King Constantine II of Greece passed away of a stroke on January 10th in Greece. The Greek royals got thrown out of the country in the 1960s, and then in the 1970s, the Greek government formalized their country as a monarchy-free republic. Constantine and his family lived “in exile” across Europe ever since, although Greece eventually softened enough to allow Constantine and his family to return to visit, if they so desired. The Greek royals are connected to most (if not all) of the royal families of Europe. Constantine and the Windsors are related through Prince Philip, who was technically born a Greek prince. Philip and Constantine were close for years, Constantine was even godfather to… Prince William, the current Prince of Wales. So it’s extremely odd that King Charles and Prince William both refused to go to Constantine’s funeral in Athens. Both Charles and William sent surrogates in their places:
Prince William and King Charles III are remembering King Constantine of Greece as royal families across Europe gather for the funeral. William, 40, asked his relative Lady Gabriella Windsor to represent him at the funeral of Constantine, while Princess Anne stood in for her brother King Charles at the solemn ceremony in Athens on Monday.
Anne, who attended the service alongside her husband Sir Tim Laurence, was greeted on the steps of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Athens by Constantine’s eldest son, Prince Pavlos, who wore a dark suit and black tie for the occasion. Lady Gabriella was a few steps behind them.
It is customary for senior royals in Britain to send relatives or close friends and aides to funerals on their behalf. The late Queen Elizabeth only rarely attended funerals. King Charles appears to be following the same custom and sending a family member instead.
Constantine’s wife, childrenswear entrepreneur and writer Princess Marie-Chantal, and his eldest son Prince Pavlos led the grieving Greek family at the service on Monday. Pavlos and his brothers Prince Nikolaos and Prince Philippos were at the head of the mourners, immediately behind the coffin as it was carried into the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral. Constantine was also father to Princes Alexia and Princess Theodora.
Prince Albert of Monaco was among the mourners joining royals from all over Europe paying tribute to Constantine. King Felipe and his wife Queen Letizia were also in attendance, as was Queen Margrethe of Denmark, the late King’s sister-in-law. Belgian King Philippe and Queen Mathilde were among the congregation along with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, as well as Prince Haakon of Norway and Princess Mette-Marit of Norway.
Remember how Pope Benedict died and both Charles and William refused to attend a pope’s funeral? You could make the argument that, hey, Benedict wasn’t a sitting pope so maybe it’s fine that there was no Windsor presence. But for Charles and William to avoid Constantine’s funeral is definitely a huge snub. Charles arguably doesn’t want his first trip outside of the UK to be attending a funeral in Greece, I get that. But this is another situation where… William should have been sent. William should have been sent to Benedict’s funeral and he should have gone to Constantine’s funeral too. William is deeply lazy – he’s only done one day of “events” in 2023, and that was last Thursday. Constantine was his GODFATHER. And to send Gabriella Windsor, daughter of Princess Michael of Kent? WTF? At least Charles sent ANNE.
Photos from the funeral:
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and Cover Images.
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 03: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall depart the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral on June 03, 2022 in London, England. The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II is being celebrated from June 2 to June 5, 2022, in the UK and Commonwealth to mark the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952.,Image: 696661979, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Dan Kitwood / Avalon
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- Athens, GREECE – Royals and guests attend the funeral of Former King Constantine II of Greece in Athens, Greece. Constantine II, Head of the Royal House of Greece, reigned as the last King of the Hellenes from 6 March 1964 to 1 June 1973, and died in Athens at the age of 82. Pictured: Former King Constantine II of Greece Funeral BACKGRID USA 16 JANUARY 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: karabatsispavlos / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Tatoi, GREECE – Greece’s former King Constantine II was buried at an ancestral cemetery plot at the former royal summer estate of Tatoi in a private ceremony. Pictured: King Constantine II BACKGRID USA 16 JANUARY 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Tatoi, GREECE – Greece’s former King Constantine II was buried at an ancestral cemetery plot at the former royal summer estate of Tatoi in a private ceremony. Pictured: Prince Nikolaos BACKGRID USA 16 JANUARY 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Tatoi, GREECE – Greece’s former King Constantine II was buried at an ancestral cemetery plot at the former royal summer estate of Tatoi in a private ceremony. Pictured: King Felipe – Sof’a de Grecia BACKGRID USA 16 JANUARY 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet volunteers and operational staff at Windsor Guildhall, Berkshire, who were involved in facilitating the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on Monday and supporting the crowds that gathered to commemorate her passing. Featuring: Prince William and Catherine Princess of Wales Where: Berkshire, England, United Kingdom When: 22 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet volunteers and operational staff at Windsor Guildhall, Berkshire, who were involved in facilitating the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on Monday and supporting the crowds that gathered to commemorate her passing. Featuring: Prince William and Catherine Princess of Wales Where: Berkshire, England, United Kingdom When: 22 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
It looks bad esp as the King of Spain was there with his mother. They prolly didn’t want Keen causing a diplomatic incident by gurning for the cameras inappropriately or turning up in bright pink again. Or William saying something stupid and inappropriate as well.
The King of Spain’s mother is the sister of Constantine.
Ah right – didn’t realise that.
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, born a Princess of Greece and Denmark (1906 – 1968) is Gabriella Windsor paternal grandmother. Princess Marina and Constantine II were first cousins once-removed. Constantine II and Gabriella Windsor are second cousins once-removed.
@digital unicorn, I remember my mother engrossed in the wedding of Sophia of Greece to Juan Carlos in 1962( looked it up!). She became Sofia then. Mom’s big take was neither one wanted to marry each other but Queen Fredericka of Greece arranged the whole shebang and off Sophia went, to Spain. They have been married a long time, much of in a truce like agreement. Their son, Felipe is the current kimg.
