Photo: Rex Features

On Friday August 21, King Constantine and Queen Anne Marie, along with their son Crown Prince Pavlos and his wife, Crown Princess Marie-Chantal, and their daughter Princess Alexia and her husband Carlos Morales, attended the Athens and Epidaurus Festival in Greece.

The Athens and Epidaurus Festival is a long-running festival that celebrates the arts. The Athens Festival has been running for 52 summers in the Greek capital. It features theatre, music, and dance. The Epidaurus Festival began in 1938, and features classical Greek theatre productions. The festival has attracted renowned performers of the stage such as Maria Callas, Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Martha Graham, and the Peking Opera. On Friday evening, the Greek royals attended a performance of William Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale”.

It has been a busy summer for the former king, who is looking well-rested since his heart operation in May of this year. The former king and his wife made a lovely couple as they walked hand-in-hand during the festival. They were accompanied by their older children and their respective spouses. This is not the only public event for the Greek royals in Greece this summer. Earlier this month, Pavlos and Marie-Chantal christened their youngest son, Aristides Stavros, at Aghioi Anargiroi monastery near the seaside town of Ermioni.

For more information about the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, please visit this website.

To read about, and to discuss the Greek Royal Family, please visit this thread.

sgl Greek Royals Carlos Morales Quintana, Constantine II, Prince Pavlos, Princess Alexia of Greece, Princess Marie-Chantal, Queen Anne-Marie

Click to see the Belga images

The long-awaited christening of Prince Aristides Stavros, the youngest son of Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie Chantal, took place on August 6.

The baby Prince, who is the youngest grandchild of King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, was christened in Aghioi Anargiroi monastery near the town of Ermioni. Members of the  Greek Royal Family and some of their closest relatives from other Royal Families, including Queen Sofia of Spain, Infanta Elena, Infanta Cristina and their children, attended the ceremony.
King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie looked overjoyed: indeed, this was one of the first happy family events for the former King after the serious operation he has recently undergone.

Like all his siblings, the little Prince was christened in a Greek Orthodox ceremony.

Prince Aristides was born on June 29, 2008 in Los Angeles. He has an older sister, Princess Maria-Olympia, and three older brothers, Prince Constantine Alexios, Prince Achileas-Andreas and Prince Odysseas-Kimon. The christening was presumably delayed because of King Constantine’s health problems and subsequent surgery.

Visit the christening thread for more information and pictures.

Marsel Greek Royals Christening, Constantine II, Prince Aristides-Stavros, Prince Pavlos, Princess Marie-Chantal, Queen Anne-Marie

Click to see the image from Zimbio

Constantine II, Former King of Greece, is recovering in a London hospital from a successful scheduled heart operation.  An announcement on the family’s website, signed “Anne-Marie R” expresses gratitude for the well wishes and congratulations to the surgical team. “The messages of support, which we have been receiving from Greece and other parts of the world, have touched us all,” she notes.  The announcement also includes a brief progress statement from the Former King’s physician team.

The Former King, as expected, is recovering in the Intensive Care Unit at Wellington Hospital without any cardioventillatory support. No release date information was provided.

Further information, when available will be posted in this current events thread.

Sg1Fan Greek Royals Constantine II, Queen Anne-Marie, Surgery

Click here to read more at La Familia Real de Grecia (in Spanish)

Last Thursday, the former king and queen of Greece paid a visit to the isle of Crete, where they caught up with friends, and enjoyed the beauty of the the island. It has been 40 years since Constantine’s last visit to Crete, and he reminisced about his previous visit, while taking a keen interest in seeing how the island had changed.

In addition to sightseeing, Constantine and Anne-Marie enjoyed spending time with their friend, the former Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis and his family. Despite the political connections of the group, the visit was purely for catching up with old friends, according to the blog, La Familia Real Grecia. It is not known whether the former king and queen will spend the Orthodox Easter in Greece, or back in England, where they currently reside.

For all of the latest information about the Greek Royal Family, please visit the forum.

sgl Greek Royals Constantine II, Crete, Queen Anne-Marie

 His Majesty King Constantine II, Former King of Greece, Queen Anne-Marie and Princess Irene held a private memorial service for King Paul and Queen Frederika of Greece on March 15 at the royal family’s former estate of Tatoi.

King Pavlos and Queen Frederika had three children, King Constantine, Queen Sophia of Spain and Princess Irene.  Members of the both the Spanish and Greek sides of the royal family attended a similar service in 2006. His Majesty King Pavlos passed away on March 6th, 1964 in Greece while her Majesty Queen Frederica on February 6th, 1981 in Spain.  They are buried next to each other, with many other members of the family, on the former royal estate.  The cemetary remains open to members of the royal family for burial and the last burial at Tatoi was that of Princess Katherine in October 2007.

This year’s service included the laying of wreaths on the tombs from all the members of the Greek and Spanish royal families.  The wreaths, in the colors of the respective royal flags held the initials of the members of the families with a crown.

Since their return to Greece as private citizens, King Constantine has held the ceremony yearly and made “the tradition of inviting his parents’ members of staff, in whatever capacity, in a gesture to show his gratitude and respect for their loyalty and service.”

Photos posted with permission.

Sg1Fan Greek Royals Constantine II, Memorial, Princess Irene of Greece, Queen Anne-Marie, Tatoi