King Constantine has passed away - January 10, 2023

[Nico]

They attended the Wedding at Westminster Abbey and the reception afterwards at BP. But they where not invited for the private party in the evening but neither of the other royals who had attended the wedding where.

But they were at the pre-wedding party :

https://royalwatcherblog.com/2019/04/28/prince-williams-pre-wedding-dinner-2011/

 

[lucien]

And so this became a British thread...spare me

The late King is on topic here,and frankly,just a handfull give a fig if or who is coming from the UK,the funeral will take place with or without them.It is up to them,and I am sure there had been close contact.

But other then that respect the memory of the late King Constantinos II.

 

[sophie25]

But they were at the pre-wedding party :

https://royalwatcherblog.com/2019/04/28/prince-williams-pre-wedding-dinner-2011/

All royals were.

 

[tommy100]

As always it becomes about the BRF. To be honest, if Charles had attended it would have just given ammunition for people to criticise him and the BRF for all the funerals he didn't attend. Now we see, Charles was obviously very close to Constantine - at least for a large part of his life - and he does not attend the funeral, this IMO suggests the UK sovereign doesn't attend funerals, simple as that. I suspect Charles will be very supportive towards the late King's family in the coming months and years which may well mean more to them than attendance for a few hours at the funeral. Let's move on.

 

[fandesacs2003]

I don't really mind Anne being the one going, she's a very senior royal and probably knew Constantine pretty well, it would also work as a way not to draw TOO much attention to the BRF now that Harold is dragging them all through the mud ¬¬

Both Anne and Charles attended the royal wedding in 1964 in Athens, together with their father.
Anne was also a bride made. Of course this does not mean anything.
I'm disappointed that neither Charles nor William will attend. But Anne is good representative also.

 

[Nico]

All royals were.

So it's diminishing the relations with the Windsors then ?

I don't see your point.

The BRF and the GRF have always been very close. Constantine and Anne-Marie have been entertained publicly and privately by the late Queen, Charles and Camilla for years.

As pointed out by Lucien, why this tread is morfing into a nitpicking battle and critics field against the BRF , again ?

 

[yukari]

Greece to Become Royal Hub for Former King Constantine’s Funeral

(...)

The conservative government rejected calls for a funeral with the honors of a head of state. It also rejected calls from the former royal family for the body to be placed on a popular pilgrimage.

Details for funeral arrangements were left up to Constantine’s family and the Church. It appears now his body will remain at the Metropolis for a few hours so that anyone who wants to pay their respects can do so.

Initially, it was announced that the government would be represented at the funeral by the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni. However, due to the growing number of European royals that are expected to arrive, it has been determined that representation will be upgraded with Deputy PM Panagiotis Pikrammenos.

(...)

It seems the funeral will be televised (so obviously they have to make Tatoi "presentable").

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnW6qYmMxiu/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

TELEVISION COVERAGE OF KING CONSTANTINE'S FUNERAL:

Inside the Cathedral of Athens and in the chapel of St. Eleftherios there will be public television coverage.
ERT will provide exclusive coverage of the funeral service in the Cathedral and the chapel. It will provide coverage on all private channels.
The procession, which will start from the Cathedral and reach Tatoi, will be covered only by the private television channels up to the entrance of Tatoi.
At the royal cemetery, due to the presence of foreign leaders and dignitaries, television coverage will again be on public television and will be given free to all private television channels.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnY1w7Ns-i5/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
(via IG translation)

On Monday, January 16, the measures at the Greek police at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens will begin to be applied at 06:00 in the morning, when the popular pilgrimage of the late King Constantine to the chapel of Agios Eleftherios will begin.

A perimeter will be created around the Cathedral and the chapel. A meaningful corridor with ribbons that will set the path of those who want to take part in the popular pilgrimage. At 10:30 the doors from the Chapel will be closed, citizens will be removed from the perimeter of the Metropolis and will only be allowed to be on its sidewalks on Metropolis Street.

Then, at 11:00 the King's body will be transferred inside the Metropolitan Cathedral and at 12:00 the funeral procession will begin.

It is noted that inside the Metropolitan church the attendance of the guests will be registered. The informal control will be carried out by EL officials, S.A.S., and representative of the royal family.

After the end of the funeral service, the motorcade will start to Tatoi where King Constantine will be buried.

(PS: perhaps members from Greece can help with better translation. I've only ever used Greek alphabet for my Physic and Algebra classes, not for writing sentences )

 

[Minister of Court]

The Michaelinian branch of the Kents may well make an unannounced appearance at the funeral. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the Mountbattens there too.

