Greek Royal News

[miliosr]

Nikos Alivizatos: Look, monarchy in Greece - I think that was its big sin - from the era of Konstantinos I abonded the "above parties and neutrality" thesis.  They took the leading role in politics favouring a wing and this wing was the concervative one. Konstantinos did this when he took the side of Anti-Venizelikoi, George II did it when he allowed or, someone may say, when he forced the Metaxas' dictatorship. Konstantinos II took up the trone under the best circumstances. Young king, with George Papandreou as prime minister elected with 52%. How he managed in less that 1,5 year to loose the appeal he had into the people... that is something that it has to be taught. He payed this. First of all the Iouliana [In July 15th 1965 prime minister George Papandreou was forced to abdicate because the king wanted for himself the position of the ministry of Defence] and secondary the April 21st [when the Junta took up]

And this doesn't even take into account Paul and Frederika!

Thank you again, onar, for translating. This has been a very interesting read.

[onar]

Sofia Papaioannou: Have your father ever told you if he had regrets about anything, if he had made mistakes , if he had the intention to show you what things someone has to avoid.
Nikolaos: Getting to know him and having seen the way he used to behave and he used to talk, according to my opinion, a mistake - which is easy to say it was a mistake after everything had happened - but the time of the referendum he had to come back. That time he had put his trust on some people who advised him that they'll take some issues until the time is right for him to come back. [I know the structure here is off with the v. advise but that's hw exactly Nikolaos said it, it's a structural mistake in greek as well but I'm trying to be true to their speach as much as I can] These people probably made him sad and they didn't pay back his trust.

I think what Nikolaos is discussing here can be extracted from a feature Bob Colacello wrote for Vanity Fair 28 (!) years ago:

https://archive.vanityfai...01/king-without-a-country

Here's the relevant part:

Constantine had one more chance to show his mettle, in 1974, when the military regime disintegrated during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and former prime minister Karamanlis was asked back to form a government. "Karamanlis called me from Paris, absolutely hysterical, asking me what he should do," Constantine revealed. "I said, 'Look, the most important thing for you to do is to calm down and find a plane and go back to Greece, because we are on the verge of war with Turkey. The colonels have collapsed; we need to have a serious, proper, sensible government to take over.' He said, 'I'll think about it and I'll call you back.' He did call me back and said, 'Sir'—he was now quite calm—'I have not said anything on the issue of the monarchy to the colonels on the telephone, because it's obvious the last thing they want is the king back. I will wait until I get into the country, and then I will issue the statement to them that I have to swear my allegiance to the legal head of state.' . . . And I said to him, 'That's fine.' He said, 'Would you please wait by the telephone, sir, and as soon as I get into the country, I'll call you to come back.' And I'm still waiting."

The Colacello article is a 'good read' (if you choose to read it in its entirety) but I would caution that he simplifies events considerably and relies heavily on Constantine's version of reality. And some of the remarks made by pro-Constantine supporters are obnoxious: "It doesn't matter anymore if the Greeks want Constantine back or not. The Millers can buy him Greece."

I have read about it as well. Karamanlis played him for good, I don't completely get why though. He was a man looking at the future, that's for sure. Maybe he saw that monarchy wasn't for Greece. Maybe he was afraid that Konstantinos will push him as he had pushed Papandreou to step down. I don't think he was afraid of Konstantinos' popularity though because Konstantinos has messed it all up big time, so I don't think he could ever gain his status and his appeal - but I do believe he should had come back, just to show he cared about the country. Now it looks like he was waiting for others to tell him what to do and the only time he acted on his own, he did everything wrong. That's not good for a king.

[periwinkle]

I think you neuter yourself if you have at that point lived outside of the country for seven years. It is hard to agitate from the outside as a general rule in life. Away from daily newspapers and tv reports away from the people. I wonder if he and the family should have come back from Rome very quietly at some point after having left. To at least say we are Greek and this is our home whether or not we reign. He leaned too hard on prior family periods of exile as an appropriate course of action when the optics were different in the late sixties and early seventies.

[onar]

I used to talk to my children about the difference between the correct answer and the right answer. Pavlos gave the correct answer. Nikolaos gave the right answer. Onar you are a gem thank you so much.

I wanted to comment on this but I've forgotten it! I like the distiction! 

I think you neuter yourself if you have at that point lived outside of the country for seven years. It is hard to agitate from the outside as a general rule in life. Away from daily newspapers and tv reports away from the people. I wonder if he and the family should have come back from Rome very quietly at some point after having left. To at least say we are Greek and this is our home whether or not we reign. He leaned too hard on prior family periods of exile as an appropriate course of action when the optics were different in the late sixties and early seventies.

I cannot imagine he didn't have access to the press. He must have known! If he didn't used to read the newspapers... that's on him. He couldn't possibly have access to the tv news and maybe his consultants transfered to him the news incorrectly but he could have the newspapers delivered at his home.

[ralf103]

Any comment from the new head of the former RF on the wildfires affecting parts of Greece?