Queen Sofia has been separsted from her cheating husband for many years and she lives most of her time in London. Her husband, has been in exile after the government started a financial investigation, he left spain to save the monarchy. Queen Sophia was the king of Greece first born.
Gabriella Windsor is representing William because Constantine II was also her godfather.
I found it interesting too that both didn’t show up, considering that Constantine was William’s godfather.
Charles didn’t show up cuz it involved a minor/ former royal and Willy is just lazy as usual.
And not only was constantine williams godfather, william is the godfather of one of Constantine’s grandchildren: his namesake constantine alexios. So the 2 families are quite intertwined if you ask me.
Still I don’t think William knew the guy very well nor the rest of his family which is why they probably sent Anne.
Pavlos and Marie-Chantal’s daughter is goddaughter to Charles. I don’t think she’s close to him, either. He has so many godchildren he could never be close to them all.
This is so poorly written, People. The magazine writer makes it sound like Marie-Chantal was Constantine’s wife. Commas are your friends!
Harry wasnt available that’s why he sent the Lady instead.
I doubt that that family is team harry. Ironically MC posted a picture shading harry and the release of his memoir on her insta story, on the same day Constantine died.
I’m glad Charles and Will snubbed them then.
@Chloe, I find Marie Chantal to be quite snobby/shady. She also did something similar when a video surfaced about Letizia of Spain seemingly telling off her mother in law (Queen Sofia) in public. This was after the Easter mass I believe- that video went viral everywhere and MC posted something shady on her instagram.
Marie-Chantal’s Mother is a precursor to Carole Middleton. She placed her daughters advantageously. The family I believe made their money in duty free stores.
I think William doesn’t want his first trip abroad as Prince of Wales to be a funeral. I assume some sort of royal tour is in the offing, however I’ll advised it may be.
He already had his first overseas trip as POW in December, which was admittedly a massive and forgettable flop.
One of Diana’s first solo engagements was attending Princess Grace’s funeral. William should have attended his godfather’s funeral. Or at least sent Kate.
Hopefully at some point during KC’s reign, a trip to Scotland will become a trip “abroad”.
Their reigns are quite literally begun with funerals, so I don’t see why they have such an issue being among other royals and diplomats for funerals.
I don’t think either of them knows how to act outside of the UK, and they’ve isolated themselves.
He wishes his first overseas trip was forgettable. That one’s going down in history William, it will be in all the books.
@BeachDreams- “Will doesn’t want his first trip abroad as POW to be a funeral…” <—- trying to pretend Boston never happened lol……. 😂
Not only was Constantine William’s godfather, William is godfather to Constantine’s oldest grandson. And Charles is the godfather to Marie-Olympia, Constantine’s first grandchild. It was all really shabby. That said, as surrogates go, Gabriella wasn’t a terrible choice. Constantine was her godfather (her father, Prince Michael of Kent, was the son of Princess Marina, the Duchess of Kent, who was born a Greek Princess).
The Queen didn’t attend many funerals personally, so it doesn’t seem odd for Charles not to go himself. Anne makes sense. I see no reason why William couldn’t attend too though, whether or not he even knew him. I assume that’s just William, who is only keen about attending fun events, preferably sporting ones.
Charles is also godfather to Pavlos and Marie-Chantal’s daughter Maria Olympia, and William to their eldest son Constantine Alexios.
Do for those of you wondering as to the family ties:
1. Constantine’s sister Sophia is married to Juan Carlos of Spain, thus the current king of Spain’s uncle.
2. His wife Anne Marie is the sister of Queen Margrethe of Denmark
3. He’s a direct descendant of Prince William of Denmark, who was elected King George 1 of Greece in 1863.
William/George was the second son of Christian IX of Denmark, and younger brother of Alexandra, who would become Edward VII’s Queen consort in the UK.
4. William/George’s son would marry Sophia of Prussia, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and sister of Kaiser Wilhelmina.
5. Through the connections to the Danish royals he was also related to the Norwegian and Swedish royal families
6. This is why European royal weddings look like really posh family parties – they basically are. Everyone usually looks like they’re having a good time and actually like each other. And they quite often wear their tiaras to the wedding which is ace.
7. Constantine’s son Pavlov married Marie-Chantal Miller, daughter of Robert Miller, the immensely rich founder of Duty Free Shops.
Anne-Marie is a cousin of the King of Sweden, and even related to the Belgian and Luxembourg royals through her mother, whose mother was princess Margaret of Connaught – another link to the British Royal family.
So do the former Greek royals have any Greek ancestry? They seem related to all the European royals. So since they’re no longer actually in power, can they declare his son King of Greece. That seems a bit messy and presumptuous.
I have probably a dumb question…
How can you be “king” of a country that has formalized itself as being a “monarchy free republic”? Or even prince/princess?
They aren’t. For whatever reason they were granted the courtesy to still be referred to by the titles. Same for some former royal houses like Romania, Bulgaria, etc. It’s dumb as hell.
So is there a time limit on that or will they hundreds of years from now still be using royal titles for descendents?
Constantine II was actually “crowned” King of Greece just as Michael I was actually “crowned” King of Romania. They are/were kings. Constantine II and Michael I were not pretenders. Constantine II and Michael I were “disposed” monarchs.
Pavlos was “born” Crown Prince or of Greece so technically he is “Crown Prince of of Greece”. I highly doubt he will use the title of “King” as he is really only a “pretender” to the Greek throne since the abolition of the Greek monarchy and not a disposed king.
