Constantine, the previous and final king of Greece, has died at a personal hospital in Athens, his docs introduced late Tuesday. He was 82.
Staff on the non-public Hygeia Hospital in Athens confirmed to The Associated Press that Constantine has died after therapy in an intensive care unit, however had no additional particulars pending an official announcement.
When he acceded to the throne as Constantine II on the age of 23 in 1964, the youthful monarch, who had already achieved glory as an Olympic gold medalist in crusing, was vastly standard. By the next yr he had squandered a lot of that assist along with his lively involvement within the machinations that introduced down the popularly elected Center Union authorities of prime minister George Papandreou.
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The episode, nonetheless extensively identified in Greece because the “apostasy,” or defection from the ruling occasion of a number of lawmakers, destabilized the constitutional order and led in 1967 to a army coup. Constantine finally clashed with the army rulers and was pressured into exile. The dictatorship abolished the monarchy in 1973 whereas a referendum after democracy was restored in 1974 dashed any hopes that Constantine had of ever reigning once more.
Reduced within the following a long time to solely fleeting visits to Greece that raised a political and media storm every time, he was ready in his waning years to settle once more in his dwelling nation, when opposing his presence not held foreign money as a badge of vigilant republicanism. With minimal nostalgia for the monarchy in Greece, Constantine grew to become a comparatively uncontroversial determine from the previous.
Constantine was born June 2, 1940 in Athens, to Prince Paul, youthful brother to King George II and inheritor presumptive to the throne, and princess Federica of Hanover. His older sister Sophia is the spouse of former King Juan Carlos I of Spain. The Greek-born Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh and husband of the United Kingdom’s late Queen Elizabeth II, was an uncle.
The household, which had dominated in Greece from 1863 other than a 12-year republican interlude between 1922-1935, was descended from Prince Christian, later Christian IX of Denmark, of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg department of the Danish ruling household.
Before Constantine’s first birthday, the royal household was pressured to flee Greece in the course of the German invasion in World War II, transferring to Alexandria in Egypt, South Africa and again to Alexandria. King George II returned to Greece in 1946, following a disputed referendum, however died a number of months later, making Constantine the inheritor to King Paul I.
Constantine was educated at a boarding faculty after which attended all three army academies in addition to Athens Law School courses as preparation for his future function. He additionally competed in varied sports activities, together with crusing and karate, wherein he held a black belt.
In 1960, aged 20, he and two different Greek sailors received a gold medal within the Dragon Class — now not an Olympic class — on the Rome Olympics. While nonetheless a prince, Constantine was elected a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1963, and have become an honorary member for all times in 1974.
King Paul I died of most cancers on March 6, 1964 and Constantine succeeded him, weeks after the Center Union occasion had triumphed over the conservatives with 53% of the vote.
The prime minister, George Papandreou, and Constantine initially had a really shut relationship, however it quickly soured over Constantine’s insistence that management of the armed forces was the monarch’s prerogative.
With many officers toying with the thought of a dictatorship and viewing any non-conservative authorities as mushy on communism, Papandreou needed to manage the ministry of protection and finally demanded to be appointed protection minister as properly. After an acrimonious alternate of letters with Constantine, Papandreou resigned in July 1965.
Constantine’s insistence on appointing a authorities composed of centrist defectors that received a slim parliamentary majority on the third attempt was vastly unpopular. Many seen him as being manipulated by his scheming mom, dowager Queen Frederica. “The people don’t want you, take your mother and go!” grew to become the rallying cry within the protests, usually violent, that rocked Greece in the summertime of 1965.
Eventually, Constantine made a truce of types with Papandreou and, along with his settlement, appointed a authorities of technocrats and, then, a conservative-led authorities to carry an election in May 1967.
But, with the polls closely favoring the Center Union and with Papandreou’s left-leaning son, Andreas, gaining in reputation, Constantine and his courtiers feared revenge and with the help of high-ranking officers ready a coup.
However, a bunch of lower-ranking officers, led by colonels, have been getting ready their very own coup and, apprised of Constantine’s plans by a mole, a common whom they’d received over to their aspect, proclaimed a dictatorship on April 21, 1967.
Constantine was taken abruptly and his emotions towards the brand new rulers have been apparent within the official picture of the brand new authorities. He pretended to associate with them, whereas getting ready a counter-coup with the assistance of troops in northern Greece and the navy, which was loyal to him.
On December 13, 1967, Constantine and his household flew to the northern metropolis of Kavala with the intent to march on Thessaloniki and arrange a authorities there. The counter-coup, badly managed and infiltrated, collapsed and Constantine was pressured to flee to Rome the next day. He would by no means return as reigning king.
The junta appointed a regent and, after an abortive Navy counter-coup in May 1973, abolished the monarchy on June 1, 1973. A July plebiscite, extensively thought-about rigged, confirmed the choice.
When the dictatorship collapsed in July 1974, Constantine was desperate to return to Greece however was suggested towards it by veteran politician Constantine Karamanlis, who returned from exile to move a civilian authorities. Karamanlis, who had additionally headed the federal government between 1955-63, was a conservative however had clashed with the court docket over what he thought-about its extreme interference in politics.
After his triumphal win in November elections, Karamanlis referred to as for a plebiscite on the monarchy for December 8, 1974. Constantine was not allowed within the nation to marketing campaign, however the end result was unambiguous and extensively accepted: 69.2% voted in favor of a republic.
Soon after, Karamanlis famously mentioned that the nation had rid itself of a cancerous development. Constantine mentioned on the day following the referendum that “national unity must take precedence … I wholeheartedly wish that developments will justify the result of yesterday’s vote.”
To his last days, Constantine, whereas accepting that Greece was now a republic, continued to fashion himself King of Greece and his kids as princes and princesses despite the fact that Greece not acknowledged titles of the Aristocracy.
For most of his years in exile he lived in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, and was mentioned to be particularly near his second cousin Charles, the Prince of Wales and now King Charles III.
While it took Constantine 14 years to return to his nation, briefly, to bury his mom, Queen Federica in 1981, he multiplied his visits thereafter and, from 2010, made his dwelling there. There have been continued disputes: in 1994, the then socialist authorities stripped him of his nationality and expropriated what remained of the royal household’s property. Constantine sued on the European Court of Human Rights and was awarded 12 million euros in 2002, a fraction of the five hundred million he had sought.
Constantine travelled with a Danish passport, as a Danish prince.
He is survived by his spouse, the previous Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, youngest sister of Queen Margrethe II; 5 kids, Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora and Philippos; and 9 grandchildren.