Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, Prince of Denmark, RE (Greek: Παύλος; born 20 May 1967) is the second child and eldest son of Constantine II, the last King of Greece from 1964 to 1973, and Anne-Marie of Denmark. Following the death of his father on 10 January 2023, he became head of the former Greek royal family.[1] He was heir apparent to the throne of Greece and was its crown prince from birth, remaining so during his father's reign until the monarchy's abolition. As a male-line descendant of Christian IX of Denmark, he is also a Danish prince although not in succession to its throne.

Early life
Birth

Pavlos was born on 20 May 1967 at the Tatoi Palace north of Athens, used at the time as the secondary residence of the Greek royal family. He was the second child and first son of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.[2] In traditional Greek naming practices, first sons were most often named after their paternal grandfathers.[3][dead link] His mother is the youngest sister of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and his father is the brother of Queen Sofía of Spain. His maternal grandparents were King Frederick IX of Denmark and Princess Ingrid of Sweden.

He displaced his older sister, Alexia, born in 1965, as heir to the throne, Greece's order of succession adhering to male-preference primogeniture.[4]
Military coup and abolition of the monarchy

Pavlos was born into a turbulent era in Greek politics. His father, King Constantine II, ascended to the throne on 6 March 1964, aged 23, following the death of his father, King Paul.[4] Pavlos was born barely a month after the coup d'état which ended democratic rule in Greece over the King's objections on 21 April 1967,[4] ushering in the dictatorship led by Georgios Papadopoulos. In December of that year, King Constantine attempted a counter-coup that failed due to planning mistakes, leaks, and insufficient military support.[4] Pursued by the junta, the King fled with his wife, children, mother and sister to Rome. From Rome, they went on to Copenhagen, and lived with Queen Anne-Marie's mother, Queen Ingrid.[5]

During the years 1967–1973, Greece remained officially a monarchy, with a regency appointed while the King lived in exile.[4]

Following the discovery and suppression of a "wide-ranging" anti-junta movement, just before its outbreak, among the ranks of the mostly royalist Navy, Papadopoulos, on 1 June 1973, declared Greece a Presidential Republic with himself as president and proclaimed a referendum for 1 June 1973 on the issue of the monarchy. The referendum was held without opposition and its result confirmed the regime change, with Constantine II becoming "officially" deposed.

On 17 November 1974, after the fall of the dictatorship, the 1974 Greek legislative election was held, resulting in a victory for Constantine Karamanlis and his New Democracy party. Less than a month later, on 8 December, the Greek plebiscite of 1974 confirmed the referendum of the previous year: the majority voted for a republic (69%) with a minority voting for the restoration of the monarchy (31%).

Constantine II announced that he "respects" the "decision of the Greek people." He and Anne Marie had been living with their family in London for several years. Pavlos's youngest siblings were born in London, Theodora in 1983 and Philippos in 1986.

On 11 May 1994, the Greek Government under prime-minister Andreas Papandreou renounced the Greek-citizenship status of Pavlos alongside his father Constantine II of Greece and the rest of the former royal family through law 2215/1994.[6] The law stated that Constantine's Greek-citizenship status, and accordingly his family's, could only be restored under specific conditions, including the selection of an explicit surname.
Education and career

Pavlos was educated at the Hellenic College of London, founded by his parents in 1980.[note 1][7] He attended the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West, Montezuma, New Mexico, in the U.S., from 1984 to 1986. After training at the British Army's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in 1987 on a three-year short-service commission.[8][9] He was promoted to lieutenant in April 1989,[10] and relinquished his commission in April 1990.[11] In 1993, he completed a bachelor's degree at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and later, while sharing a house in Washington, DC, he and his cousin, Felipe VI of Spain, then Prince of Asturias, attended Georgetown University where both obtained a Master of Science in Foreign Service in 1995.[8]

As an adult, he has lived in New York City and London, working as an investment consultant.[7] He is co-founder[note 2] of Ortelius Advisors, an activist hedge fund.[12]

In January 2023, a rumour circulated that Pavlos intended to permanently relocate to Greece,[13] but this was later denied by the spokesperson of the former Greek royal family, Ivi Macris, as "completely false".[14]
Personal life
Further information: Wedding of Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, and Marie-Chantal Miller
Dual Cypher of Pavlos and his wife Marie-Chantal

Pavlos married American heiress Marie-Chantal Miller, whom he had met at a party three years earlier in New Orleans, on 1 July 1995.[8] The Greek Orthodox rite wedding at St Sophia's Cathedral, London drew a rare modern panoply of royalty, but the ceremony proved to be legally invalid and had eventually to be repeated civilly (not normally required in the UK) in Chelsea because of a law requiring that marriages in England be conducted in English.[8]

After their marriage, the couple took up residence in Greenwich, Connecticut, the job that Pavlos obtained with the Charles R. Weber ship-broking company being headquartered there.[8] Later, he went to work at a New York City firm as an investment portfolio manager, before relocation to London for their children's education in 2004.[7]

The couple has five children: Maria-Olympia (b. 1996), Constantine-Alexios (b. 1998), Achileas-Andreas (b. 2000), Odysseas-Kimon (b. 2004), and Aristidis-Stavros (b. 2008).