 

[tihkon2]

Anne is adequate and fine for the funeral in my opinion. Better than what Baden got in any case. And I read that the amount of people is also because of Covid worries. Which may or may not be true. But they don't want that church stuffed to the maximum, so I highly doubt you'll have more than a couple representatives from any given family. Except the closest relatives of course. Such as the groups from Denmark and Spain.

 

[lucien]

As always it becomes about the BRF. To be honest, if Charles had attended it would have just given ammunition for people to criticise him and the BRF for all the funerals he didn't attend. Now we see, Charles was obviously very close to Constantine - at least for a large part of his life - and he does not attend the funeral, this IMO suggests the UK sovereign doesn't attend funerals, simple as that. I suspect Charles will be very supportive towards the late King's family in the coming months and years which may well mean more to them than attendance for a few hours at the funeral. Let's move on.

Hear Hear Hear!!Exactly.

Greece to Become Royal Hub for Former King Constantine’s Funeral



It seems the funeral will be televised (so obviously they have to make Tatoi "presentable").

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnW6qYmMxiu/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=



https://www.instagram.com/p/CnY1w7Ns-i5/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
(via IG translation)

(PS: perhaps members from Greece can help with better translation. I've only ever used Greek alphabet for my Physic and Algebra classes, not for writing sentences )

Remember this is local time,GMT plus 2,or CET plus 1.

Athens will see the largest gathering of Royals since the wedding of the late King and Queen Anna Maria in 1964.

In case anyone wishes to watch it all on TV or via links provided for here.

 

[wartenberg7]

Pavlos and Marie Chantal arrive at the hotel with their children

https://www.legion-media.ru/event/en/1/8155651.143042

It is the Grande Bretagne. During the Monarchy they even held their return banquets there when they had a state visitor.

Queen Anne-Marie seems to be handling the situation with tremendous poise (her children and grandchildren are surely there for her), and no-one likes to see someone they love turned into a vegetable, especially when that certain someone used to be an athlete. Doña Sofia and Princess Irene look destroyed though. Heartbreaking images.

I agree, but The Queen still looks pretty much destroyed, tough. In her grief she has this typical royal poise!

 

[sophie25]

So it's diminishing the relations with the Windsors then ?

I don't see your point.

The BRF and the GRF have always been very close. Constantine and Anne-Marie have been entertained publicly and privately by the late Queen, Charles and Camilla for years.

As pointed out by Lucien, why this tread is morfing into a nitpicking battle and critics field against the BRF , again ?

My point is that all royals attended so their attendance didn't represent a special closeness to Charles or William.

 

[Izzie]

OMG...enough with pages and pages about the BRF...this isn't about them...I know it may shock some people but this funeral and the world in general does not revolve around them! I'm sure this funeral will be just fine even if they don't seem it important to grace it with their presence! Everytime a royal event abroad is announced whether happy or sad it becomes about will the BRF be there! Enough!

In order to swivel back to the lates King's actual family...the press release from the Danish Royal Family has been updated to include Prince Joachim as attending his uncle's funeral. Just a reminder Prince Joachim, along with Crown Prince Frederik are actual nephews of the late King. QMII and Princess Benedkte were his sisters-in-law.
https://www.kongehuset.dk/kalender/...kong-konstantin-ii-af-graekenlands-begravelse

Maybe this thread can get back to the more important actual subject matter of the King's passing, his funeral, his life and his actual family.

 

[IRIS1983]

King Constantine's funeral is private, and it's not official. I think this is clear. In the Family statement, it says that the burial in tatoi will be intimate. According to what I read, the Greek public television says that it will broadcast from inside the cathedral, and it affirms that it will also broadcast at the burial. If the family has said that the burial is intimate, and the Greek government has said that the funeral is that of a private person, without an official character, it even states that this person has no relationship with Greece, could someone explain to me, how the EPT is going to be broadcast? EPT is the Greek public television.
Also, it has always been said to speak about King Constantine onpublic Greek television,it was forbidden to do it. it would be ridiculous for that same channel to try to broadcast the funeral live

 

[lucien]

King Constantine's funeral is private, and it's not official. I think this is clear. In the Family statement, it says that the burial in tatoi will be intimate. According to what I read, the Greek public television says that it will broadcast from inside the cathedral, and it affirms that it will also broadcast at the burial. If the family has said that the burial is intimate, and the Greek government has said that the funeral is that of a private person, without an official character, it even states that this person has no relationship with Greece, could someone explain to me, how the EPT is going to be broadcast? EPT is the Greek public television.
Also, it has always been said to speak about King Constantine onpublic Greek television,it was forbidden to do it. it would be ridiculous for that same channel to try to broadcast the funeral live

It DOES have an official character as the Greek vice President will be in attendance...!

