The monarch’s family wants a state funeral to be held, an option that the Hellenic Executive is not considering
Jan. 11 () –
The Government of Greece will decide this Wednesday what the burial ceremony of former King Constantine of Greece will be like, who died this Tuesday at the age of 82 after being admitted in serious condition to a private hospital in Athens, the Hygenia center, due to health problems. .
The last monarch of Greece (1964-1973) will be buried in the former royal estate of Tatoi, on the outskirts of Athens, where his mother Federica of Greece lies, although the Greek Executive has to decide what the funeral will be like, it has reported. iEidiseis’.
The ex-monarch’s family would be looking for ways to overcome the pending legal issues surrounding the funeral ceremony, since his children are pressing the Government to carry out a funeral with honors as head of state.
That funeral ritual would include a popular pilgrimage as well as other details of a state funeral. The family believes that Constantine of Greece has that right because of the public office he held for nine years.
However, it is foreseeable that the Executive will deny this possibility, arguing that the former king does not have Greek citizenship and that he left the country after a referendum on the head of state held in 1974 and in which the republic won, according to the aforementioned newspaper.
The former King Constantine of Greece, uncle of King Felipe VI and brother of Queen Sofía, may have suffered a stroke at home, according to local media, while others point to an admission caused by the coronavirus, although at the moment not there is official confirmation from the Hellenic Royal House about his death.
Queen Sofía has traveled to Athens after attending the last goodbye of Pope Benedict XVI. Her children, who live abroad, have also accompanied the monarch in his last days, as well as his wife, Ana María of Greece.
The state of health of the former Hellenic king was very unstable for several years. At the beginning of 2022 he was hospitalized after contracting COVID-19 and in December 2021 he suffered an ischemic attack while he was with his wife in the Porto Heli palace.
The last public appearance of the monarch, who enjoyed great popularity, was on October 23, when he attended the wedding of his youngest son, Prince Philippos of Greece, with Nina Flohr in a wheelchair.
Constantine II was king of Greece from 1964 to 1973, when the monarchy was abolished by referendum in 1974. 75.6 percent of Greeks decided they wanted a republic as a form of state. After that, he spent a time living in London, although he later returned to his homeland, as the newspaper ‘Ethnos’ recalled.
The former monarch was the son of Frederica of Hannover and Paul I of Greece, who was the younger brother of King George II, as well as the first cousin of the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and also the father-in-law of Juan Carlos I of Spain.
After King Paul I died in 1964, Constantine succeeded to the throne. That same year he would marry Ana Maria, youngest daughter of King Frederick IX of Denmark, whom he met as heir to the throne in 1959 in Copenhagen during a visit to Sweden and Norway.
Constantine lived his first years as king very turbulent as a result of the riots that broke out in July 1965 after the resignation of George Papandreou as prime minister, as well as the subsequent coup d’état of 1967, led by George Papadopoulos, who deposed the king and imposed a military dictatorship.
After the fall of the dictatorship in July 1974, the politician Konstantinos Karamanlis returned from his exile in Paris to form a government. In December of the same year a referendum was held on the future of the monarchy.
