FAQ
The members of the Royal Family are not represented by any individual, institution, or organisation – Greek or international – other than their Private Office in Athens.
The Royal Family does not support any royalist (so-called “royal” in the Greek) organisations. These operate exclusively on the initiative of their members.
Lastly, the Royal Family does not support any political party in any way – financially, ideologically, or otherwise.
Official and accurate information is released by the Royal Family solely via this website and its Private Office (noted above).
The only official accounts run by the Royal Family on social media platforms are the ones listed on this website:
Instagram
@pavlosgreece
@mariechantal22
@princenikolaos
@tgreece
@ninaflohr
@olympiagreece
@alexiosgreece
@achi_of_greece
@odysseas_of_greece
@aristides_of_greece
X
@pavlosgr1
Here is the correct form of address: Queen Anne-Marie, former Queen of the Hellenes. All other members of the family are similarly styled.
These stylings were first set out in the 1815 Treaty of Vienna, which states that they are hereditary lifetime titles retained even in the event their associated royal offices cease to exist.
In 1996, the Hellenic Council of State – the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece – decreed (in Ruling No. 4575/1996) that these titles do not designate nobility but rather function as personal identifiers.
Up until 1994 and the passing of Law 2215/1994 by the Greek government, all members of the Royal Family were Greek nationals and Greek passport holders, without this ever giving rise to civil issues of any kind. In essence, this law stripped them of their Greek citizenship, leaving all members of the Royal Family stateless as a result. The law also set out a series of conditions that needed to be fulfilled before their Greek citizenship could be acquired anew, including the registration of a surname. It is unfortunate that this matter of citizenship was linked to the issue of the royal estate, which was dominating headlines at the time and was the issue that the law was seeking to regulate.
Right through to the end of his life, King Constantine II held out hope that an understanding could be reached that would solve this citizenship issue. Beyond the purely practical problems it created for himself and his family, it also caused him great emotional distress.
Glücksburg is a small coastal town in Schleswig, Germany. The House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg – from which the line of King George I of Greece descends – never used this toponym as a surname.
The name Glücksburg was first used in Greece to advance the political agenda of the British propaganda machine by highlighting the German roots of the dynasty of King Constantine I, who wanted to maintain neutrality at the time and stop Greece from entering the First World War to fight alongside British forces.
Constitutional Law Professor Nikos Alizatos had this to note about the use of Glücksburg as the surname of the Royal Family, speaking on the ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation) current affairs programme “365 Stigmés” (“365 Moments”) with the TV journalist Sofia Papaioannou: “It is precisely in light of the First World War that there exists this incredible document – sent by the British Foreign Office to the Greek government headed by Eleftherios Venizelos – suggesting that they slowly start calling [King] Constantine [I] a Glücksburg in order to turn Greek public opinion against him. And it seems this is how the name stuck. Clearly this was not done without bias, and that is why the name is rejected by the Royal Family.”
In any case, when the Second National Assembly of the Hellenes voted to become a Crown Democracy and invited Prince William of Denmark to take the Greek throne as sovereign in 1863, he was given the regnal name George I, King of the Hellenes. Not a single subsequent King of the Hellenes took or used a surname – all went by their Christian names alone.
Furthermore, in a letter (dated 1 July 1983) sent to the Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, the Danish Prime Minister Poul Schlüter confirmed that “from the reign of King Christian IX onwards, no Danish king or member of the Danish royal family bore – or currently bears – the name Glücksburg, or any other surname.”
FAQ
The members of the Royal Family are not represented by any individual, institution, or organisation – Greek or international – other than their Private Office in Athens.
The Royal Family does not support any royalist (so-called “royal” in the Greek) organisations. These operate exclusively on the initiative of their members.
Lastly, the Royal Family does not support any political party in any way – financially, ideologically, or otherwise.
Official and accurate information is released by the Royal Family solely via this website and its Private Office (noted above).
The only official accounts run by the Royal Family on social media platforms are the ones listed on this website:
Instagram
@pavlosgreece
@mariechantal22
@princenikolaos
@tgreece
@ninaflohr
@olympiagreece
@alexiosgreece
@achi_of_greece
@odysseas_of_greece
@aristides_of_greece
X
@pavlosgr1
Here is the correct form of address: Queen Anne-Marie, former Queen of the Hellenes. All other members of the family are similarly styled.
These stylings were first set out in the 1815 Treaty of Vienna, which states that they are hereditary lifetime titles retained even in the event their associated royal offices cease to exist.
In 1996, the Hellenic Council of State – the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece – decreed (in Ruling No. 4575/1996) that these titles do not designate nobility but rather function as personal identifiers.
Up until 1994 and the passing of Law 2215/1994 by the Greek government, all members of the Royal Family were Greek nationals and Greek passport holders, without this ever giving rise to civil issues of any kind. In essence, this law stripped them of their Greek citizenship, leaving all members of the Royal Family stateless as a result. The law also set out a series of conditions that needed to be fulfilled before their Greek citizenship could be acquired anew, including the registration of a surname. It is unfortunate that this matter of citizenship was linked to the issue of the royal estate, which was dominating headlines at the time and was the issue that the law was seeking to regulate.
Right through to the end of his life, King Constantine II held out hope that an understanding could be reached that would solve this citizenship issue. Beyond the purely practical problems it created for himself and his family, it also caused him great emotional distress.
Glücksburg is a small coastal town in Schleswig, Germany. The House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg – from which the line of King George I of Greece descends – never used this toponym as a surname.
The name Glücksburg was first used in Greece to advance the political agenda of the British propaganda machine by highlighting the German roots of the dynasty of King Constantine I, who wanted to maintain neutrality at the time and stop Greece from entering the First World War to fight alongside British forces.
Constitutional Law Professor Nikos Alizatos had this to note about the use of Glücksburg as the surname of the Royal Family, speaking on the ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation) current affairs programme “365 Stigmés” (“365 Moments”) with the TV journalist Sofia Papaioannou: “It is precisely in light of the First World War that there exists this incredible document – sent by the British Foreign Office to the Greek government headed by Eleftherios Venizelos – suggesting that they slowly start calling [King] Constantine [I] a Glücksburg in order to turn Greek public opinion against him. And it seems this is how the name stuck. Clearly this was not done without bias, and that is why the name is rejected by the Royal Family.”
In any case, when the Second National Assembly of the Hellenes voted to become a Crown Democracy and invited Prince William of Denmark to take the Greek throne as sovereign in 1863, he was given the regnal name George I, King of the Hellenes. Not a single subsequent King of the Hellenes took or used a surname – all went by their Christian names alone.
Furthermore, in a letter (dated 1 July 1983) sent to the Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, the Danish Prime Minister Poul Schlüter confirmed that “from the reign of King Christian IX onwards, no Danish king or member of the Danish royal family bore – or currently bears – the name Glücksburg, or any other surname.”