For the last fifty years, these “royals” have been imposters. Swanning all over Europe styling themselves kings and princes. Disgusting frauds.
Pavlos was sparked outrage on twitter for going on TV as Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece after the Queen died.
They aren’t. It’s imaginary. Which royalty is anyway, in power or not, lol.
I’ve read they have to be styled “of Greece and Denmark”. They’re still princes and princesses of Denmark through their mother, Anne-Marie of Denmark.
However, it seems their greek citizenship was taken away because the former King refused to take a last name for their new passports, thus Greece was like “ok, you’re no longer greek then, bye”.
For all of Marie-Chantal’s digs at Harry and Meghan, and even Queen Letizia of Spain, she will never, ever, move past “Crown Princess” of Greece.
M-C is still mad Felipe refused her daddy’s money and wouldn’t marry her, that’s why she continues to hate Letizia to this day. She had to settle for daddy buying her Pavlos instead.
They’re style ‘of Greece and Denmark’ doesn’t come from Anne Marie. It’s part of the deal William of Denmark made in 1863 when he agreed to accept the Greek throne. All male line descendants have it including Philip, until he renounced, and Constantine. William (George I of Greece) succeeded a deposed Bavarian, Otto. The throne was always unstable and it was a wise decision on his part to insist on maintaining the Danish designation.
They should not be recognized as king, prince, princess, etc. The people of Greece decided they did not want a monarchy, and the rest of the world should honor the people’s will.
Had time to go to his ex-girlfriend’s wedding though in between emerging from apparent hibernation.
That People article could use an edit. Constantine’s wife was Queen Anne-Marie. Marie-Chantal is married to Pavlos. Charles & William think they are too important for things like these, designating the other royal houses as lesser than theirs. Assholes.
Not to mention the small matter that Constantine was no longer king and hasn’t been for a very long time. At this point, they would have only been attending the funeral of a distant relative.
@Brassy Rebel: there are actually some greek royalists that were upset that he wasn’t given a state funeral. They felt like he was entitled to it as he was once the head of state. I couldn’t believe my eyes when i read it. Luckily the request for a state funeral was denied.
Also, i think the British royals really aren’t that close to the rest of the European royal houses and the connections fade more with each generation. The Queen was always genuinely delighted to host royals from other European monarchies, however it seems like charles and william simply don’t care
He was actually pretty close to the British royals as he lived in London for a long time. He was definitely friends with the older generation. I suspect that he was probably close to the Kents and The current Dukes mother was Princess Marina of Kent, Lady Gabriellla and Constantine are both direct descendants of George 1st of Greece.
Sorry to his family, but they were deposed. They are no longer royal except for his wife (born a princess of Denmark) and sister (former Queen of Spain). It’s ridiculous to still address them as such.
I have very good Greek friends I have known since I was very young. I’ve heard from them and their relatives many times over the years that they’re not happy about this family still parading around using their titles. The family of Pavlos is considered to be jetsetters (and that’s what their lifestyle certainly looks like to me) with no real ties to the country. They live elsewhere and Greece seems to be a luxury holiday destination to them. I doubt any of the children is fluent in Greek. Remember reading an interview many years ago in which Pavlos explained how he was trying to teach his children Greek but “it’s not an easy language to learn”, and felt like telling him you don’t “try to teach” your children your native tongue. You speak it with them consistently from the day they’re born. That’s how they learn it.
Prince Nikolaos of Greece and his wife live in Greece. The Greek Royal Family is descended from a Danish prince who was invited to be the King, so the family has always been styled of Greece and Denmark. The older three children went to a Hellenic school in London that Constantine founded, so I think they are fluent; the younger two are not.
Elizabeth, I meant Pavlos and Marie-Chantal’s children. Constantin and Anne-Marie’s children are all fluent in Greek.
@Grace if I recall correctly Pavlos’ wife Marie Chantel was a rich jet setter who bought herself a title. Pavlos probably got cash. I don’t think the Greek royals were well off at all. I doubt that Marie Chantel would consent to live a lesser lifestyle than she grew up with.
@Grace as a Greek I can tell you that the majority of Greek citizens never wanted them, monarchy to us goes against democracy, the only people that still support them are older, a minority and all of them alt-right leaning (well basically full – blown fascists) because it was never our choise and we actually see them as traitors , during the cold war they were responsible for the political hunt or worse of left wing politicians, they were trying to get inolved in the goverment and they even had a hand in the cοup that happened in 1967 that ended up backfiring to them. So for this and many other reasons, good riddance, for a lot of Greek citizens it was a disgrace that the funeral happened in greek soil, I never understood why the british keep the royal family, but I guess they need a reminder that they used to be an empire that made them feel superior than the rest of the world, for me they simply are suckers for putting up with these leeches, I’ m glad the younger generations seem to realize that, because while to a certain extent I could understand the adoration towards Elizabeth II, the younger ones don’t stand a change
@Anthi: your thoughts are very much in line with what my friends and their relatives have told me over the years.
As another Greek, I am seconding what Anthi said. I literally don’t know a single person who can even tolerate them, let alone like them. Everytime someone mentions to us “the King of Greece” we have to say, “He is not our King, we do not have kings, most of these people have not even been Greek historically, as they never deigned to mix with native people, only with other European royals”.
Sure they’re royal. They’re just not legally recognized by the Greek government. There are lots of royal pretenders out there like that, like the Bourbons.
My friends’ relatives say they’ve always considered the family “German” and not Greek. Constantine’s mother was extremely unpopular. It’s said that Ingrid, Anne-Marie’s mother, supported the family financially when they had to leave the country so that they could maintain their lifestyle. Now they seem to be well off, but I can understand why many Greeks don’t consider them or their lifestyle particularly Greek.
