Greek Royal News

[onar]

Gosh they all sound pretty fluent to me but I don't know what I'm listening to or if they have accents. I guess the Greek people tolerate them now? No one is throwing tomatoes at them in the streets right? It's a very strange thing to see former kings come back to their countries and very interesting to see how people react to it.

So far there are no intense/hostile reactions, thank God. Maybe Konstantinos and Anne Marie are hardly recognisable when they walk in the streets of Athens, I don't know.
There is no actual interest. Some gossip magazines post once a year photos of them walking around in Athens and there are some super rare reports on Niko's photo exhibitions and that's all.

[periwinkle]

Onar you are always kind to respond thank you. I wish I could go to Greece again soon it is such a special place. It seems like with the three oldest children at least that they lived as if they could go back one day soon. Of course it didn't happen for quite a while. I pick up a vibe from the queen that is very sympathetic. I get arrogance from the two oldest children to a certain degree and from Nikolaos I feel that he was arrogant as a younger man but is sincerely getting on with his life in a way that these second sons seem to have trouble with. He has a stable marriage and a creative outlet and lives full time in the country. I feel some sympathy toward the king for his losses and former status but without knowing much about how he carried out his duties before and after the coup I just don't know enough to say how much he did wrong versus how much the government did wrong I suspect they both made bad decisions. Since he is a bit infirm I hope he can live in peace with relative happiness from being back in Greece and having a large healthy family.

[onar]

Onar you are always kind to respond thank you. I wish I could go to Greece again soon it is such a special place. It seems like with the three oldest children at least that they lived as if they could go back one day soon. Of course it didn't happen for quite a while. I pick up a vibe from the queen that is very sympathetic. I get arrogance from the two oldest children to a certain degree and from Nikolaos I feel that he was arrogant as a younger man but is sincerely getting on with his life in a way that these second sons seem to have trouble with. He has a stable marriage and a creative outlet and lives full time in the country. I feel some sympathy toward the king for his losses and former status but without knowing much about how he carried out his duties before and after the coup I just don't know enough to say how much he did wrong versus how much the government did wrong I suspect they both made bad decisions. Since he is a bit infirm I hope he can live in peace with relative happiness from being back in Greece and having a large healthy family.

Thank you for your kind words.

I believe that Konstantinos is trully happy living here. Yes, his family is not originally come from Greece but the main me line lived here, grew up here for generations. IMO it's natural for Konstantinos to concider himself a greek and I cannot understand the voices that are opposite to this. If he wants to feel greek and identify himself as such, then let him be. He acted stupidly and that partly costed him his position but now he doesn't bother anyone.
His childre ... well Pavlos is stupid and accessory for his wife imo. Nikolaos is very likeable and I like that he has his life here, in Greece, with his wife. And she always, always speaks highly for the country.  Theo and Phil are irrelevant, I mean they don't appear to have any special bond. Alexia is my favourite but, unfortunately she is rarely seen. She did the best job, living far away, in peace, with her own family.

[onar]

General news from the Greek royal family!


I don't know if it's widely known, but here, in Easter we paint eggs (traditionaly in red colour).
Theodora showed us her red eggs in instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/B_LfO9knvYA/
Someone commented about dying eggs with onion skins and she mentioned her sister did the same!  
I was pretty surprised because we don't see Alexia as much as her siblings and we don't know how she feels about Greece and our traditions. I found it very nice, really!



One more find, I found it by accident and I had no idea I would come across the royal family:
This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuF0Ig0_H2E is from the 1992 Olympic Games, in Barcelona, when Voula Patoulidou earned the golden medal. She was the 1st female athlete (for Greece) that managed to go the final, in the Olympic Games.
The video is aprox. 10 minuted long. You can see the royals from 6.50, starting with Pavlos and Philippos cheering for her victory, then Sophia standing up in her seat, Irene is there, Konstantinos and Anne Marie of course, extremely happy as they watch the scene, even Alexia is there too! Great video for so many reasons, Voula Patoulidou's victory open a new world for female athletes in Greece and I loved watching the royal family being so genuinely happy for her victory, concidering how the greek state treated them.

[Principessa]

General news from the Greek royal family!


I don't know if it's widely known, but here, in Easter we paint eggs (traditionaly in red colour).
Theodora showed us her red eggs in instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/B_LfO9knvYA/
Someone commented about dying eggs with onion skins and she mentioned her sister did the same!  
I was pretty surprised because we don't see Alexia as much as her siblings and we don't know how she feels about Greece and our traditions. I found it very nice, really!



One more find, I found it by accident and I had no idea I would come across the royal family:
This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuF0Ig0_H2E is from the 1992 Olympic Games, in Barcelona, when Voula Patoulidou earned the golden metal. She was the 1st female athlete (for Greece) that managed to go the final, in the Olympic Games.
The video is aprox. 10 minuted long. You can see the royals from 6.50, starting with Pavlos and Philippos cheering for her victory, then Sophia standing up in her seat, Irene is there, Konstantinos and Anne Marie of course, extremely happy as they watch the scene, even Alexia is there too! Great video for so many reasons, Voula Patoulidou's victory open a new world for female athletes in Greece and I loved watching the royal family being so genuinely happy for her victory, concidering how the greek state treated them.

Interesting!

Is there a reason why the eggs are mostly colored red?

As to my knowledge in NL eggs are also colored/painted/etc. during Easter. There is even somewhere on the internet a clip of little Amalia who is busy decorating eggs for Easter, together with her parents and baby Alexia. Funny is that Amalia drops an egg, and ask for a new one

"Ohh oh... Mag ik een nieuwe?" ("Ohh oh....May I have a new one?")