The Culture Mrs wouldn´t do regarding protocol so they were more of less
forced to scale the attendance of official Greece up,if only in light of the
Royal Heads of State attending!!

Dignataries and other people of Greek society are struggling...are we attending..or not...they do not even question if they will be invited or not...such is their notion of selfimportance...

Rather not,they were of no use when HM lived either.

And a big Thank You Izzie!!

 

[Hans-Rickard]

Can’t we just focus this thread on news updates about the upcoming funeral - and only that ?

Or maybe the mods can open another thread about the British Royals presence/absence at funerals ?

The funeral mass in Athens starts at 12 noon on Monday with or without British presence !

The rest of the world doesn’t fall apart after what the British RF does or doesn’t…

 

[kalnel]

Well, Princess Anne is a good representative for the BRF but I still feel it’s rather poor that the King, who was very close to King Constantine, won’t be there, nor will the Prince of Wales, who was his godson.

I read in one of the English papers yesterday that protocol is that the British monarch only attends the funeral of a sitting head of state of another country, if they choose to.

 

[tommy100]

Nice to see Joachim is going to attend. To be fair, I imagine it may have taken some time to check / sort being absent from work, it will no doubt be harder for those royals who are employee elsewhere than those only beholden to the Royal House.

Sadly Constantine's death has shown that even decades after the monarchy ended there is no set way for how to deal with the former King / former RF in Greece unlike other example elsewhere - Romania, Portugal, even German states all seem to have come to peace with their former RFs.

 

[lucien]

I read in one of the English papers yesterday that protocol is that the British monarch only attends the funeral of a sitting head of state of another country, if they choose to.

That is correct and the last time we saw that was with the funeral of the late King Baudouin of Belgium in 1993.. as Queen EII was in attendance.

All other funerals were,are,attended by the Heirs of Europe or those closest to the departed,but never the Monarch.Except,ofcourse,last september,that was dearest Aunt Lillibeth to most,so everybody went.

Constantinos II was always held in high esteem by ALL Royals,he,and his family,were part of celebrations and gatherings by all Royal Houses.His warmth,wit and sense for reality won everybodies heart over and over.
So yes,all come to bid him farewell,He was close with most,and closer with many.

From the times of the cruise on the Agamemnon,the weekends as well as
f.e. longer stays at Soestdijk Palace here in The Netherlands were all the Heirs and spares of Europe met for time with aunt Juliana and uncle Benilo,a swim,tennis or hunt,they all know eachother intimidly

 

[wartenberg7]

King Constantine's funeral is private, and it's not official. I think this is clear. In the Family statement, it says that the burial in tatoi will be intimate. According to what I read, the Greek public television says that it will broadcast from inside the cathedral, and it affirms that it will also broadcast at the burial. If the family has said that the burial is intimate, and the Greek government has said that the funeral is that of a private person, without an official character, it even states that this person has no relationship with Greece, could someone explain to me, how the EPT is going to be broadcast? EPT is the Greek public television.
Also, it has always been said to speak about King Constantine onpublic Greek television,it was forbidden to do it. it would be ridiculous for that same channel to try to broadcast the funeral live

Forbidden to speak about him..? My goodness, if this is true they are acting even more insane than the worst communist state back in the cold war...
And why then went the Crown Prince along with his brothers to see greek officials (somewhere I read it was even the PM) to talk about the proceedings of the funeral..?!
Claiming Constantine having "no relationship with Greece" (again, I doubt someone really said this. Perhaps someone staunch marxist..?) is the most ridiculous thing I heard these days and would speak of such appauling nastiness it would fail me to say anything. Even if he had never been the King, even he had been born abroad this was nonsense as he, in the past years, was a permanent resident in this country - so of course there was a relationship. The man was born and raised in Greece, went there to school, was in the country´s olympic athelete team and won the first gold medal for Greece ever, he became the head of state and started a family in Greece! Really, "no relationship"...?!

 

[JR76]

Nice to see Joachim is going to attend. To be fair, I imagine it may have taken some time to check / sort being absent from work, it will no doubt be harder for those royals who are employee elsewhere than those only beholden to the Royal House.