Oh of course not. And Pavlos and Marie-Chantal are thirsty as hell.
Marie-Chantal is a billionaire’s daughter. In the 1990s she and her 2 sisters were in Vogue all the time as the Miller sisters who made “fabulous marriages.” Blond, thin, fashionable. MC must be funding their lifestyle. It’s no wonder she shaded Harry–they need to be seen as legit by the other royal houses so that they can continue to gather in royal spaces. They’re just a fancier version of Eurotrash.
One thing I found interesting in Spare is when Harry said William and Kate actually do want to work more and go to more events but Charles and Camilla hold them back so they don’t get more media coverage and outshine them. One example was Kate being told not to hold a tennis racket at an event that clashed with Camilla’s so that Kate’s photo wouldn’t make the front page. I still dislike the new Prince and Princess of Wales, but I just found it so telling. Camilla came for Diana and now she’s coming for her sons too. I bet anything Charles ordered William not to go.
I was just thinking that Charles used to go to all these things and that William should now. Charles pushing back against it is the stupidest possible reason, and thus likely to be correct.
What I think is going to be interesting about that is that Harry mentions Charles used money to control what they did or didn’t do in terms of what he gave them, budget-wise. Now William has his own budget; do we think he and Kate are suddenly going to start doing 300 or 400 events a year?
I also laughed when he said that William would never pad his CC numbers the way other family members do. William is not as extreme as Kate (last I checked) but they both do pad their numbers. Kate can’t break 100 WITH including phone calls to Jason Knauf.
Call me cyical but I think H still has rose coloured glasses on with some of his family (notably this statement above). I can remember when W&K were first married they announced they were going to be an ordinary new married couple for a few years before they started serious work.
I think this “two years off” business was QEII’s idea as QEII was doing everything possible not to make the mistakes with Kate “supposedly” made with Diana.
William & Kate had no problem agreeing to this “two years off” business as it just feed into their true laziness.
KCIII also totally agreed to the “two years off” business as he wanted to take no chance of the new & young then Duchess of Cambridge overshadowing him.
There’s always an excuse for Willnot and Kannot. I challenge anyone to find an official pronouncement from QEII that they would have 2 years off. Just more royal rota nonsense.
They just are work shy. The easing Kate into work by waiting a few years was one of many excuses i heard
Diana was not bothered by working. It was the marriage.
I thought of this too. Charles is SUPER petty and obsessed with his own image. Nothing and no one can outshine him, save for his mom.
Now, do Will and Kate WANT to work 300-400 events a year? Absolutely not. But I also believe Charles uses, “how will XYZ reflect on ME” as his number one consideration for everything.
^^ I find the above very interesting, because it tells us A LOT about how utterly delusional C&C are.
Deep down they really crave the affection of the UK public and of course America, but they also know their treatment of Diana scuppered that.
So to attempt to hold Keen and klueless back is just desperation that will never pay back. The Wails are boring, but not scandal tarnished (yet). Which may explain the reason Bill and Chuckles are now seemingly best mates – they both have dirt on each other they can leak.
I am LMAO at the fact that Camilla will never be liked or popular despite all her scheming. That alone must hurt.
This was the first thing I thought about this after reading that in Spare (I agree that Harry was being too generous to his brother for it) – but I do wonder if Charles had told William not to go so he could control any negative headlines (i.e. William did his duty and went to funeral why not Charles? For the casual reader, it does seem like more of a snub on William’s part with the godfather connection. Curious…
Harry wrote ‘Spare’ not just for himself but also for Diana. All of the PR to build up Camilla over the years has been messed up. 2023 will not just be known as the year Charles was crowned but also the year ‘Spare’ was released. The memory of Diana has been resurrected and will haunt Camilla when she is crowned ‘Queen’.
Charles and Camilla are reaping what they sowed. Thank you Harry!
Harry was a little shady in that passage because he mentioned how William is called lazy and he said he thought being called lazy was the worst thing they could call you. Smirk.
I’m not buying that, it is simply Harry being too nice again – or believing any lie William told him. Harry was being sent all over the place because William and Kate refused to work more, but somehow Harry out there being globally-popular wasn’t shut down by Charles? Nope. Philip essentially begged them publicly in his 90th birthday interview to work more and they refused. Kate has never worked an honest day in her life, and Billy was called out by co-workers at SAR and EAAA because he never showed up for work. They’re both lazy and would take any excuse to be that way.
W&K had been together in their twisted relationship for a decade, they didn’t need more time off to get used to being together. The Malta Lie is a Lie. It was made up by tabloids and stans to try to explain W&K’s laziness. BTW, QEII did not live in Malta for two years as a newlywed. She visited Philip four times in two years when he was stationed there from 49-51.
That’s repeated a lot but not entirely true. Elizabeth lived there for weeks and months at a stretch. She returned to England for similar stretches when Philip was at sea. The two also returned to England together. You act like she dropped in for a few weekends. Did she live there full time? No. Did she stay when Philip was absent? No. Did she live there as opposed to just visiting? Yes. It’s all well documented in newspapers and magazines of the day.
All totaled it was a few months over two years, and those two years were two years after they married. They married in Nov ’47, he wasn’t deployed to Malta until two years later. She continued to do royal engagements throughout that time as well. You can find the exact dates in an article a Malta newspaper published during the previous Jubilee year. It listed the exact dates of her arrivals-and-departures from Malta for each of the four VISITS.