[onar]

Any comment from the new head of the former RF on the wildfires affecting parts of Greece?

I haven't noticed anything. I know MC posted a summery pic of Pavlos implying they were in Greece but I haven't seen anything else.

[miliosr]

Any comment from the new head of the former RF on the wildfires affecting parts of Greece?

While I'm not terribly sympathetic to the Greek Royal Family (except for Anne-Marie), I do think they're 'damned if they do, damned if they don't' when it comes to events like the Greek wildfires. If they comment to the press, they're criticized for intruding on the legitimate functions of the republican government. If they don't comment, they're criticized as being ambivalent about Greece and only Greek on the most superficial of levels.

[Kristallinchen]

Any comment from the new head of the former RF on the wildfires affecting parts of Greece?

While I'm not terribly sympathetic to the Greek Royal Family (except for Anne-Marie), I do think they're 'damned if they do, damned if they don't' when it comes to events like the Greek wildfires. If they comment to the press, they're criticized for intruding on the legitimate functions of the republican government. If they don't comment, they're criticized as being ambivalent about Greece and only Greek on the most superficial of levels.

If they ayy something along the lines of... We're sorry for the losses of lives and nature... I don't think that anybody could/would criticize them.

[onar]

Any comment from the new head of the former RF on the wildfires affecting parts of Greece?

While I'm not terribly sympathetic to the Greek Royal Family (except for Anne-Marie), I do think they're 'damned if they do, damned if they don't' when it comes to events like the Greek wildfires. If they comment to the press, they're criticized for intruding on the legitimate functions of the republican government. If they don't comment, they're criticized as being ambivalent about Greece and only Greek on the most superficial of levels.

If they ayy something along the lines of... We're sorry for the losses of lives and nature... I don't think that anybody could/would criticize them.

I agree. They stay neutral, not ignoring the situation.
However... with the money they took as refund from the greek state, they started the Anna Maria foundation in order to help Greek people who have been suffered from natural disasters. Months ago, I read or I heard Pavlos saying that they want to "reactivate" the foundation.
I was intesively wondering about it since 2007, when we had major fires in the north Peloponnese.
I don't know why they need to reactivate it, I have no clue about the laws on these field - maybe there was something blocking them? I don't know but it seems the foundation never worked the way it was supposed to. Now it's a very good time to actually help people - although I admit some people will see it as interefering or hypocritical but these voices are everywhere anyway.

[ralf103]

I would think a very neutral comment offering sympathies and hope couldn't do much harm, and definitely better than saying nothing.

I wondered about the Anna Maria foundation as well, it was created with natural disasters and fires in mind so now would be a very good time for it to be active.

This is from the GRFs website (which has been inactive for many many years):

https://greekroyalfamily..../index.cfm?get=foundation

Objective   
To provide aid to regions or groups of people who have suffered damages due to natural disasters.

Activities   
The Foundation's objective is vast, due to the array of natural disasters in Greece (earthquakes, floods, frost, heat waves etc).

[lyndell75]

https://twitter.com/ChristinsQueens

[Gemsheal]

https://twitter.com/ChristinsQueens

Mmmmm seeing Anne Marie on the slopes with her youngest ..  & photographed by OK!  was this a paid outing, well whatever it's ugh, IMO.  I thought she had more class.

[getafix]

Any comment from the new head of the former RF on the wildfires affecting parts of Greece?

While I'm not terribly sympathetic to the Greek Royal Family (except for Anne-Marie), I do think they're 'damned if they do, damned if they don't' when it comes to events like the Greek wildfires. If they comment to the press, they're criticized for intruding on the legitimate functions of the republican government. If they don't comment, they're criticized as being ambivalent about Greece and only Greek on the most superficial of levels.

If they ayy something along the lines of... We're sorry for the losses of lives and nature... I don't think that anybody could/would criticize them.

I agree. They stay neutral, not ignoring the situation.
However... with the money they took as refund from the greek state, they started the Anna Maria foundation in order to help Greek people who have been suffered from natural disasters. Months ago, I read or I heard Pavlos saying that they want to "reactivate" the foundation.
I was intesively wondering about it since 2007, when we had major fires in the north Peloponnese.
I don't know why they need to reactivate it, I have no clue about the laws on these field - maybe there was something blocking them? I don't know but it seems the foundation never worked the way it was supposed to. Now it's a very good time to actually help people - although I admit some people will see it as interefering or hypocritical but these voices are everywhere anyway.

...maybe it is a tax dodge? 

G

[miliosr]

Mmmmm seeing Anne Marie on the slopes with her youngest ..  & photographed by OK!  was this a paid outing, well whatever it's ugh, IMO.  I thought she had more class.

Anne-Marie posing for OK! is a sad sight. The family has fallen far and hard from the days when they were a reigning and ruling royal house.

[getafix]

what is the younger woman (whose name I forgot) in the OK picture holding?

it looks like a sheep pelt and a book??

I can't work it out...

G