The position of the Royal Family and attitudes to restoration

[Cory]

Because she is Duchess of Sparta anh her husband is the Crown Prince of Greece.Doesn't matter if her husband will ever become King.

 

[Lumutqueen]

Because she is Duchess of Sparta anh her husband is the Crown Prince of Greece.Doesn't matter if her husband will ever become King.

And?
She is the Crown Princess of Greece, but none of her 5 children have been born anywhere near Greek land, she lives in London, and I cannot remember the last time she was in Greece. Presumably she's attending Nikolaos' wedding.
I wouldn't learn something i'm never going to use.

 

[Cory]

It means she does not understand the history of her husband's Family.

 

[Lumutqueen]

It means she does not understand the history of her husband's Family.

How?
Just because she hasn't, and we don't know this, learnt the language?

 

[Cory]

The greeks do not consider her as a greek.They would certainly consider Tatiana Blatnik more.

 

[Lumutqueen]

The greeks do not consider her as a greek.They would certainly consider Tatiana Blatnik more.

Well she isn't greek, she's only married to one.
But I ask again, what does her not learning the language have anything to do with her not knowing her husbands family history?

 

[Kastalia]

^ I'm sure she knows her husband's family history,you're right. But Cory is also right,Greeks don't consider her Greek at all and it is normal since she was not born/raised/educated etc here. MC is American,rich and famous and actually brings sparkle to her family-in-law. But i don't see why she should learn Greek since she won't live here.It's not like Princess Mary that has to learn Danish or Princess Maxima.She a member of an ex-Royal family so..

 

[Cory]

A person who marries a greek must learn greek and raise her children as greeks.A Princess of Greece must know the language of the country.Why does she convert to orthodoxy if she is not interested in Greece and in the Royal Family of Greece?

 

[Lumutqueen]

^ I'm sure she knows her husband's family history,you're right. But Cory is also right,Greeks don't consider her Greek at all and it is normal since she was not born/raised/educated etc here. MC is American,rich and famous and actually brings sparkle to her family-in-law. But i don't see why she should learn Greek since she won't live here.It's not like Princess Mary that has to learn Danish or Princess Maxima.She a member of an ex-Royal family so..

That's exactly what i'm saying. I'm sure she at least understands her husband past.
I'm not surprised you don't consider her greek, she's done nothing to be greek and to be honest, why should she?
She didn't even marry in Greece, like you say Mary, Maxima, Marie all had to learn Danish and Dutch when they married because they became part of reigning family.

A person who marries a greek must learn greek and raise her children as greeks.A Princess of Greece must know the language of the country.Why does she convert to orthodoxy if she is not interested in Greece and in the Royal Family of Greece?

No she doesn't.
Pavlos hardly insisted that she had to do this, so it is quite clear he didn't want to. She is a princess of a non-reigning family, why should she do anything for Greece? just because she holds a "courtesy" title.
She had to convert to greek orthodoxy to marry did she not?
She isn't interested in Greece, she was interested in marrying her husband. As for the royal family, i'm sure she knows Constantine, Anne-Marie and the others very closely.

 

[Cory]

With such a wife Crown Prince Pavlos won't ever be very popular in his country.

 

[Lumutqueen]

To be honest, I don't think he's trying that hard.
And again, why should he? What's he got to gain?

 

[Cory]

If he is not interested in Greece he should give up his titles as Crown Prince and Duke of Sparta for him and his children in favour of Prince Nikolaos, a real greek.

 

[Lumutqueen]

If he is not interested in Greece he should give up his titles as Crown Prince and Duke of Sparta for him and his children in favour of Prince Nikolaos, a real greek.

Well 1, he stopped using the title Duke Of Sparta in 1973.

And no he shouldn't, those titles should stay within his family because they by technicallity are the Crown Prince Family. They live in London, because they are not wanted in Greece, which has been said. The titles mean nothing, they are hollow titles that are there for ceremony.
What good is it going to be giving them to Prince Nikolaos?
And what makes him a better greek? Just because he spends more time there?

