It would be quite humiliating for the "heir " to the Greek throne to guard the President of the Hellenic Republic. And outside a palace which the Republic expropriated from his own family, of all places!Reading previous comments, I have noticed that the news is contradictory:
Constantine does not speak Greek, he may speak very basic Greek, but he asked the journalists to ask their questions in English at the entrance to the church the day before the wedding, in conclusion he does not speak Greek. The news says that he is thinking of doing military service in the Special Forces, this is true, the Special Forces require very hard training, and this is true, they prepare soldiers for combat... If you add to this the fact that Constantine does not speak Greek well, it is very difficult to believe that, in case of being called up to the army, he will join the Special Forces . Not knowing the language can be very dangerous, in this army section, where it is essential to know the language.
On the other hand, military service, according to what I read, is obligatory for all Greeks, those who live in Greece and abroad. I have read that language is not an impediment. . They are obviously assigned to army corps where language is not so important.
I believe that in Navy, language is also essential, but in the Evzones (the presidential guard), where, as I read in a Facebook comment, the minimum height required is 1.87 meters, it may be the corps to which they send a Greek over 1.87 meters who does not speak the language well.
They are trained for the guards in Syntagma Square, at the Presidential Palace... The Evzones have a great symbolic value.
The Evzones do not speak in their guards, they remain silent,
He would have to learn the steps of the Evzones, remain still without moving for hours, putting up with the tourists, and when the time for the change came, Constantine would have to stop as they do, slowly raising his leg up to the knee first... Many Evzones are young Greeks doing their military service.
Doing military service in the evzones is an honor for many Greeks, due to the symbolic value and representation of Greece that they have.
Finally, I would like to say that what the Evzones do requires a lot of training and perfection, it is not as easy as I have described, it is very complicated and doing it well is a great responsibility. But language can be so relevant .
However, I believe the palace you are referring to at Syntagma Square is actually the "Old Royal Palace", which now houses the Greek Parliament rather than the Presidential Mansion. The president's residence is the former "New Royal Palace" next to the National Garden (formerly the Royal Garden).
Anyway, I still do not understand why the Family has imposed all those demands on Constantine-Alexios. Why can't he just be a filmmaker in California as he wanted to? He is already a dual British/American citizen, why did he need to become a Greek citizen too? He will never be King of the Hellenes, so this is all futile.
Last edited: