Queen Anne-Marie of Greece

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Anne-Marie of Denmark
Celebrating 750th anniversary ot City of Kolding, 08 (cropped).jpg
Anne-Marie in 2018
Queen consort of the Hellenes
Tenure18 September 1964 – 1 June 1973
BornPrincess Anne-Marie of Denmark
(1946-08-30) 30 August 1946 (age 77)
Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen, Kingdom of Denmark
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1964)​
Issue
Names
Anne-Marie Dagmar Ingrid
HouseGlücksburg
FatherFrederick IX of Denmark
MotherIngrid of Sweden
ReligionGreek Orthodox
prev. Church of Denmark
Greek royal family
Royal Coat of Arms of Greece (accurate).svg

Prince Michael
Marina, Consort of Prince Michael

Anne-Marie, RE (Greek: Άννα-Μαρία pronounced [ana maˈria]; born 30 August 1946) is a Greek and Danish royal who was the last Queen of Greece from 1964 to 1973 as the wife of King Constantine II. The Greek monarchy was abolished with the 1974 Greek Republic Referendum.

Born Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, she is the youngest daughter of King Frederick IX of Denmark and his wife Ingrid of Sweden. In 1964 she married King Constantine and became queen consort of Greece. During her tenure as Queen of Greece, Anne-Marie spent much of her time working for a charitable foundation known as "Her Majesty's Fund" and later as the "Anne-Marie Foundation", which provided assistance to people in rural areas of Greece. In 1967, however, the king and queen were forced into exile and later deposed as Greece transitioned into a Republic.

Anne-Marie is the youngest sister of the reigning Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. She is also a first cousin of the reigning King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, and a second cousin of the reigning King Harald V of Norway. Anne-Marie and her husband Constantine are third cousins: they share King Christian IX of Denmark as patrilineal great-great-grandfather. They also share Queen Victoria as a great-great-grandmother. They have five children: Princess Alexia, Crown Prince Pavlos, Prince Nikolaos, Princess Theodora, and Prince Philippos.

Biography

Birth and family

Princess Anne-Marie's birthplace: Frederick VIII's Palace at Amalienborg

Princess Anne-Marie was born on 30 August 1946 in Frederick VIII's Palace, an 18th-century palace which forms part of the Amalienborg Palace complex in central Copenhagen. She was the third and last daughter and child of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark. Her father was the eldest son of King Christian X of Denmark and his wife, Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; her mother, born a Princess of Sweden, was the only daughter of the Crown Prince of Sweden and his late British-born first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught, daughter of the Duke of Connaught. At birth, Anne-Marie had two elder sisters: Princess Margrethe, the present Queen of Denmark, and Princess Benedikte, who married Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and lives in Germany.[1]

Anne-Marie was baptised on 9 October 1946 in the Holmen Church in Copenhagen. Her godparents are the King and Queen of Denmark (paternal grandparents); Crown Prince of Sweden (maternal grandfather), Prince Bertil of Sweden (maternal uncle), the King of Norway (paternal grand-uncle), Prince George of Greece and Denmark, the Crown Princess of Norway (father's first cousin), Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, Princess Dagmar of Denmark (paternal grand-aunt) and the Crown Princess of the Netherlands.[2]

She is a great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, thus a third cousin to the late Queen Elizabeth II and her late husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as well as of King Juan Carlos I of Spain, King Michael I of Romania. Through her mother, Queen Ingrid born princess of Sweden, she is also a first cousin of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and a second cousin to King Harald V of Norway.

Early life

Princess Anne-Marie with the royal family on the balcony of Amalienborg Palace on her father's 55th birthday in 1954.

Anne-Marie and her sisters grew up in apartments at Frederick IX's Palace at Amalienborg in Copenhagen and in Fredensborg Palace in North Zealand. She spent summer holidays with the royal family in her parents' summer residence at Gråsten Palace in Southern Jutland. On 20 April 1947, King Christian X died and Anne-Marie's father ascended the throne as King Frederick IX.

At the time of her father's accession to the throne, only males could ascend the throne of Denmark. As Anne-Marie's parents had no sons, it was assumed that her uncle Prince Knud would one day assume the throne. The popularity of Frederick IX and his daughters and the more prominent role of women in Danish life paved the way for a new Act of Succession in 1953 which permitted female succession to the throne following the principle of male-preference primogeniture, where a female can ascend to the throne if she has no brothers. Her eldest sister Margrethe therefore became heir presumptive, and Princess Benedikte and Princess Anne-Marie became second and third in the line of succession.

Anne-Marie was educated at N. Zahle's School, a private school in Copenhagen, from 1952 to 1961. In 1961 she attended the Chatelard School for Girls, an English boarding school outside Montreux in Switzerland. In 1963 and 1964 she attended the Institut Le Mesnil, a Swiss finishing school also in Montreux.

Marriage

Main article: Wedding of Constantine II of Greece and Anne-Marie of Denmark
Constantine and Anne-Marie at their pre-wedding gala at the Royal Palace.