The Malta Lie is just that, a lie made up by tabloids and stans to justify the confusing, selfish refusal to work. That she ‘lived in Malta for two years as a newlywed’ which is the stan/tabloid line that has been repeated for over a decade now. That lie was USED by W&K as cover for their laziness. Kate lied in the engagement interview about how she was going to ‘hit the ground running’. Right after the return from their million pound honeymoon, complete with a dozen friends to keep them company? KP quietly released a statement that she wasn’t going to work for a few years.
Gabriella is Constantine’s goddaughter so she was always going to be there. William had an engagement in Windsor today so there was no way was going to to do both (sarcasm). It was interesting to see royalists criticise William and Charles for not attending the funeral.
Gabriella is also a direct descendant of George 1st of Greece, through her grandmother Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent.
Yeah, she definitely makes sense to go, but the whole “Gabriella is going in place of William” is a stretch.
Earlier in the week, the news was saying that W&K would be attending and then nothing. I wonder how much longer the press will allow W&K to play them for fools?
I saw the same stories. I wonder if it was never the plan or if some behind the scenes drama happened.
This is your Heir, folks. By the way, this is why the royals were so freaked out about Harry. This was supposed to be Harry’s job, doing all the tours and funerals and meetings that Cain didn’t feel like doing.
Seems like he had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get lady Gabriella. I guess that means Eugenie and Beatrice said no, or made themselevs unavailable. Zara and Peter must have said no/been unavailable as well. Lady Louise is too young still.
So who else can he ask to do his work for him. Lord Fredrick? Chattos? Linleys? Lady Amelia Windsor? We might see a minor royal parade representing the Heir. So much for “trimmed down monarchy.”
@LANNE you do know Gabrielle is also his god daughter, right?
doesn’t change the fact that he sent her in his place, does it? She wasn’t there as goddaughter. She was there as a representative of Pegs.
@Lanne, I don’t think Gabriella “represented” William at the funeral. She was going to go to the funeral of her godfather regardless. I think the whole “represented” thing was made up by the press (and/or KP) to make William look not quite so callous as to have totally ignored the funeral.
Zara too busy with guest appearance on Mike’s podcast to help 😆
Zara and Mike have also been in Australia for the past few weeks.
LOL, I don’t ever remember them sending Zara Phillips and her Husband to any royal functions alone. They are the trashy royals. The others are too, but these two take the cake.
Mike would likely be a big embarrassment at any such event. I don’t think Chuck wants him anywhere as a representative, even escorting Zara.
Lady Gabriella was probably there as Constantine’s goddaughter and William decided to issue a statement that she was there to represent him. Same happened to me at a relative’s funeral, I attended of my own accord only to be told when I was there that my mother had told them I would be there to represent her. I never had that discussion with my mother, I can see the same happening to Gabriella.
Constantine and his family lived in England for years. Charles was at his wedding. There must have been a bond if Charles asked him to be a godparent to his first born. The Windsors are full of themselves, this was a family funeral which they failed to attend, yet when one of them die they expect everyone to drop everything and attend the funeral.
Exactly. I am sure that Harry and Meghan are pleased that they are not being used like Anne and Sophie doing all the crap the others don’t want to do. The Sussexes have children are even younger.
His eldest son Prince Pavlos is married with childrenswear entrepreneur and writer Marie-Chantal. Constantine’s wife, is Anne-Marie, a Greek and Danish royal, as the younger sister of Margrethe II of Denmark.
Marie-Chantal ‘s father is the American billionaire Robert Warren Miller.
I was going to point out that Marie-Chantal’s father is a billionaire, and I’m sure he’s been subsidizing his daughter and son-in-law’s lifestyle since they married. When Marie-Chantal and Pavlos married, the Queen and Prince Philip went to the wedding.
Sounds like Elizabeth and Philip always understood the royal pole dance. It’s always been about money in the end. MC was just another Dollar Princess. The Euro royals and british aristocracy are full of them.
@Lanne: for what it’s worth: i do think that pavlos and MC’s marriage is a marriage based on love. They’ve 5 children and have been married for nearly 30 years. Pavlos ended up attending Georgetown University and has his own hedgefund company so he now makes plenty of money.
A marriage started in expediency that comes to be defined by love. Hey, it worked for th Granthams! I wonder who provided the seed money for that hedge fund?
Marie Chantal brought a dowry of 100 million U.S. dollars to her marriage to Pavlos. It started off as an arrangement, money for a title, but is obviously now a love match.
I don’t doubt Pavlos and Marie-Chantal’s love for each other. They’ve been married since 1995. I remember their wedding! But what I think is that their lifestyle is a world away from Greece. Nikolaos and Tatiana, who live in Athens, seem to be more down to earth, and Tatiana obviously does a lot of charity work.
A love of money-and-title-and-attention match, not a love match. As I wrote above, her daddy bought her Pavlos when Felipe refused to date/marry/be bought for her. THAT’S why she hates Letizia.
Another missed opportunity at diplomacy, royal style. Keep snubbing the other royals C-Rex. They are receiving the message (and noticing that s**t show aka his reign) loud and clear. And his bubble will keep getting smaller…
This is def. something they would have sent Harry to. Has it finally hit FreeWilly how badly he needs PH? Wonder why he didn’t ask Edward, Peter or Beatrice…
I think Charles sent Anne because she was one of Queen Anne-Marie’s bridesmaids.
Also, I have ready many places, Anne is very well like by the other European Continental royal families. Also she is The Princess Royal aka second highest ranking woman in the UK.
Lazy Willnot and Kannot should have gone. I bet Charles suggested it and Willy said no. Especially after the embarrassment of ‘Spare’.
