HRH Crown Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark

Happiness is free 🆓

Family ❣️👑

It was Sunday 2 June 1940 when the future heir to the Greek throne, Prince Constantine, the only son of King Paul I and Queen Frederica, was born in Athens, in the palace of Paleo Psychiko.

Today we remember the late King Constantine II of the Hellenes on the 84th anniversary of his birth 👑

I have loved Greece ever since my first visit before I got married. I loved Athens, the light, the colours, the blue of the sea, but above all the Greeks. Great people! I get very emotional when I talk about Greece. That's how much I love the country"

HM Queen Anne-Marie

Athens, 20 May 1967 W

It was Saturday at 21:06 when Crown Prince Pavlos was born in the Summer Palace of Tatoi, on the eve of King Constantine's name day. He weighed 3,850 grams and was 0.52 m tall. The birth of the Crown Prince of the Greek Throne was announced in Athens with 101 cannon shots from the artillery of Lycabettus and the Naval Command in Piraeus and with the tolling of church bells throughout the country.

From the early afternoon of 20 May the royal family waited impatiently outside the Queen's dormitory. Anne-Marie was in the final stage of labour. As soon as the professor of obstetrics and gynecology B. Koutifaris came out and announced the birth of the heir, everyone hugged each other with tears in their eyes.

- My son! My son was born! The king cried aloud. Where is my son! I want to see him! he was saying and saying to the doctors.

- In two minutes, Your Majesty, they answered him. The infant must first be washed, all the necessary care must be taken... When the King saw the infant, he wept with joy and cried out: Thank

you, God! Thank you!

Then he approached the queen's bed and took her hand:

- My love, thank you for your gift!

- Happy name day to you, replied the queen with a smile full of affection.

Crown Prince Pavlos was baptised on 29 June 1967, on the feast day of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the Metropolis Cathedral of Athens, and was named after his grandfather, Paul, father of King Constantine. His sponsors were Queen Mother Frederica, the Greek Armed Forces and the Greek Security Forces, a delegation of which performed the sacrament

Happy 38 birthday to me wish my self many happy returns fans wish me well

Χρόνια πολλά για τα 38 μου γενέθλια εύχομαι στον εαυτό μου, πολλοί θαυμαστές μου εύχονται ευτυχισμένες επιστροφές

My strength is the love of the people" - this has always been the motto and guiding principle of our family. For us, as for all Greeks, the strength of the country lies in the love of the Greek people for their Homeland. We will forever offer our Homeland Greece. We will always love Hellas and its people.

"Ισκύς μος η Θάπη τος Λαού" – was and will always be the rule of ours. For us, as for every Greek woman, she is her mother.

Αγάπη το έλληνα για έυνα. We will offer forever in our Motherland Greece. We will always love Greece and its people.
Happy Easter to you all ❣️

Happy Birthday Greece! Double celebration today, of both Nation and Faith. Many happy returns of the day to all Greeks who honor the historic anniversary of the beginning of the Greek Revolution on March 25, 1821, and venerably the Evangelism of the Virgin.

In 1821, after nearly 400 years of Ottoman oppression, the Greeks united under a flag carrying the cross to fight for freedom and justice in the country that granted the world democracy.

The Greek revolt extended on March 25, 1821, when Metropolitan of Patras Germanos III raised the flag of the Revolution at the Monastery of Agia Laura in the Peloponnese. The cry "Freedom or Death" became the slogan of the revolution.

After nine long years of war, Greece was recognized as an independent state by the London Protocol of February 1830. In 1832, the final borders of the new state were determined and Prince Othos of Bavaria became the first King of Greece.

Putting an end to 400 years of Ottoman rule, Greece exalted on this important day in history. With the cry "Freedom", Freedom for the end of slavery, the Greek people were free again!

Every year our thoughts turn with nostalgia and pride to that historic day, when our ancestors began the gigantic, unequal and long-running struggle for the freedom and independence of Genus from the Ottoman yoke!

Long live the Nation!! 🇬🇷

In March 1963, royalty and dignitaries from across Europe joined the Greek royal family to celebrate the centenary of the Greek royal dynasty, the 100th anniversary of the accession of Prince Wilhelm of Denmark, who became King George I of the Hellenes. The centenary of the royal dynasty coincided with the celebrations of the Greek Revolution of 1821 and the War of Independence.

In the first and second photos, the Greek royal family and their guests participating in the celebrations are photographed in the ballroom and the central staircase of the palace on the evening of 16 March.

In the third and fourth photos, the Greek royal family and their guests attend a gala performance at the Royal Theatre in Athens, followed by a gala dinner in honour of King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark.

