. He married Nina Nastassja Flohr on 12 December 2020 in St. Moritz in a civil ceremony. Their religious wedding ceremony was held at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens on 23 October 2021.

Ancestry

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles

Until 1994, Constantine's official Greek passport identified him as "Constantine, former King of the Hellenes". A law passed in 1994 stripped him of his Greek citizenship, passport, and property. The law stated that Constantine could not be granted a Greek passport unless he adopted a surname. Constantine has stated: "I don't have a name—my family doesn't have a name. The law that Mr Papandreou passed basically says that he considers that I am not Greek and that my family was Greek only so long as we were exercising the responsibilities of sovereign, and I had to go out and acquire a name. The problem is that my family originates from Denmark, and the Danish royal family haven't got a surname." Glücksburg, he said, was not a family name but the name of a town. "I might as well call myself Mr. Kensington."

Constantine freely traveled in and out of Greece on a Danish passport, as Constantino de Grecia (Spanish for 'Constantine of Greece'), because Denmark (upon request) issues diplomatic passports to any descendants of King Christian IX and Queen Louise, and Constantine was a Prince of Denmark in his own right. During his first visit to Greece using this passport, Constantine was mocked by some of the Greek media, which hellenized the "de Grecia" designation and used it as a surname, thus naming him Κωνσταντίνος Ντεγκρέτσιας ('Constantine Degrecias').

The International Olympic Committee continued to refer to Constantine as His Majesty King Constantine. In Greece, he was referred to as ο τέως βασιλιάς or ο πρώην βασιλιάς ('the former king'). His official website lists his "correct form of address" as King Constantine, former King of the Hellenes.

Foreign honours

•  Denmark: Knight of the Order of the Elephant
  • Grand Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog
  • Recipient of the Silver Anniversary Medal of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik
  • Recipient of the 75th Birthday Medal of Queen Margrethe II
  • Recipient of the Ruby Jubilee Medal of Queen Margrethe II
  • Recipient of the 70th Birthday Medal of Queen Margrethe II
  • Recipient of the Silver Jubilee Medal of Queen Margrethe II
  • Recipient of the Golden Anniversary Medal of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik
  • Recipient of the Prince Henrik's Commemorative Medal
  • Recipient of the 80th Birthday Medal of Queen Margrethe II
•  Egypt: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile
•  France: Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour
• Iranian Imperial Family: Recipient of the Commemorative Medal of the 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire
•  Italy: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
• Italian Royal Family: Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation
  • Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
  • Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy
•  Luxembourg: Knight of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau
•  Jordan: Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Renaissance
•  Mexico: Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle
•  Monaco: Grand Officer of the Order of Saint-Charles
•  Netherlands: Grand Cross of the Order of the House of Orange
•  Norway: Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of St Olav
• Russian Imperial Family: Knight of the Imperial Order of St. Andrew
•  Senegal: Grand Cross of the National Order of the Lion
•  Spain: 1, 176th Knight of the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece
•  Sweden:
  • Knight of the Order of the Seraphim;
  • Recipient of the 50th Birthday Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf
•  Thailand: Knight of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri
• Calabrian Royal Family of Two Sicilies: Knight Grand Cross of Justice of the Calabrian Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
•  United States: Commander of the Legion of Merit

Awards

• Greek Scout Association Silver Phoenix Award (1959)
• Scout Association of Japan Golden Pheasant Award (1964)
• International Sailing Federation Beppe Croce Trophy (2010)

See also

In Spanish: Constantino II de Grecia para niños

• Timeline of Greek history
• History of modern Greece
• List of Olympic medalists in sailing § Dragon class
• Round Square