They can’t make William do anything. That’s what all of this is about. I don’t know if he has standing days/dates with his side-pieces or second families or whatever the deal is, but it seems like he won’t rearrange his life for anyone or anything. Anne was probably a better guest anyway, but didn’t stuff like this used to be Edward and Sophie’s job? Oh well.
Maybe Anne was the one who wanted the free trip to Greece and since KC likes her better than Ed she won.
From the video’s it looks like Pavlos barely acknowledged Anne’s husband when greeting them in front of the church.
The “Greek” royals were Danes imposed on Greece (a country without a modern history of monarchy) after the country achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire. They caused turmoil in Greece and assisted terrible people. They were awful awful people and should not have been allowed to kep on calling themselves “of Greece”.
I always had….a lot of questions about Philip being “Greek.” Do they have any actual Greek ancestry? Philip as a kid was platinum blond. I’m sure there are blond people in Greece, but it has to be fairly unusual.
It’s just weird to go around calling yourself King of a country that has no monarchy and doesn’t want you.
They are ethnically German. The Greeks asked the Danish king to let one of his sons be their king. they don’t have a drop of greek ancestry.
No, they don’t have Greek ancestry. The Greek royal family is primarily Danish, Russian, and German. The previous King of Greece was the son of the King of Bavaria. He ruled from 1832-1862. King George I of Greece was born Prince William of Denmark. He was invited to be King of Greece when he was 17.
Philip was not Greek. None of the so-called Greek royals were. But they weren’t really Danish either. They all come from the same German line (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) as the British royals. Victoria and Albert populated Europe’s royal houses.
King George I of Greece married Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia.
Olga was the oldest daughter of Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg and the granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I.
As a Greek-German (50/50) I always laugh my ass off when discussing European royalty and its history. Because this. Philip wasn’t “Greek” and neither was the Greek royal family. None of them, starting with Otto. Greek history is utterly fascinating and once you’re on top of it, you understand why we are the way we are. LOL Why Greece was never going to stay a monarchy, why many Greeks like to ignore that it ever was, and why there always have been and always will be such strong anti-European sentiments. I know people mostly know Greece for its stunning islands and landscapes but more should really get into its history. It’s bonkers.
@annel Actually it’s not at all unusual about 10% of Greeks are blond
Alexander I, Constantine’s uncle, married a Greek lady, Aspasia Manos. The marriage was secret. She was pregnant when Alexander died. Long story short, that daughter, princess Alexandra, was the only one with Greek blood. She married Peter II of Yugoslavia and had a sad life.
It looks bad that neither the monarch nor the heir attended, especially when you see the list of other European royals who attended and how many other monarchs attended – Felipe and Letizia and Sofia (obviously a little different since they are more closely related than the Windsors), Margrethe of Denmark (again a little different), Philippe and Mathilde from Belgium, Willem-Alexander and Maxima from the Netherlands, and even Norway sent their crown prince.
If Charles could not make or did not want to go, this is exactly the kind of event that William should have attended as Prince of Wales.
I thought I saw the Jordanian Queen there but no other middle eastern royal, no house of Saud which might explain why Charles passed on this. There was no one there for him to get cash from.
“Norway sent their crown prince.”
Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway is the paternal great-grandson of Haakon VII,
Haakon VII was originally a Danish prince. He was born in Copenhagen as the son of the future Frederick VIII of Denmark and Louise of Sweden.
Haakon VII, born Prince Carl of Denmark, was offered the Norwegian crown by the people of Norway. Following a November plebiscite, he accepted the offer and was formally elected King of Norway. He took the Old Norse name Haakon and ascended to the throne as Haakon VII, becoming the first independent Norwegian monarch since 1387.
Therefore, Haakon Magnus, The Crown Prince of Norway, is actually a blood relation cousin via Denmark of Constantine II.
That really does not change my point at all.
Constantine and his wife Anne-Marie were also both descended from Christian IX. Him from both of his parents (yikes) and her from her father. The European royals are all related several times over.
@Becks1 – I was in no way arguing with your point. I just wanted to explain who Haakon Magnus is and how he is related to the deposed Greek Royal Family.
Please forgive me if it seemed as if I was arguing your point as that was not my intention.
@Bay lol no worries. I’m just getting a headache from all the family trees being tossed around here.
point remains – he was William’s godfather and William could not be bothered to attend when he is not doing ANYTHING else. (I know he had an event today, but that couldn’t be rescheduled? come on now.)
IMO they sent CP Haakon because Harald continues to be unwell. If he was well-enough, Harald would have attended himself.
@notasugarhere – You are completely accurate as usual. King Harold is/was not well enough to travel. If King Harold was fit to travel, he definitely would have been there.
100%, if Charles couldn’t go, then why couldn’t Camilla attend alone? If neither of them could attend, then William absolutely should have been there. If his event today was too important (lol), then plop a fresh wiglet on Kate’s head and send her out there. I wonder if the other royal attendees see it as a snub (because it is).
As Ianne says above, this is absolutely the type of occasion the Wails would’ve foisted onto Harry, and I would 100% believe Will and Kate threw a tantrum like “this is Harry’s job that he’s turned his back on, why should we have to go, we’re much too important for this” and refused to attend.
It’s also interesting to me how much of a non-factor the Wessexes are.
Princess Marina of Greece was Lady Gabriellas grandmother, and Constantines goddaughter, so she isn’t the worst family representative for William to send. Still completely lazy for him to not have attended though.
She was likely going anyway and William just tagged her to be his rep. Same as Andrew pb being Camilla’s at a recent Bowes Lyon funeral. He was already going as a relative.