The fifth photo is from the military parade held in front of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, which closed the week of celebrations marking the centenary of the Greek dynasty. The military parade was magnificent, with the presence of kings, princes and dignitaries who had come to Athens to take part in the double celebrations.

In my next post, the 10-minute audiovisual, where we briefly see the daily events that took place in Athens from 16 to 24 March 1963.

At a special event in Athens last night, Crown Prince Pavlos, Vice President of Prince's Trust International, presented Ioannis and Evangelos Konstandopoulos with the 2023 Prince's Trust Global Sustainability Award for Europe. The STARTAB Entrepreneurship Programme, a programme launched in 2018 by Prince's Trust International and its partner in Greece, Corallia, enabled co-founders loannis and Evangelos to turn their concept into a business. "The Sports Footprint" is a ground-breaking business that harnesses the power of sport to drive environmental change. The award ceremony held at the Stelios Hadjiyannou Charitable Foundation, under the auspices of the British Embassy in Athens was a celebration of The Prince's Trust International's work in Greece, which since 2018 has reached thousands of young people to help them re-enter education, secure permanent employment or start their own business. In Greece alone, three quarters of the young people who participated in Prince's Trust International's employability programmes in 2023 secured employment or continued their education.

Extract from Crown Prince Pavlos' speech:

"Continuing our legacy of entrepreneurship is vital. It's great to see Prince's Trust International supporting entrepreneurs like John and Evangelos, with initiatives like Sports Footprint already in place. These young people are transforming themselves and creating jobs rather than looking for work. I firmly believe that young people should have the opportunity to succeed, regardless of where they come from or the challenges they face. No opportunity for success is effective if young people do not have access to and support for work, a key element in the quest for self-fulfilment".

Crown Prince Pavlos, Crown Princess Marie-Chantal and their five children pose for their annual summer photo while on holiday in Greece

It was 5 March 1913 when Greece was shocked by the tragic news of the assassination of King George I in Thessaloniki by Alexandros Schinas.

Just three days after the liberation of Thessaloniki from the Turkish yoke on 29 October 1912, King George I and his wife Queen Olga had settled in the capital of Macedonia. In March 1913, the King was approaching his Golden Jubilee and planned to abdicate in favour of his son, Crown Prince Constantine, in October of that year. On the evening of 5 March, King George took an afternoon walk through the streets of Thessaloniki towards the White Tower. As he was known to do every day, he went out with only one aide, Major Georgios Fragoudis, and two Cretan gendarmes who followed a little further behind.

On his return to the palace at about 4.20pm, George and his entourage were walking along Exochi Street, specifically in front of Abraham Isha's café/convenience store in Pasha Liman. At the junction with Ag. Triada Street, Alexandros Schinas had been waiting for some time, just a few steps away from the police station. As soon as he saw the King and his adjutant passing by, he approached them and, from a distance of two steps, shot the King in the back, once in the side of the heart, with a Montenegrin revolver, causing a serious wound. George staggered a few steps and fell against the door of the shop, which swung open under his weight, while the customers ran to help him. But in vain, he was already dead. He fell without a word.

The king was taken to the hospital of the Papafeios Orphanage, but the doctors were unable to help him. His body was embalmed and lay in state in Thessaloniki until 25 March, when it was taken to Athens.

In Athens, the King lay in state for three days in the Metropolitan Cathedral, followed by a state funeral. His coffin was then buried in the Royal Cemetery of Tatoi

Spring is so close and nature has started to paint and give a new life to the royal estate of Tatoi 👑👑🌹

On this day, in 1964, King Pavlos died at Tatoi, aged 62

Everyone is thinking of you, Father. The churches are full of people praying for your healing. King Paul looked at his son Constantine for a moment, then whispered: "These were King Paul's last words to the Greek people before he died.

Today is the 60th anniversary of the death of King Paul I. It was Friday, 6 March 1964, when the King died at the age of 63 in the palace of Tatoi.

King Paul was undoubtedly a worthy leader of the Greek state. He was a man of simplicity but also of great courtesy in his manners, accessible to many, with a deep knowledge of Greek tradition and a conscientious Orthodox Christian, a man of duty who possessed a keen sense of humour and whose thunderous laughter was one of his characteristics. At the same time, Paul had a high sense of his royal status and mission, and attached due importance to decorum, recognising the multiply beneficial, philanthropic power of ceremony. Paul's open character was imprinted in the popular memory as "Paul the Good". This was confirmed by the popular grief and the universal, fervent and spontaneous nationwide mourning at the time of his

death and funeral.

