In recent months, the British royal family in particular has attracted attention after their ruler, III. Károly was diagnosed with cancer, and not long after, a similar diagnosis was made for the heir to the throne’s wife, Princess Katalin. Both are currently receiving treatment so that they can return to public duties as soon as possible. Apart from them, at the beginning of the year, the royal family of Denmark found themselves in the spotlight due to the fact that their former queen, II. Margit announced at New Year’s that she would abdicate the throne, which she would leave to her eldest son, King Frigyes X. In recent days, however, another aristocratic family of Europe has come to the fore, that of Greece.
As is known, the country’s form of government has been a republic since 1973, but the last Greek king, II. Constantine’s descendants are still alive today. The late monarch had a total of five children: Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark, Crown Prince Paul of Greece, Prince Miklós of Greece and Denmark, Princess Teodora of Greece and Denmark, and Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. Among them, the third child, Prince Miklós, recently announced that he is divorcing his wife, Princess Tatjána, after 14 years – although there were signs earlier that their relationship was not very rosy.
The announcement about the dissolution of the marriage was shared on the website of the Greek royal family, in which it was stated that the parties have decided to opt for a peaceful separation. Highlighting that “this decision was made with great care and mutual respect, reflecting the esteem they felt for each other and the moments they shared”. As they add, they will treat each other in a similar way in the future, they will remain friends, and they will both live out their lives in Greece.
Prince Miklós and Princess Tatjána, who was born in Venezuela, met in a Swiss ski resort in 2003 and quickly hit it off. At that time, the latter was still working as an event writer for fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg, but she eventually left this job to become a full-fledged member of the Greek royal family. They got engaged in 2009 and got married in 2010. Their wedding was a big sensation at the time, the Dutch, Danish, Swedish and Spanish royal families also paid their respects at the event, which was held on the Greek island of Spéces.
The former couple was last seen together in February at the service held in St. George’s Chapel of Windsor Castle, where Prince Nicholas’ father, who died last year, was remembered. In recent months, however, the Greek media have already reported that the prince and the princess may have become estranged from each other – based only on the fact that they were last seen together in February. And the guesses were confirmed, although their situation is made somewhat easier by the fact that they did not have a child together, so they do not have to worry about how they will agree on custody of the offspring.
The last king
Although the British royal family is considered to be the most beloved and popular in the world, there are several countries that have aristocratic families. As is well known, monarchy is the official form of government in 43 countries today, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Swaziland, the Sultanate of Brunei, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Monaco, Thailand, Liechtenstein, Tonga, Bhutan, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Greenland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Lesotho, Cambodia, Malaysia, Japan, Denmark and the Vatican – the latter is a theocratic absolute monarchy, and its ruler is the pope of the day.
In addition to those listed above, looking at world history, you can find quite a few states that once functioned as kingdoms, which were eventually replaced by republics. In the case of Hungary, this process ended in 1918, until then the last Hungarian king, IV. Károly, while in other parts of Europe the royal families could be in power much longer. For example, the Kingdom of Greece gained its sovereignty on February 8, 1830, then became a republic between 1924 and 1935, and a military dictatorship took over from 1936, followed by the German occupation in 1941. The monarchy was restored only three years later, in 1944, and between 1946 and 1949 civil war raged in Greece, which was followed later, in the 60s, by another military coup.
The republic was proclaimed again in 1973, then it had already been nine years since World War II. King Constantine of Greece sat on the throne, who died of a stroke on January 10, 2023. Officially, he ruled only from 1964 to 1967, when they took power in a military coup, then a referendum was called, which led to Greece’s form of government becoming a republic. Despite the king’s attempts to put down the coup, it failed and he was forced to flee the country – although he remained at the head of the state until 1973, when the monarchy was abolished.
II. Constantine eventually found refuge in the United Kingdom, where he developed a close relationship with the British royal family. First cousin of Prince Philip III. He was Károly’s second cousin, while Prince Vilmos was his godfather. II. Constantine and the current British monarch had a particularly close relationship, usually sailing together. Another interesting connection is that the wife of the last Greek king, Queen Anna-Maria of Greece, is the sister of the former Danish queen II. For Margit. It is known that II. Constantine lived most of his years in exile in the London suburb of Hampstead Garden, and in 2013, more than 40 years after leaving his homeland, he returned to live out his final years in Greece, dying in Athens.
(Cover photo: Prince Nicholas of Greece and Princess Tatiana of Greece on June 13, 2015. Photo: Ian Gavan / Getty Images)