William is embarrassed by the revelations in Spare. No way is he going anywhere right now that is not completely under his control. Plus, he doesn’t want to do this part of the job–the sudden and unexpected funerals that mean you have to drop everything, put on the dark suit and look somber for a whole day. This is why he is super mad that Harry isn’t there. I love it that he is having to scramble to find a representative.
Spot on. Hadn’t occurred to me, but that’ll be it: W is too embarrassed by the revelations in Harry’s book to face his European relatives at his godfather’s funeral. What a disgrace he is.
Why, oh why, isn’t the British press calling this out?
I think it was a good decision not to start a media conflab at some other family’s funeral.
Who has time for funerals and work when there is so much pegging to be done?
It seems to me that the crowd at this funeral is exactly the crowd that KCIII wants to attend and add some needed sparkle to his coronation. The missed schmoozing opportunity will come back to bite him in the ass. And who wouldn’t love the chance to leave the UK in January for Greece?
I hope all the Constantine II funeral crowd sends their lowest ranking Royals to KCIII coronation. It would serve the BRF right as QEII never, to my Knowledge, attended other fellow royal’s coronations. QEII always sent then Prince Charles.
Not sending Peggington & Wiglet to Constantine’s II funeral was a really BIG mistake.
Yeah, Gabby, it seems arrogant to not attend a funeral but then expect everyone to attend your fancy coronation. Not sure if it will backfire though, @BTB. Only bc these seem like the kind of people who like to swan around with their titles. But I could be wrong as I really don’t know all the players.
The European royals will all flock to Charles coronation because of the exposure it gives them. In terms of visibility they are almost zero compared to the British royals. By exposing their serious weaknesses Harry has actually made the British royals even more front and centre with his book.
My take? In their eyes, King Constantine wasn’t a “real” king. Charles and William aren’t interested in showing respect for “fake” royalty. Too beneath them, and too much a reminder that someday, their heirs’ status will be in name only too.
But the Royal Family invites them to all the weddings, jubilees, and funerals. All of the royal families of Europe came to William’s wedding and QEII’s funeral. When he was Prince of Wales, Charles went to Felipe’s wedding, and he also went to the investiture/coronation or whatever you want to call it when Willem-Alexander became King of the Netherlands. I think the truth is that the British consider themselves to somehow be above the other royal houses. It is hilarious when you remember that Queen Victoria was known as the grandmama of Europe; all of her children and grandchildren married into the royal houses. Apart from the Monaco royal family and the Dutch royal family, all the other monarchs are in the line of succession to the British throne.
@Elizabeth – You are 100% correct!
As I said above, “Not sending Peggington & Wiglet to Constantine’s II funeral was a really BIG mistake.”
The Dutch are in line to the UK throne, down around 900. They regained their places when the ‘not allowed to marry a Catholic’ clause was removed in 2013. Most of the Monaco royals are not. Caroline’s youngest, Alexandra of Hanover, was in line to the UK throne (somewhere around 400th through her father Ernst) until she converted to Catholicism.
I always had the impression that the British royals considered themselves a cut above the other European royals. I believe the term “bicycle monarchies” referring to the continental royals originated in the UK. After all, Britain had the biggest “empire.” And Charles is still sovereign of more than one country. It almost feels like when the UK has a royal occasion, they invite all of their “poorer cousins” to the party. In that sense, the Windsors are snobs regarding other European families.
The UK Royals definitely seem more home-bound and insular than the other European royals. Even the deposed aristocracy seem to know and are connected the other official royals. I thought the Windsors would know the other European royals better and even dated some of them, but the younger generation don’t give the impression they know each other that well.
Definitely.
It does feel like this should be the job of the POW, especially given William’s connections to the family. Now, I imagine he’s connected to most of the remaining royal families, but you would think that William would want to look like he is connected to the new generation of royals in Europe, like the king of Spain.
I wonder if this is a sort of setting expectations low, like “don’t expect us to come out to just any funeral”. So Will sent his cousin. But isn’t this kind of a showing the limitations of Charles’ streamlined monarchy?
IKR? William has been desperate to be seen as a statesman, yet he won’t go to a funeral representing his family? Something is going on with him. I keep waiting for something to leak out. It’s Jan 17. he made his 2nd appearance of the year and skipped both former Pope and King’s funerals.
My working (conspiracy) theory is that they have to periodically unplug him and then plug him back in again. He showed up at some random charity in London today, pretending to cook for “minorities,” so I suppose that was his excuse. There’s been a lot of hope in the pro-RF circles that W&K will finally step up now that they’re Prince and Princess of Wales, so it’s funny to see all his supporters and bots struggling to come up with a good reason for him to miss his godfather’s funeral. I think, if pressed, W&K would say that such things are below them (hence all the hemming and hawing about not wanting to be a distraction which…okay), but I also think that in their heart of hearts both W&K would have been intimidated by the whole scene. I watched the tail end of the service yesterday and saw a few clips on the internet, and I realized that there’s no way for W&K to bridge the gap between where they are now and where they should be as far as their public image. Felipe/Leti and Wax/Max played it perfectly–they lent dignity to the ceremony without taking center stage, which is a difficult PR trick to pull off. W&K don’t have the range. So they sent dowdy Anne and Cousin Kent instead.
They’d say the funeral of his godfather is below them? I believe they very well might, but brrr.
My working theory is that William has handlers, and they don’t trust him to leave the UK, he is too volatile.
oh per Hello Magazine (I guess the briefings have started from Will and Charle’s camps) Will was supposed to be on private assignment (What?)….oh good grief. Will better start realizing that he’s the new heir on the block and the current heirs (even the 16 year old from Spain) run circles around him and make him look like an inept dufus.