 

[Cory]

If Pavlos's wife doesn not even speak greek I am not surprised the greeks are not very in love with this couple.

 

[Lumutqueen]

We have no idea if she speaks it.
But to be quite honest I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't.

 

[Kastalia]

If Pavlos's wife doesn not even speak greek I am not surprised the greeks are not very in love with this couple.

I think she doesn't speak because each time she gives interview for a Greek tv station she has someone to do the translation.But we have to be fair with her and deal her with honesty. Since Greeks have decided that they don't want a Royal family,it would be very hypocritical and unfair to judge her because she denies to learn Greek.Since they show her that they don't want them around why should she learn Greek? I think her kids do though..I'm sure that she knows many about History,Greek culture etc.I have mixed feelings for MC.I think that she's very brainy like her dad and she's obviously very pretty.She's certainly very well educated and has class although she sometimes gives the evil eye to the media.She deserved better than that,dealing with her family's in law exile,etc.

 

[Jaya]

I defy just one anyone of the royal family to marry another Greek- a girl or boy from thesoil so to speak. They all marry foreigners and that does nothing to ingratiate them to the nation. Their spouses are then perceived as interlopers and not having the best interests of Greece at heart by the masses who sent them to exile by the plebiscite of /74. Princess Theodora is next and I hope she marries a Greek- it would be monumental feat.

We have no idea if she speaks it.
But to be quite honest I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't.

Greeks perceive the language as everything sacrosant and when you speak it well you are ahead of the game.King Constantine has a phenomenal grasp of the Greek language as do Sofia and Irene.I think by now MC should have learned to speak some phrases - because Queen Anne Marie does and is fluent from what I know- with an accent but still fluent and everybody knew that she was learning at the beginning when she arrived in Greece and they loved her for it.
It might not restore monarchy but it might assist in the theoretical possibilities of a return for which sadly there is not strategy at all.

 

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

I understand that Constantine's parents were highly disliked in Greece and to some extent, Constantine inherited such animosity. My question is, for Constantine's siblings, like Queen Sophia of Spain, are they disliked as much in Greece?

As a newbie in this topic, it seems like that the sins of the father (or parents) are passed on to the son (and children).

You are welcome and encouraged to read through the posts where you'll find out that Yriny and Sofia are quite popular in Greece.

Because she is Duchess of Sparta anh her husband is the Crown Prince of Greece.Doesn't matter if her husband will ever become King.

Absolutely not. Even the old Constitution of 1952 and earlier ones under the monarchy were prohibiting titles of nobility. Even the titles of prince, princess, did not exist in Greece. Royal children, in fact, were called vassilopaides [=paidia, ie chidlren, of vassilefs ie the king] in a manner similar to that used in Spain [infante, infanta].
When. in fact, queen Frederika attempted that the title Duke of Sparta be conferred to young Constantine, there was furor and animosity in Parilament and the Government and eventually she withdrew her demand.

 

[snowflower]

When it comes to Marie Chantal and learning Greeks. although that would probably make her more likeable by the Greeks ( not to the point of restoring the monarchy of course) , she has no obligation to do so, and I don't see why she should try if she is not interested in the matter. Greek is a hard language to learn properly I believe and she might not even have the time. After all,IMO, no matter what kind of issues exist, existed or are to exist in the fututre between Greece and her husband's family, Marie Chantal owns nothing to Greece and Greece owns nothing to Marie Chantal.

 

[IRIS1983]

The monarchies are irrelevant in the Republic.
This is true but they will asist to royal weddings as princes of Greece, among the nobility, because Greece is a Republic, but I think they should talk and show interest in this country, because they will asist to the reals events as princes of Greece

 

[Cory]

Greece is a Republic now.You can't know the future.

