ATHENS — Dozens of European royals and lots of of Greeks gathered in Athens on Monday for the funeral of Greece’s final king, Constantine II, who died final week aged 82.
Royals from Britain, Denmark, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain flew in for the service, which has brought on controversy.
Constantine was a divisive determine within the nation’s historical past and the federal government drew criticism from conservatives after deciding to not grant him the honour of a state funeral.
Ex-prime minister Antonis Samaras was amongst those that stated Constantine, a former Olympic gold medalist for Greece, deserved to be buried as a former head of state.
From daybreak on Monday, a minimum of 2,000 folks in line with state tv ERT had queued outdoors the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral to pay their respects.
Some clutched flags of the royal period, flowers and portraits of the ex-king and his spouse, the Danish princess Anne-Marie. Many bowed and kissed the coffin, which was lined with the Greek flag.
“He was an honorable man, a proper family man who never harmed Greece,” pensioner Fotis Stamatiou, 85, instructed AFP.
“We are here to accord our king the honor he deserves…we love him,” added fellow pensioner Arietta Papadaki.
The personal service officiated by Archbishop Ieronymos, head of the Orthodox church of Greece, started shortly after midday with nearly 200 visitors attending.
The whole royal household of Spain—together with queen mom Sofia, Constantine’s sister— Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II and Crown Prince Frederik, the Swedish royal household, the king and queen of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg Henri, Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon, and Monaco’s Prince Albert II have been in attendance, arriving to applause from the group.
The British Crown was represented by Princess Anne, daughter of the late queen Elizabeth II.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President Katerina Sakellaropoulou didn’t attend the funeral, with the federal government represented by Deputy Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos and Culture and Sports Minister Lina Mendoni.
The coffin of former King of Greece Constantine II is carried on the day of his funeral, in Athens, Greece, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/ Louiza Vradi
Toppled by coup
Surveys in previous many years have proven most Greeks really feel both indifference or resentment in the direction of the previous king.
The final member of a century-long dynasty, Constantine had reigned for simply three years when a brutal military dictatorship seized management of the nation in 1967.
Declassified US diplomatic cables say Constantine might have been mulling martial legislation himself previous to the coup.
Nearly eight months after the junta seized energy, Constantine organized a navy counter-coup that failed.
He fled to Rome with the remainder of the royal household, and later to London.
The junta abolished the monarchy in 1973, and Greeks voted to not restore the royal household after the restoration of democracy in 1974.
Later locked in a bitter property dispute with the Greek state, Constantine had his Greek citizenship revoked in 1994.
The ex-king returned to Greece in 2013, promoting the 9,500-square-foot (880-square-meter) London mansion the place his household had lived for 4 many years.
‘Kingdom of Greece now not exists’
The day after Constantine’s loss of life in a personal Athens hospital, the prime minister introduced the funeral can be held privately.
Mitsotakis insisted on Saturday it was the fitting resolution, stressing that the previous king was the chief of the “Kingdom of Greece, which no longer exists.”
He stated historical past “will judge Constantine fairly and harshly.”
After the funeral service, Constantine’s physique will probably be transferred to the royal cemetery in Tatoi, about 29 kilometers (18 miles) north of Athens.
There was a frantic race over the weekend to arrange the positioning, which practically burned down in a 2021 summer time wildfire.
Most members of the previous royal household are buried on the former royal summer time palace at Tatoi, together with the dynasty’s Danish-born founder George I.
Constantine was married to Anne-Marie—sister to Denmark’s Queen Margrethe—and so they had 5 youngsters.
As crown prince, he received a crusing gold medal within the 1960 Rome Olympics and was an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee. — AFP
