Constantine, the Last King of Greece, Dies at Age 82
Constantine, the former and last king of Greece, died late Tuesday in Athens.
Doctors at the Hygeia Hospital in Athens confirmed to the Associated Press that Constantine died after treatment in an intensive care unit. They did not provide any further details.
Constantine was born in June 1940 in Athens to Prince Paul, the younger brother of Greece's King George II, and Princess Federica of Hanover. Prince Philip was his uncle. Soon, the Greek royals had to flee to Cairo during World War I due to the German invasion, but they returned in 1946.
The next year, Constantine was named heir to the throne when his father became King Paul I. In March 1964, Constantine became King Constantine II following his father's death from cancer.
Just months later, he married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, the younger sister of Denmark's Queen Margrethe. "I was the first king ever to marry in Greece," he recalled to Town & Country in 2015. Three years later, the fairytale was over: they fled Greece following a coup and the abolishment of the monarchy.
Constantine flew his family out of the country, piloting the plane himself. "We had less than three minutes of fuel when we touched down," he told T&C years later. "I had to borrow $300 from my valet to refuel the plane, and my brother-in-law [Juan Carlos, the former king of Spain, who is married to Constantine's sister, Queen Sofia] had to send me clothes."
"It was a very dark period in our history," Constantine added.
He would not return to Greece until 2003. "Ever since they created the republic through the referendum in 1974, I decided to stay away and not interfere," he shared. "But as time passed, I had the feeling that they were going to use my presence at the Olympic Games to say that I was trying to come back as king. I wasn't going to have any of that. So I came back to Greece in 2003—the year before the Olympics. Everyone was taken by surprise."
He eventually lived out his final years in Greece, moving back in 2010. As he told T&C, "Look at ancient Greek history. All Greeks who live in exile, they want to go back. It's in the blood. Funnily enough, the one pushing hardest was my wife. I think she realized I would be happy only when I came back home."
Constantine had already decided he wants to be buried in the royal cemetery on the grounds of Tatoi.
He is survived by his wife, former Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, five children, Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora and Philippos, and nine grandchildren.
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