Sadly Constantine's death has shown that even decades after the monarchy ended there is no set way for how to deal with the former King / former RF in Greece unlike other example elsewhere - Romania, Portugal, even German states all seem to have come to peace with their former RFs.

I think the main difference is that Greece is the only European country, except Italy (who also have had a problematic relationship to their royal family), where the current regime is the one who deposed or directly followed the monarchy. In Germany, the Balkans, Portugal etc the current regimes have followed those who brought down their respective monarchies making it easier to deal with their former ruling houses. In Greece everyone within the political establishment are connected in one way or another to the fall of the monarchy and how the relationship between the former King and the Greek republic developed making it much harder to let bygones be bygones and move on.

 

[Nikolopoulus]

King Constantine's funeral is private, and it's not official. I think this is clear. In the Family statement, it says that the burial in tatoi will be intimate. According to what I read, the Greek public television says that it will broadcast from inside the cathedral, and it affirms that it will also broadcast at the burial. If the family has said that the burial is intimate, and the Greek government has said that the funeral is that of a private person, without an official character, it even states that this person has no relationship with Greece, could someone explain to me, how the EPT is going to be broadcast? EPT is the Greek public television.
Also, it has always been said to speak about King Constantine onpublic Greek television,it was forbidden to do it. it would be ridiculous for that same channel to try to broadcast the funeral live

The funeral will be intimate, no television channel or photographer can broadcast it. why? because this would violate the right to privacy. This would be terrible if ERT believed it had the right to broadcast it.
The funeral will be private, this has been said by the Greek government. In the chapel of St. Eleftherios, it will be opened at the request of the family. But to the cathedral, no.
Iris1983, You have said that there was a ban on Greek public television... This is true, Greek public television has been terrible with the royal family. It would be ridiculous, disgusting for that channel to broadcast that funeral. We have to remember that in the broadcasts of the Olympics, of all of them, Constantine being an honorary member of the Committee when the cameras focused on him, the channel cut it and avoided putting his image.

The channel has not said that it will broadcast live, the channel has said that it will only be able to record images of the interior and distribute it. This is not broadcasting live, this is recording the interior and later broadcasting images of the authorities and guests that interest the channel, sadly, it will not distribute images of Queen Anna Maria and her children from her, this is a lack of education but. .. The channel wants to control that there are no images of the family, and possibly of the coffin, with the Greek flag, and the decorations, as well as the gold olimpic medal, the channel will prevent these images from being recorded and distributed.
For this reason the channel have a monopoly on the images of St. Eleftherios. They do not want the images of the coffin of Constantine with the family banner and the Greek flag to be distributed. In addition, among the decorations and merits that will accompany the coffin, there will also be the Order of the Elephant, the Toison de Oro, the Olympic medal in Rome.... the government does not want these images to be distributed.

 

[Frelinghighness]

Very sad control of the media in Greece

 

[Prinsara]

In a twisted way, you would think the Greek government would finally be happy he's dead and they don't have to deal with him (or figure out how to awkwardly not-deal with him) anymore, but it seems it remains complicated.

 

[hereditarytitles]

Forbidden to speak about him..? My goodness, if this is true they are acting even more insane than the worst communist state back in the cold war...
And why then went the Crown Prince along with his brothers to see greek officials (somewhere I read it was even the PM) to talk about the proceedings of the funeral..?!
Claiming Constantine having "no relationship with Greece" (again, I doubt someone really said this. Perhaps someone staunch marxist..?) is the most ridiculous thing I heard these days and would speak of such appauling nastiness it would fail me to say anything. Even if he had never been the King, even he had been born abroad this was nonsense as he, in the past years, was a permanent resident in this country - so of course there was a relationship. The man was born and raised in Greece, went there to school, was in the country´s olympic athelete team and won the first gold medal for Greece ever, he became the head of state and started a family in Greece! Really, "no relationship"...?!

That is indeed an absurd statement. As far as I know there are no marxist or communist parties in Greece nowadays.

I watched most of the videos you sent me and really have to renounce my former views of the Greek Royals. Constantine comes across to me as a very intelligent, friendly and humorous man. I will watch further documentaries about him, his family and his history.

You know how I got the bad image of them? The Instagram presence of Pavlos wife and especially daughter Olympia caused that.

Maybe that is an oldfashioned view, but it really didn't impress me and I thought "what kind of royal family is this"and them always using their titles angered me
Because, if they had not the titles they just were affluent nobodys.