Pavlos is a bluewater yachtsman and crews on the multi-record-breaking monohull Mari-Cha IV, owned by businessman and father-in-law, Robert W. Miller.
Titles, styles, and honours

From birth, Pavlos was the heir apparent to the throne of Greece and as such he was referred to as the Crown Prince of Greece with the style of Royal Highness.[7] Following the deposition of the Greek monarchy in 1973, these titles and styles are no longer legally recognised by the government of the Hellenic Republic. Through his male-line descent from Christian IX of Denmark,[15] he is also a Danish prince with the style of Highness.[16]
Honours
National

Greece
Order of the Redeemer Ribbon bar.svg Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Redeemer (by birth)
Royal Order of Saints George and Constantine ribbon.png Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Saints George and Constantine
GRE Order of George I - Member or Silver Cross BAR.png Grand Cross of the Order of George I
GRE Order of the Phoenix - Silver Cross BAR.png Grand Cross of Order of the Phoenix
Recipient of the Commemorative Badge of the Centenary of the Royal House of Greece

Foreign

Denmark Knight of the Order of the Elephant (R.E., 1997)
Sweden Recipient of the Commemorative Badge of the 50th Birthday Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf (1996)

Ancestry

Pavlos was a direct descendant of three reigning sovereign monarchs at birth. He was the eldest son of the King of Greece, grandson of the King of Denmark and great-grandson of the King of Sweden, all living and enthroned when he was born.[4] His paternal aunt, Sofía, was Queen consort of Spain. His maternal aunt, Margrethe II, is the reigning Queen of Denmark.

By male-line descent, he is a member of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg.[4]

Pavlos is a scion multiple times of the "Grandparents of Europe", due to royal intermarriage. As a result, he descends from Christian IX of Denmark through three of his children; in the male line through his second son George I of Greece, in the female line through his eldest son Frederick VIII of Denmark and through King Christian's youngest daughter Princess Thyra, Duchess of Cumberland.[8] He also descends thrice from Victoria of the United Kingdom: once through her third son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, and twice through her eldest daughter Victoria, Princess Royal.[8]

Ancestors of Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece

8. Constantine I of Greece 4. Paul of Greece 9. Princess Sophie of Prussia 2. Constantine II of Greece 10. Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick 5. Princess Frederica of Hanover 11. Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia 1. Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece 12. Christian X of Denmark 6. Frederick IX of Denmark 13. Duchess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 3. Queen Anne-Marie of Greece 14. Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden 7. Princess Ingrid of Sweden 15. Princess Margaret of Connaught

Notes

The Hellenic College of London, due to declining attendance of British Greek students, was succeeded by the Knightsbridge School, which, in turn was succeeded, in 2008, by Knightsbridge Schools International.

The other founder being Peter DeSorcy

References

Hansen, Louise Bolvig (13 January 2023). "Dronningen har ryddet op i Kongehuset, men Konstantins efterkommere er stadig prinser og prinsesser af Danmark". TV 2 (Denmark) (in Danish). Retrieved 15 January 2023.
"Heir to Throne Is Born To Greek Royal Couple". The New York Times. Associated Press. 21 May 1967. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
"Naming practices" in British Academy and Oxford University, Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, online[dead link]
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
Colacello, Bob (December 2008). "Greece's Royal Couple". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
"Νόμος 2215/1994: Ρύθμιση θεμάτων της απαλλοτριωμένης περιουσίας της έκπτωτης βασιλικής οικογένειας της Ελλάδας." [Law 2215/1994: Regulation of the issues of the of the expropriated estate of the royal family of Greece]. Article 6, Act of 11 May 1994. Government Gazette (in Greek). Government of Greece.
de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery. Paris. 2002. pp. 522-525, 536-539 (French) ISBN 2-9507974-3-1
Eilers, Marlene. Queen Victoria's Daughters. Rosvall Royal Books, Falkoping, Sweden, 1997. pp. 32-33, 130, 132, 173. ISBN 91-630-5964-9
"No. 50965". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 June 1987. p. 7683.
"No. 51696". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 April 1989. p. 4291.
"No. 52119". The London Gazette. 24 April 1990. p. 8237.
"Management".
"Παύλος Γλύξμπουργκ: Πληροφορίες ότι μετακομίζει μόνιμα στην Αθήνα" [Pavlos Glyksburg: Information that he is moving permanently to Athens]. To Vima (in Greek). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
Singer, Marianne (19 January 2023). "Nu reagerer den græske kongefamilie: Afviser på det bestemteste rygter". Billed Bladet (in Danish). Retrieved 21 January 2023.
Folketinget. Frank Jensen. 12 October 2001. Ministry of Justice: Spm. nr. S 3937. (Danish). Retrieved 5 April 2017.

Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XIX. "Danemark". C.A. Starke Verlag, 2011, p. 10. (German). ISBN 978-3-7980-0849-6.

Bibliography

Hindley, Geoffrey (2000). The Royal Families of Europe. New York: Caroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-0828-X.
Woodhouse, C.M. (1998). Modern Greece a Short History. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-19794-9.
Γιάννης Κάτρης (1974). Η γέννηση του νεοφασισμού στην Ελλάδα 1960–1970. Athens: Παπαζήση.
Αλέξης Παπαχελάς (1997). Ο βιασμός της ελληνικής δημοκρατίας. Athens:Εστία. ISBN 960-05-0748-1.
Καδδάς, Αναστάσιος Γ. "Η Ελληνική Βασιλική Οικογένεια", Εκδόσεις Φερενίκη (2010)
Ανδρέας Μέγκος "Εραλδικά Σύμβολα και Διάσημα του Βασιλείου της Ελλάδος", Εκδόσεις Στέμμα (2015)
Εκδόσεις Στέμμα, "Κανονισμός Εθιμοταξίας και Τελετών της Βασιλικής Αυλής" (2016)

Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece
House of Glucksburg
Born: 20 May 1967
Greek royalty
Preceded by
Alexia
Crown Prince of Greece
20 May 1967 – 1 June 1973 Abolition of the monarchy in 1973