King Paul was fortunate to see his son Prince Constantine crowned Olympic champion by winning the gold medal in sailing on 7 September 1960, in the Bay of Naples, Rome. He attended the wedding of his daughter Princess Sofia to the heir to the Spanish throne, Don Juan Carlos, on 14 May 1962, and shortly before he passed away he held his first granddaughter, the Infanta Elena of Spain, in his arms. He took immense pleasure in the choice of his son Constantine and his engagement to Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark.

He remained on the throne for 16 years, 11 months and 5 days.

Greece is our love, it is in our blood, in our soul, and we shall continue to do all we can for our country".

Crown Prince Pavlos

The restoration of the royal palace in Tatoi is well underway with the works progressing at a satisfactory pace. The exterior of the palace is changing rapidly. All the concrete additions to the southern façade, built in the period 1937-1939, have been removed and the building is gradually returning to the era of George I.

Inside, the removal of asbestos elements from the building, the removal of coatings and the cleaning of masonry joints has been completed. Also the wooden floors, which are still maintained in a fairly good condition, receive the rescue interventions of the craftsmen.

In 2025, the maintenance and restoration of the palace and gardens will be completed and the museum will be established within the palace.

A service of thanksgiving for the life of King Constantine II of the Hellenes was held today at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle under the auspices of King Charles III. The service was led by the Dean of Windsor, the Right Reverend Dr Christopher Cocksworth with the presence of foreign royalty and other guests.

The ceremony at St George's Chapel not only underlined the deep personal ties that bind Europe's royal families, but also served as a reminder of the shared history and collective memory that transcends national boundaries.

ORTHODOX MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR KING CONSTANTINE II IN LONDON.

On Wednesday 28 February 2024, the Orthodox memorial service for the late King Constantine will be held at St Sophia Cathedral in Bayswater, West London, presided over by the Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain, Nikita.

The Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain, said: "I had visited Greece, I had spoken with Prince Pavlos two or three weeks ago. We met together, had breakfast and discussed the details a little bit. A kind, good man. The Prince and I spoke in Greek. He still has a nobility about him.

He speaks with a sincerity, a humility I would say, and since they are an Orthodox family, Christians and his father is a Christian Orthodox, I think we have not only the religious but also the moral obligation to perform a ceremony for the repose of his soul.

The mass will be celebrated and then I will also preside. It's not just a simple and humble thing. And we have sent to the clergy, to the presidents here in London those who can attend. People here still remember the former king. They pray, not just for him, for his family."

"People here will have free access, it's allowed here. There is no discussion, yes he wants it, I believe the family wants it too. There is no discussion, it is a temple, anyone who wants to come and pray, light a candle.

I think the fact that I am going to perform is symbolic and historic. Like a blessing if you consider that a blessing. I was at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth here, I was at the coronation of the current King Charles of England here and now I will be celebrating the memorial service for the former King of Greece, Constantine."

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

(Buckingham Palace)

THANKSGIVING SERVICE FOR THE LIFE OF HIS MAJESTY KING CONSTANTINE OF THE HELLENES, ST GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR CASTLE

Tuesday, 27th February 2024

Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by members of the Royal Family, will attend a thanksgiving service for the life of His Majesty King Constantine of the Hellenes, at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

The Queen, and members of the Royal Family, will be joined by Her Majesty Queen Anne-Marie, former Queen of the Hellenes, and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Pavlos, with members of the Greek Royal Family, for a thanksgiving service for the late King Constantine.

The service in the Nave of St George's Chapel, Windsor, will be led by the Dean of Windsor, The Right Reverend Dr Christopher Cocksworth, and will be attended by Foreign Royal Families and other guests.

HRH Crown Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark A Prince with a humble heart, very accommodative and a selfless man 🥰❤️

What a selfless Prince Harry 🥰 God bless you for your love for the poor 🙏

A heroe that I missed so much 😰💔
Rest on my king (Dad)

Queen Anne-Marie of Greece and her sister Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
❤️ you Mom 🥰

Queen Anne Marie and her sister Queen Margrethe attending celebrations for King Carl Gustaf of Sweden's Golden Jubilee (September 2023)

Prince Nikolaos turns 54 today Happy birthday! Xpóvιa пολλá! Feliz cumpleaños!

God bless Greece and Denmark 🇩🇰 🙏🥰❤️

Best Royal Couple ever 👑 ❤️🥰
Rest on king Constantine II 🥲

Queen Anne Marie, Princess Benedikte of Denmark, crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie Chantal attending the gala dinner celebrating Prince Christian of Denmark’s 18th Birthday 🎂

Crown Prince Pavlos and prince Edward Duke of Kent at Hyde park London

We will forever miss you process Diana