Apart from being lazy, he was also embarrassed by ‘Spare’.
@Lizzie and @Subarbri33..
They say he was/is in a treatment center for anger issues well someone said that on one of the pro sussex live streams on YT. Who knows if theyre only letting him out for sporadic appearances…
Princess Anne is doing the job again. She is in her ’70’s, and does the most royal duties of all of them.
Are W&K being kept out of the spotlight? Waiting for things to calm down?
William had an engagement today so the answer to your question is no they’re not.
How important was William’s “previous engagement?” Imo, a routine appearance somewhere could be postponed for attendance at a familial funeral. After all, it’s tough to pre-schedule one’s godfather’s death.
He bailed on an engagement years ago to attend his former nanny’s funeral. He could’ve skipped for a former king/relative/godfather with no one blinking an eye. Especially given the heads of state that were there.
William’s engagement took place on Tuesday, the day following the funeral. Frederik of Denmark had an engagement on the same day (Tuesday) after he was back from the funeral. But I saw talk about some “private” engagement on Monday for William, so private it’s not even in the Court Circular.
Anne is in her 70s but may keep going for years like her mother regards doing engagements but she must really be annoyed at how lazy her nephew and his wife are.
It always strikes me how the European Royal houses seem so friendly with each other and then you have the British who seem to think they’re better than all of them. But the British are the ones who are starting to face the calls to abolish the monarchy, might want to start getting friendly there if you want to have fancy places to go!
I know someone connected to the fake Greek ‘royals’ and they talk smack about meghan and Harry constantly to clout chase as though they know.
Have done since the wedding. I guess otherwise no one would care about them
I’m surprised but not surprised that William didn’t attend. If he wants to be seen as a statesman then it would boost his image to be seen hobnobbing with all the other European royal families. Also, although Constantine was a former king, he and his family seemed close to the Windsors and attended most family events.
However, William is too lazy to motivate himself to attend anything except the bare minimum of events.
The British royals think they’re the only important people in the world. Actually I think they think they’re the only people in the world, period. They used to be a little bit better at the diplomacy thing (honestly not much, not ever), but Chuck and Willy have made clear they won’t even bother. Why do you keep paying these people?
They are afraid of the label “death cult” from #spare.
Gabriella wasn’t even “sent” to represent him. She is a goddaughter of King Constantine and she was literally already there attending the pre-funeral dinner hosted the night before by the Greek Royal Family.
The excuses I’ve seen for their non-attendance are so asinine I’ve been rolling my eyes for days.
KC and PW may have also worried that by going they would take attention away from honoring the deceased.
Sarcasm or BS?
We don’t know what went behind the scenes, the Greek government might ask to keep the representatives at low level.
And even if they don’t, the king and his heir would want to be associated with the late king if they have any common sense – Constantine II undermined a left wing government causing it to resign, he then swore to office the military junta before trying to depose them and fled the country when he failed. He’s lucky that he didn’t spend the rest of his days in prison for his actions.
I know most people here likes to criticize the BRF, and they certainly deserve much of it, but Constantine II damage to his country was on a whole other level.
If you agree to be godparent to someone’s children the way Charles and William have done, you definitely don’t have anything against being associated with them. The funeral was a a private one, nothing to do with the Greek government. In addition to Charles and William being godparents to members of the family, even Diana was godmother to Philippos and Queen Elizabeth to Theodora.
Kate missed a chance to pull out her best grieving mob wife look!
Lol!
This article!!! It makes it sound like Marie-Chantal is Constantine’s widow. She is Pavlos’ wife and Queen Anne-Marie isn’t even mentioned. She is a Princess of Denmark and also related to most of the royal families of Europe. She is Queen Margrethe’s sister. She is a great-great grandchild of Queen Victoria. I wonder if she will go back to Denmark now?
Prince William is such a mess!
Good grief, the incestuous connections have no END in European monarchies, do they!?
Gabriella Windsor is representing William because Constantine II was also her godfather.
I would guess that (1) they might not want to be associated with this funeral for whatever reason, and/or (2) could it be possible that when Charles didn’t want to go, he also instructed William not to go? I thought it was interesting that in Spare, Harry said that Charles was essentially the one behind William not doing more events and Charles was very sensitive to not being overshadowed. Is it possible that he didn’t want William to be in all the pictures from this funeral and the most senior royal representing the royal family on this trip? Idk, but it is rather strange given that this was Williams godfather so I’m guessing there was a reason Charles didn’t want him to go.
Tinfoil (Swedish Steel Cut) Tiara wishful thinking? Given the rising Republican sentiment, neither wanted to be seen around deposed royals. Deposed royals who lost the majority of their ‘royal assets and wealth’ when thrown out. A decision upheld by the European Court of Human Rights, the same court that Billy likes to use to threaten the free press in the UK.
So much history and interesting comments. Thank you all.
They didn’t attend Constantine’s funeral because everyone of those attending is currently reading “Spare”. Surely it was the backstage, if not open, talk… Had they’d been there it would be pretty embarrassing, considering how narcissist both appear to be. They must let the dust settle before venturing abroad especially amongst their foreign kindred. They need (local) pomp and popularity to assert themselves as successors of the formidable elizabeth but they also need the recognition of their remaining anachronistic peers in Europe. They cannot risk ridicule, least of all from lesser “Houses”. And their countries’s media,
There are big negotiations right now between the UK and Greece over the return of antiquities. I wouldn’t be surprised if they weee advised to stay out of a situation where this could come up, even in the press.