In 1959, at the age of thirteen, Anne-Marie first met her future husband, her third cousin Constantine, Crown Prince of Greece, who accompanied his parents, King Paul and Queen Frederica, on a state visit to Denmark.[3] They met a second time in Denmark in 1961, when Constantine declared to his parents his intention to marry Anne-Marie. They met again in Athens in May 1962 at the marriage of Constantine's sister Princess Sofia of Greece and Denmark to Prince Juan Carlos of Spain at which Anne-Marie was a bridesmaid: and again in 1963 at the centenary celebrations of the Greek monarchy.

On 6 March 1964, King Paul died, and Constantine succeeded him as King of the Hellenes. In July 1964, the announcement of the engagement of Constantine and Anne-Marie raised the polite protests of the Left in Denmark.[4] Anne-Marie and Constantine were married on 18 September 1964 (two weeks after Anne-Marie's 18th birthday) in the Metropolis, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Athens. Prior to the wedding, Anne-Marie converted from Lutheranism to the Greek Orthodox Church. Also, in view of the fact that she was marrying a foreign ruler, consent to the marriage was given on the condition that Anne-Marie renounced her succession rights to the Danish throne for herself and her descendants.[5]

Queen of the Hellenes

Queen Anna Maria of Greece with her firstborn child, Princess Alexia in 1965.

As Queen of Greece, Anne-Marie spent much of her time working for a charitable foundation known as "Her Majesty's Fund" and later as the "Anne-Marie Foundation", which provided assistance to people in rural areas of Greece. On 10 July 1965, Queen Anne-Marie gave birth at the villa Mon Repos in Corfu to her first child, Princess Alexia, who was heir presumptive to the throne of Greece, from her birth until the birth of her younger brother Crown Prince Pavlos on 20 May 1967, Greece's order of succession adhering to male-preference primogeniture.[1]

Exile

King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie attending a horse show in Rome during their exile in Italy.

In April 1967, Anne-Marie's husband King Constantine II, after a military coup, swore into office a military junta. In December 1967, the King attempted to shake off the authoritarian regime and tried to stage a counter-coup with the help of certain like-minded people.[who?] The counter-coup failed and Anne-Marie and her family had to flee to Italy.[6] In the aftermath, Anne-Marie miscarried a child.[7] The family lived for two months in the Greek embassy in Rome and then for the next five years in a house in a suburb of Rome.

In 1973, Anne-Marie moved with her family to England. They lived first in Chobham in Surrey. Later they moved to the London suburb of Hampstead. The Greek government seized their former private home of Tatoi. It was only after a successful appeal to the European Court of Human Rights that the Greek government were forced to pay compensation for the property. King Constantine used the money obtained to establish the Anna-Maria Foundation, which was established in 2003 to provide aid to victims of natural disasters, including earthquakes and floods, in Greece.[citation needed] As of 2019 Anne-Marie serves as president of the foundation.[8]

Current activities

In 1980 Anne-Marie and Constantine founded Hellenic College of London, a bilingual school where her own children were educated. The school closed in 2005.[citation needed]

The government of Greece did not permit Anne-Marie to return to Greece until 1981 when she was allowed to enter Greek territory for several hours to attend the funeral of her mother-in-law, Queen Frederika. She and her family paid a private visit to Greece in 1993. Since 2003 – when the property dispute between her husband Constantine and the government of Greece concluded – Anne-Marie has visited Greece numerous times.

The former King and former Queen in Stockholm, at the celebrations of the wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, June 2010.

On 21 May 2004 Anne-Marie was peripherally involved in a dispute in Madrid between former Crown Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Italy and his cousin and dynastic rival Prince Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta. At a soirée held at the Zarzuela Palace during the wedding celebrations of Felipe, Prince of Asturias, Amedeo approached Vittorio who reportedly punched him twice in the face, causing him to stumble backward down the steps.[9] The quick intervention of Anne-Marie, who propped him up, prevented Amedeo from falling to the ground. She discreetly assisted him indoors while stanching his bleeding facial wounds until first aid was administered.[9] Upon learning of the incident Spain's King Juan Carlos, a cousin of both men, reportedly declared that "never again" would an opportunity to abuse his hospitality be afforded the competing pretenders.[9]

On 14 August 2004 Anne-Marie and her husband Constantine visited their former home in Athens, the former Royal Palace that is now the Presidential Palace, for the first time since 1967. They were received by then-President of Greece Costis Stephanopoulos along with other members of the International Olympic Committee (of which Constantine is an honorary member). In December 2004 Constantine, Anne-Marie and their children were again invited to pay a personal private visit by President Stephanopoulos.