During Easter eggs coloring in 2006, just after Amalia dropped her Easter egg on the floor.


Also thank you very much about the info of the Greek female athlete in the final. Wonderful that the royals were so enthusiastic for her!

[onar]

Principessa, there are theories about the red colour. It's mostly associated with Jesus' red blood.

[onar]

The last few years, I don't know exactly when it started, there is a try in the Ministry of Culture and an organisation of civialians, in order to restore the Tatoi Palace. So, there was an annoucement, in the palace were found four 4 FOUR royal carriages, including the one Sofia used in her wedding with Juan Carlos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is said that, until today, nobody knew where these carriages were.

[Kristallinchen]

The last few years, I don't know exactly when it started, there is a try in the Ministry of Culture and an organisation of civialians, in order to restore the Tatoi Palace. So, there was an annoucement, in the palace were found four 4 FOUR royal carriages, including the one Sofia used in her wedding with Juan Carlos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is said that, until today, nobody knew where these carriages were.

How can a carriage just disappear? 

They're not still small after all. But glad that they've been found.

[periwinkle]

Is this the palace on the main square in Athens where the soldiers guard the tomb of the unknowns? How many palaces are in Greece I wonder because I heard there was no natural aristocracy there unlike other European countries.

[TLLK]

perwinkle-It's the Summer palace located in the mountains outside of Athens.  Also the royal cemetery is located on the grounds. Constantine's parents along with other ancestors (ie Prince Andrew (DoE's father) are buried there and the family were sometimes allowed to go there for anniversaries before being permitted to reside in Greece.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatoi_Palace

George I of the Hellenes obtained the estate during the 1880s, purchasing it with private funds he had brought from Denmark. In 1916, during World War I, the house was burned down.

In the 1920s, most of the estate was stolen from its owners, but in 1936 it was returned to George II of the Hellenes.

During the Second World War, when George II of the Hellenes was in exile and Greeks suffered considerable hardships under German occupation, the woods at Tatoi were chopped down for fuel and corpses were buried in shallow graves.[1]

King Geórgios II regained possession of the estate in 1946. It passed down as private property to Constantine II of the Hellenes until 1994, when the royal estates were confiscated by the government of Andreas Papandreou.[2] Constantine took the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, who ruled in his favour in 2003. They were not able to force the return of the estates, but they were able to legally force the government to pay him €12m in compensation; this amounted to only one percent of its real worth. The government paid his compensation from the Greek Natural Disasters fund trying to embarrass Constantine by claiming by paying out money to him he was harming the Greek people in need. Constantine used the funds to set up the "Anna Maria Foundation" to provide grants to needy Greeks in time of hardship caused by natural disasters. The fund is named after former Queen Anne-Marie.

[Gemsheal]

Tatoi is the Duke of Edinburgh's birthplace, too.   I hope it can all be restored some day.  I would love to explore the house & the cemetery.       

[onar]

The last few years, I don't know exactly when it started, there is a try in the Ministry of Culture and an organisation of civialians, in order to restore the Tatoi Palace. So, there was an annoucement, in the palace were found four 4 FOUR royal carriages, including the one Sofia used in her wedding with Juan Carlos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is said that, until today, nobody knew where these carriages were.

How can a carriage just disappear? 

They're not still small after all. But glad that they've been found.

Not all the rooms and the side-buildings had been explored and I don't know if some rooms are still locked.


Here https://www.tatoi.org/kti...tatoiou/syntomo-istoriko/ in the middle of the page aprx. you can find the history of the Tatoi palace in english.

And this is their Home page https://www.tatoi.org/ You can click on the photos below "donate" button, there are more photos.

[periwinkle]

Thank you all for your responses. It was a cute "little" country place then. It's a real mess now I hope they get the help they need. I don't read Greek but it looks like they want to turn it into an agricultural estate like Chatsworth? I read Prince Philip was born on the dining room table.

[onar]

Thank you all for your responses. It was a cute "little" country place then. It's a real mess now I hope they get the help they need. I don't read Greek but it looks like they want to turn it into an agricultural estate like Chatsworth? I read Prince Philip was born on the dining room table.

The natural environment around the palace has a variable of fauna and flora, it needs to be saved and protected. It would also be a great opportunity for people to learn about nature etc. The buildings have to be restored and the main goal is for the Palace to be turned to a museum and be open to the public.

[TLLK]

Tatoi is the Duke of Edinburgh's birthplace, too.   I hope it can all be restored some day.  I would love to explore the house & the cemetery.        

Slight correction, the DoE was born on the island of Corfu at Mon Repos. Like you I'd love to see Tatoi restored and open to the public too

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_Repos,_Corfu

The villa was built as a summer residence for the British Lord High Commissioner of the United States of the Ionian Islands, Frederick Adam, and his second wife (a Corfiot), Diamantina 'Nina' Palatino, in 1828–1831, although they had to vacate the villa soon afterwards in 1832 when Adam was sent to serve in India. The villa was rarely used as a residence for the later British governors. In 1833, it housed a school of fine arts, while in 1834, the park was opened to the public. Empress Elisabeth of Austria stayed there in 1863. Here she fell in love with the island, where she later built the Achilleion Palace.

After the union with Greece in 1864, the villa was granted to King George I of the Hellenes as a summer residence; he renamed it Mon Repos. The royal family used it as a summer residence up until King Constantine II fled the country in 1967. The villa subsequently became derelict, but was restored in the 1990s.

Several royal births have taken place at the villa, including those of Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark on 26 June 1914, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 10 June 1921, and Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark on 10 July 1965[/quote]