All the roads lead to Athens, at least for
the royals who are slated to pay their final respect to King Constantine II. The
former king of Greece, who died on January 10, will be buried privately in
Tatoi, the summer palace of the former Greek Royal Family, where his ancestors
are also laid to rest.
The Greek government had earlier announced that no state funeral
will be afforded to the late king, despite the fact that he was a former head
of state. The only son of King Paul I and Queen Frederica of Greece, King
Constantine’s reign began in 1964 and ended after he was ousted by a coup in
1967. He was officially deposed by the junta in 1973. A referendum in 1974
officially confirmed the end of the Greek monarchy. From 1967 until 2013, by
then stripped of his Greek citizenship, the king and his family resided in Rome
and London, successively. He briefly returned to Greece in 1983 for the burial
of Queen Frederica. In 2013, with his citizenship finally restored, he returned
to Greece as a private citizen.
King Constantine’s funeral procession will
be held on January 16 at the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, the
former king’s private office announced. On the other hand, Greek government’s
decision to treat the king’s burial as a mere private affair earned a public
backlash, prompting Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to allow an unofficial
lying-in-state and the granting to King Constantine the honors accorded to a head
of state.
The late monarch’s body will lie in state
at the Agios Eleftherios Chapel in Athens from 6AM to 10am on January 23 to
allow the public to pay him their last respects. At 12 noon, his remains will
be brought to the nearby Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation.
Despite being a “private affair,”
royals from all over Europe – a number of them from reigning royal houses –
will flock to the Greek capital to get a final glimpse of the former monarch. Initially, it was announced that the
government would be represented at the funeral by the Minister of Culture Lina
Mendoni. However, due to the growing number of high profile guests – some are
even heads of states – the government decided to send Deputy Prime Minister Panagiotis
Pikrammenos as the prime minister’s representative, the Greek Reporter
revealed.
https://greekreporter.com/2023/01/13/greece-royal-hub-former-king-constantine-funeral/
The Greek government’s initial decision not
to treat King Constantine’s funeral as an
official state occasion was a cause for concern for governments of countries with
a royal head of state, who also happened to be closely related to the late king.
For example, Queen Margrethe of Denmark, the late king’s sister-in-law, and
King Felipe VI of Spain, King Constantine’s nephew, will definitely join the
Greek Royal Family in the funeral. Likewise, Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde,
Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Henri, and Monaco’s Prince Albert are also some of the
royal heads of states who will travel to Athens for the funeral. Greek media
said Saturday that 1,000 police will be deployed for the funeral service and burial
of former King Constantine to ensure the security of the VIPs.
After the funeral King Constantine’s body
will be flown to Tatoi Palace for a private burial. The family requested that
no media coverage be taken during these final moments.
Reigning
houses
- King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the
Belgians - Queen Margrethe II with Crown Prince
Frederik and Princess Benedikte of Denmark - King Abdullah II of Jordan
- King Felipe VI of Spain
- King Carl XVI, Queen Silvia of Sweden,
and Princess Christina of Sweden - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
- Prince Albert II of Monaco
- Crown Prince Haakon of Norway
- The Prince and Princess of Wales, the
Princess Royal and Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Lawrence, The Earl and Countess of
Wessex, and Princess Alexandra of Kent
Non-reigning
- Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria
- The Princess of Hanover (Princess
Caroline of Monaco) - Prince Radu of Romania
