Greece’s former emperor Constantine II died on Tuesday in Athens at the age of 82.
Greek state radio and Greek state news agency reported this on Tuesday evening.
After a stroke and severe pneumonia, his health had deteriorated in recent weeks.
Former Greek King Constantine with his wife Anne Mary
Konstantin in a wheelchair in October last year
According to government sources, Constantine is to be buried in the wooded grounds of his family’s former summer palace in northern Athens.
In the last few days, his entire family, including his wife Anne-Marie and his five children, have been by his side. Her sister, Queen Mother Sofia of Spain, also visited Greece at the weekend, state radio reported.
Constantine II was the last king of the country. Ten years after he ascended the throne as King of the Hellenes in 1964, the monarchy was abolished in Greece by referendum.
Constantine is Prince William’s godfather
► Constantine was associated with all the kings of Europe. He was born in 1940 as the only son of the later King Paul I of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg and his wife Friedrich – the daughter of Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick.
Her grandmother Victoria Louise was the daughter of the last German Emperor Wilhelm II. Her sister Sophia was the former Queen of Spain. Sister-in-law Margrethe II Queen of Denmark.
British Prince Philip († 99) is also his father’s cousin. Constantine became the godfather of Prince Williams (40) in 1982.
Constantine became Prince William’s godfather in 1982
Prince Philip died last year – aged 99
Konstantin led the life of a playboy
The young Prince Constantine’s playboy career was famous in the country. Senior journalists still tell of secret meetings with a successful actress. It is said that he often quarreled with his mother. Constantine was also successful in sport: in 1960, together with two other Greek sailors, he won a gold medal in the Dragon class at the Olympic Games in Rome.
After ascending the throne in 1964, he was one of Europe’s youngest monarchs. In the same year he married the then 18-year-old Danish Princess Anne-Marie. The wedding in Athens was televised in many countries.
Constantine and Anne Marie at their wedding in Athens in 1964
Constantine II, initially inexperienced, soon found himself at odds with the political leadership. He made a fatal mistake: on April 21, 1967, a military group staged a coup in Greece.
In order – as he repeatedly said – to avoid bloodshed, Constantine tolerated the conspirators. He took his photograph with them and signed to set up a military government. Many Greeks never forgave him for that.
After the restoration of democracy, the monarchy was abolished in Greece in December 1974. 70 percent of voters voted against Constantine in the poll.
Painful years of conflict with his home country followed. In 2000 he was deported and granted compensation after a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. After that, relations with the governments and the Greeks were normalized. Constantine bought a villa on the Peloponnese peninsula and spent several months of the year at home.
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