Greece’s last monarch Constantine dies
Greece’s former King Constantine II, whose nine-year reign coincided with one of the most turbulent periods in the country’s political history, died on Tuesday aged 82.
Greek public broadcaster ERT said Constantine, a cousin of British monarch King Charles III, died “of a stroke.”
He had been hospitalized several times in the past couple of years, twice with the coronavirus, and had moved to Athens in 2021 from his previous residence at Porto Heli in the Peloponnese, to be closer to hospitals.
Born in a suburb of Athens in 1940, Constantine became king in 1964 at the age of 24, succeeding his father, Paul I, after his death on the same day.
In the same year he ascended to the throne he married the then Princess of Denmark, Anna Maria, with whom he had three sons and two daughters. He reigned until 1973.
A 1974 referendum, months after the restoration of democracy and the fall of the military junta, abolished the monarchy, making him the country’s last monarch.He was the son of King Paul I and Queen Frederick-Louise of Hanover, brother of the later (and now former) Queen of Spain Sophia and Princess Irene.
