“It is with deep emotion that after thirty years, we regain Greek nationality.” These are the first words of the press release published this December 23 on the official website of the royal family of Greece. Passports recovered, news that brightens the end of the year for Crown Prince Pavlos and other members of his family. Since the abolition of the monarchy in 1974 by referendum, the descendants of the last king of the Hellenes, Constantine II, who died on January 10, 2023, have lived, for the most part, in exile.
In 1994, Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou signed a law that deprived King Constantine II and his children of Greek nationality. “The provision of the 1994 law on the question of citizenship, a product of the political situation of the time, did not suit a former Greek head of state and an institution that faithfully served the country. Death of our father marked the end of an era”, we can read in today's press release.
How to get it back, thirty years later? Since the death of the head of the family on January 10, 2023, Prince Pavlos was considering initiating procedures with a view to regaining the nationality of his country of origin. Thing was done in the summer of 2024 since the Greek press then revealed the intentions of the man who is today a pretender to the throne. However, the path promised to be tortuous. In question, one of the conditions for recovering Greek nationality: agreeing to bear the surname of Glücksbourg, a Danish name, the one which was to be genealogically attributed to the family in exile.
However, for almost two centuries, the family of King Constantine II had used the name “Greece”, and refused to part with it. A compromise was found. “We chose the one for which our late uncle, Michael of Greece, opted, the only name that is familiar to us since we have never had any surname,” explains the royal family in its press release. In fact, the family opted for the phonetic version of the French expression “from Greece”, which allows them to continue to keep this surname without it meaning “from Greece” in the literal Greek tradition.
Only Anne-Marie from Greece does not want to take the nationality of her late husband's country of origin and prefers to keep her Danish passport. Born in Copenhagen, the Queen of the Hellenes is the daughter of Frederick IX of Denmark and the sister of Queen Margrethe. According to the daily That Vimashe does not wish to give up her title as a member of the Danish royal family.
On December 20, 2024, the decision of the Minister of the Interior is published in the Official Journal. The family members concerned can therefore begin the administrative procedures to obtain identity cards and passports.
Delighted, they promise to continue serving their country, wherever they are in the world. “During the years that we were deprived of our citizenship, we were always motivated by duty as well as honor to serve our country with loyalty and devotion, wherever we found ourselves, by any means possible. The same principles will continue to guide our family.”
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