Titles, styles, honours, and arms

Titles and styles

She has been the titular Queen of the Hellenes since 1973. This title is not recognized under the terms of the republican Constitution of Greece.[10]

  • 9 October 1946 – 18 September 1964: Her Royal Highness Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark
  • 18 September 1964 – 1 June 1973: Her Majesty The Queen of the Hellenes, Princess of Denmark
  • 1 June 1973 – present: Her Majesty Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Princess of Denmark[11][12]

Honours

National

Foreign

Arms and monogram

Dual Cypher of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.svg
Dual Cypher of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece 		Coats of arms Anne-Marie de Danemark.svg
Coats of Arms of Queen Anne-Marie of Greece 		Dual Cypher of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Variant.svg
Dual Cypher of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece

The coats of arms of Queen Anne-Marie combine the 1936–1973 royal coat of arms of Greece and the 1948–1972 coat of arms of Denmark which was current at the time of her marriage in 1964. The Danish coat of arms is almost identical with the dynastic arms inescutcheon in the Greek coat of arms, which equals the Danish coat of arms of 1819–1903. The only difference is that the Greek arms also include Iceland's white stockfish on red in the lower dexter corner.

Issue

The former king and queen with their youngest children in 1987 by Allan Warren

Constantine and Anne-Marie have five children and nine grandchildren.

Ancestors

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. "Burke’s Royal Families of the World: Volume I Europe & Latin America, 1977, pp. 67, 316, 327-328, 516. ISBN 0-85011-023-8
  2. ^ Prinsesse Anne-Maries fødsel og dåb Archived February 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine – Website of the Danish National Archives.
  3. ^ "Kongen uden rige" (in Danish). Vejle Amts Folkeblad.
  4. ^ Situationist International, issue No 9, The Longest Months, August 1964
  5. ^ Kurrild-Klitgaard, Peter (1999-02-02). "Conditional Consent, Dynastic Rights and the Danish Law of Succession". Hoelseth's Royal Corner. Dag Trygsland Hoelseth. Archived from the original on August 7, 2009. Retrieved 2008-08-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ "CNN.com Transcripts – Larry King Live Interview With King Constantine of Greece". 2001-02-07. Archived from the original on 2004-12-26. Retrieved 2015-09-04.
  7. ^ "Greek Queen Suffers Miscarriage in Rome". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. 1967-12-30.
  8. ^ "Anna Maria Foundation - Royal Greek Family". www.greekroyalfamily.gr. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  9. ^ a b c McIntosh, David (December 2005). "The Sad Demise of the House of Savoy". European Royal History Journal. Arturo E. Beeche. 8.6 (XLVIII): 3–6.
  10. ^ Article 4, Section 7 of the constitution states, "Titles of nobility or distinction are neither conferred upon nor recognized in Greek citizens." See also the full text.
  11. ^ "FAQ". Official website of the Greek royal family. Retrieved 3 June 2020. The correct form of address is: King Constantine, former King of the Hellenes and so on for the family members.
  12. ^ "HM Queen Anne-Marie". Official website of the Danish royal house. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  13. ^ a b c d Official List of Knights of the Order of the Elephant Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. (in Danish)
  14. ^ ราชกิจจานุเบกษา, ประกาศสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์เหรียญรัตนาภรณ์, เล่ม ๗๙, ตอน ๖๙ง, ๓๑ กรกฎาคม พ.ศ. ๒๕๐๕, หน้า ๑๖๙๒

Bibliography

  • Bloch Skipper, Jon (2008). Tre søstre : samtaler mellem dronning Margrethe, prinsesse Benedikte og dronning Anne-Marie [Three sisters: conversations between Queen Margrethe, Princess Benedikte and Queen Anne-Marie] (in Danish). Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof. ISBN 978-87-11-30060-2.
  • Blædel, Sara (2000). Anne-Marie : dronning uden rige [Anne-Marie: queen without a kingdom] (in Danish). Copenhagen: Haase Forlag. ISBN 87-559-1146-3.
  • Bramsen, Bo (1992). Huset Glücksborg. Europas svigerfader og hans efterslægt [The House of Glücksburg. The Father-in-law of Europe and his descendants] (in Danish) (2nd ed.). Copenhagen: Forlaget Forum. ISBN 87-553-1843-6.
  • Kølle, Niels (1964). Fra prinsesse til dronning : Anne-Maries bryllup [From princess to queen : Anne-Marie's wedding] (in Danish). Copenhagen: Illustrationsforlaget.
  • Lerche, Anna; Mandal, Marcus (2003). A royal family : the story of Christian IX and his European descendants. Copenhagen: Aschehoug. ISBN 9788715109577.
  • Spencer, Herbert (1973). Anne-Marie : prinsesse af Danmark, Hellenernes Dronning [Anne-Marie: princess of Denmark, Queen of the Hellenes] (in Danish). Copenhagen: Gutenberghus.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.
Queen Anne-Marie of Greece
Born: 30 August 1946
Greek royalty
Vacant
Title last held by
Frederica of Hanover 		Queen consort of the Hellenes
18 September 1964 – 1 June 1973 		Vacant
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