 

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

Irrespective of one's command of the Greek language, it is impossible that the Greeks would ever approve of Marie-Chantal as discussed ealrier for reasons that only a person understanding the Greek mentality can appreciate.
Now, in all fairness, I would never use one's command of the Greek language as a criterion for acceptance.
Most of you do not know that hardly one in every thousand Greeks can speak the language properly, in a grammatically correct fashion, without an accent and with good articulation. Greek is like English, maybe much more so. In fact, it is often possible after talking with someone for five minutes to tell her/his provenance with respect to social class and education.
Interestingly, although >50-70% of the people became economically middle class over the last "clepto-socialist" 30 years, they do not dispose of the linguistic credentials.

 

[snowflower]

I was googling today because I was trying to find what kind of monarchical unions there are in Greece (hoping to find some data about the active pro monarchists in Greece in order to fiqure their number ) and I came across this video in Youtube
YouTube - Την κοπανάνε οι Βασιλόφρονες από το Λάος
The video is in greek , from Alter Channel, dating 14 March 2010 and it talks about the forthcoming creation of a party of pro monarchists which was announced in Yannitsa that day during a monarchists' meeting . The news clip mentions that the party was meant to be created after a few days, but this is the only mention I managed to find so far.Frankly I was suprised because I expected that these kind of news would have been broadcasted from more than one channel. Does any other of the our members know anything about it?

 

[ClaudiaE]

Princess Maria-Chantal does not seem to know how to deal with the greek people.I suppose she does not even know Greek.

I say these things about Prince Nikolas of Romania (or whatever is his name ) and you told me that is not important that he doesn't know Romanian language or culture. He is not the spuse but the heir....
Why is Princess Marie Chantal different for him??

 

[Cory]

Prince Nicolae is improving his Romanian and want to do so.This is not the case of Marie Chantal.

 

[Jaya]

When it comes to Marie Chantal and learning Greeks. although that would probably make her more likeable by the Greeks ( not to the point of restoring the monarchy of course) , she has no obligation to do so, and I don't see why she should try if she is not interested in the matter. Greek is a hard language to learn properly I believe and she might not even have the time. After all,IMO, no matter what kind of issues exist, existed or are to exist in the fututre between Greece and her husband's family, Marie Chantal owns nothing to Greece and Greece owns nothing to Marie Chantal.

No ability to speak the language should enable Greeks to rescind her title from her and she should therefore have no expectations whatsoever.Titles have their difficulties

 

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

No ability to speak the language should enable Greeks to rescind her title from her and she should therefore have no expectations whatsoever.Titles have their difficulties

This is not correct. The Greeks and Greece have no authority over the former royal family because the latter holds no formal status, meaning that it is not bound by the country's consitution or the law.
Thus, whatever they do is their absolute prerogative and internal/private business.
Last but not least, as long as I have a surname and accept the consitution, I can informally style myself Countess of Thessaly, Marchioness of Salonica and Baroness Rhodes and nobody can stop me from doing so as long as this is not part of my legal identity and name.

 

[Anne83]

It is ridiculous that the Greeks don't want their King back
Pavlos and Marie-Chantal would be great as King and Queen
They have an amazing blue-blooded lineage They are beautiful intelligent and healthy
What else do they want

 

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

It is ridiculous that the Greeks don't want their King back
Pavlos and Marie-Chantal would be great as King and Queen
They have an amazing blue-blooded lineage They are beautiful intelligent and healthy
What else do they want

By the same token, one may argue that prince William is handsome, healthy and intelligent and "it is ridiculous that the Americans don't want him or the British monarchs as their kings".
Anyway, Greece is a Republic like the United States of America.
Last but not least, who am I and who are you to tell the sovereign citizens of a sovereign country how to conduct their business!!!! I don not mean to sound disrespectul but you committed a major faux-pas.

By the way, Marie-Chantal is as blue-blooded as Zsa-Zsa Gabor.

 

[Helen Anna]

I believe we all agree that Monarchy won't be restored in Greece.
I truly believe that Constantine has a pretty good life in London surrounded by friends and family so i don't think that he'll leave the UK especially under these circumstances.
Greeks are extremely suspicious towards his family.