Yesterday came the news from Greece every royalist had been dreading. Eternal memory to Constantine II (1940-2023), King of the Hellenes (1964-73). Had he not been deposed, he could have reigned nearly 59 years. Exiled for 46 years (1967-2013), at least he got to spend his last decade in his beloved Greece.
Prompt and thorough coverage as always at The European Royal History Journal. The entire royalist community joins in sorrow with the Greek and extended European Royal Families (especially those of Spain, Denmark, and Britain) in mourning King Constantine. More today: Constantine and Anne-Marie of Greece: A Love Story for the Ages.
Crown Prince Pavlos, born on 20 May 1967 in Athens a month after the colonels' coup that would later first exile and then depose his father, has succeeded his father King Constantine II as Head of the Royal House of Greece and, for monarchists, de jure King Pavlos (Paul) II of the Hellenes. [During the time of the Monarchy (1863-1973), when discussed in English Greek royal names were usually translated into their English equivalents, but the younger generations of Greek royals today generally prefer to use the Greek forms.] The King is dead; Long live the King!
Weirdly, King Constantine II (d. 10 Jan 2023) died the day before the centennial of the death of his grandfather King Constantine I (d. 11 Jan 2023).
Here are the Telegraph and Times obituaries. The King is often blamed for the political instability that began in 1965, leading to the coup of 1967 that he tried and failed to reverse, but let's not forget that his position that the Prime Minister should not be able to make himself also the Minister of Defense in order to head an investigation into his own son was in itself entirely correct.
Shame on the miserable gang of soulless traitors calling themselves the Greek "Government" for denying King Constantine a state funeral. The King was the internationally recognized Greek head of state for nine years, served in the Greek armed forces, and won an Olympic gold medal for Greece. He was as Greek as anyone has ever been. These scummy politicians were not worthy to tie his shoelaces. I curse and condemn the Greek Republic and pray for its destruction. I reiterate my formal repudiation of any interpretation of Christianity that concedes the application of Romans 13 to republics that have displaced monarchies, and urge the denunciation of this pointless cruelty from every Orthodox Christian pulpit in the world.