Please don't misunderstand me , all my respect for the Ex-King and his wife and his children and grandchildren, of whom we dont know much (except for Pavlos and his wife)

But that is the thing to do nowadays, being present on Instagram, TklTok and so on, and then it helps being royal.

But, again, that is just a glimpse of the whole picture. Reading or looking about what their other children are doing or not doing because they keep private, I have an interest in them (Like wishing for Theodora to marry, being happy about the youngest son having married Nina Flohr, Nicholaos happily married to Tatiana, Alexia, who we almost know nothing about, but is still happily married and has four childen)

I had never known so much about Constantine's history, now I know and , in comparison to other European countries that abolished monarchies, they really have treated him bad, which he did not deserve!

I feel especially for Annemarie, although she must have been prepared of her husband's pending death, it is still devasting, after such a long and happy marriage.

i wonder where she will be living in the future.But I am sure that her big family will support her.

 

[lucien]

The funeral will be intimate, no television channel or photographer can broadcast it. why? because this would violate the right to privacy. This would be terrible if ERT believed it had the right to broadcast it.
The funeral will be private, this has been said by the Greek government. In the chapel of St. Eleftherios, it will be opened at the request of the family. But to the cathedral, no.
Iris1983, You have said that there was a ban on Greek public television... This is true, Greek public television has been terrible with the royal family. It would be ridiculous, disgusting for that channel to broadcast that funeral. We have to remember that in the broadcasts of the Olympics, of all of them, Constantine being an honorary member of the Committee when the cameras focused on him, the channel cut it and avoided putting his image.

The channel has not said that it will broadcast live, the channel has said that it will only be able to record images of the interior and distribute it. This is not broadcasting live, this is recording the interior and later broadcasting images of the authorities and guests that interest the channel, sadly, it will not distribute images of Queen Anna Maria and her children from her, this is a lack of education but. .. The channel wants to control that there are no images of the family, and possibly of the coffin, with the Greek flag, and the decorations, as well as the gold olimpic medal, the channel will prevent these images from being recorded and distributed.
For this reason the channel have a monopoly on the images of St. Eleftherios. They do not want the images of the coffin of Constantine with the family banner and the Greek flag to be distributed. In addition, among the decorations and merits that will accompany the coffin, there will also be the Order of the Elephant, the Toison de Oro, the Olympic medal in Rome.... the government does not want these images to be distributed.

It is not only private

It will be broadcast

The Vice President is in attendance

As Are ALL the Royal Houses of Europe,meaning Heads of State.

They do comply with that fact,and broadcast.Next!!

 

[Prinsara]

Here's another Constantine documentary, with the very sympathetic Selina Scott.

It's very easy to believe he tried to do what he could for Greece for as long as he could. If some of his children and grandchildren have taken the pragmatic view to keep the decorative titles and live like private citizens, that's a separate story.


(And I honestly think the Greek government paying him his human rights money out of the disaster fund was sickeningly cynical.)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=lkA7CC1Y8pA

 

[maria-olivia]

I am sure they are working hard at Tatoi too plant trees , painting all that was white before cleaning etc.. This will be seen by the whole world!.

 

[Nikolopoulus]

It is not only private

It will be broadcast

The Vice President is in attendance

As Are ALL the Royal Houses of Europe,meaning Heads of State.

They do comply with that fact,and broadcast.Next!!

Yes, the Vice President will came out in the images, that's for sure, and greeting Royal Houses, but Queen Anne-Marie and her children will not be in the photo, and neither will the coffin with the Greek flag and medals

The funeral is of King Constantine, not a relative of the Vice President.

 

[Hans-Rickard]

It is not only private

It will be broadcast

The Vice President is in attendance

As Are ALL the Royal Houses of Europe,meaning Heads of State.

They do comply with that fact,and broadcast.Next!!

But has it really been said that the entire service will be broadcasted live ?

They should but the only thing i have read is that cameras from the state television will be inside and broadcast pictures to be distributed to other tv-companies…

Deputy Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos (who is Vice President of the Cabinet and not of the Country) is ofcourse only there to have someone of protocollary importance at the door to greet foreign heads of state… I bet it hurted for PM Mitsotakis to have to send his Deputy……

The minister of Culture is not more important than you and me and would be disrespectful to foreign dignitaries far above her rank… That wouldn’t sit well with the Greek Cabinet who wants this to be good pr for themselves - while at the same time continue to downgrade and stomp on the former royal family as much as possible…

I hope the always outspoken QMII who refused to make a state visit to Greece until her sister and brother-in-law was welcome back again, takes the opportunity to tell the Deputy PM what we all think….