King Constantine II, former King of the Hellenes, died today at a private hospital in Athens at the age of 82.
He was born on June 2,1940 in Athens to Princess Frederica of Hanover and Crown Prince Paul of Greece. After winning a gold medal in sailing at the 1960 Rome Olympics and serving in all three branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces, the hugely popular prince acceded to the throne in 1964 at just 23 years of age. One of the youngest monarchs in recent memory, his nine-year reign coincided with one of the most turbulent periods in Greece’s political history. Forced into exile in 1967 following a military coup, the resulting dictatorship abolished the monarchy in 1973, thereby ending a dynasty begun by Constantine’s Danish-born great-grandfather George I in 1863.
King Constantine lived with his family in a north London suburb for most of his years in exile, returning to Greece for the first time in 1981 for his mother’s funeral. Visits continued and in 2013, he and Queen Anne-Marie returned there permanently. He has close ties to numerous royal houses- his elder sister is Queen Sofia of Spain; his sister-in-law is Queen Margrethe of Denmark; his uncle was Greek-born Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh; and his cousins included the late King Michael I of Romania, Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia and King Charles III, with whom he shared an especially close relationship. These strong familial ties saw King Constantine and his family often attend British and European royal family events.
King Constantine is survived by his wife, Queen Anne-Marie; five children, Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora and Philippos; and nine grandchildren.
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Royal Hats 
Thanks for the memories of King Constantine II, lovely photos of his Beautiful Bride and family… am sure he will be sadly missed.
Your photos showed a vibrant and engaging man. He will be missed by his family and countrymen.
Thank you, HatQueen, for this photographic look back at Constantine’s life. He will be sadly missed not only by Queen Anne-Marie and their children, but by all of the European royal families with whom he had such close ties.
Very sad news, though not unexpected, and he is at now free of his suffering; strokes are the cruellest of things, robbing people of vital functions.
He really was such a handsome young man, and he and Anne-Marie a beautiful couple. He was also clearly well loved across the whole of the European royals as they were close to so many of them across their whole lives.
Hear, hear. He will be sadly missed.
Apart from his wife, of course, I feel sorry for Theodora, whom COVID robbed of her dream wedding, which will now be never possible as originally planned.
I have been thinking of her for the same reasons.