King Constantine II of Greece was born in Athens on June 2nd 1940. He was the son of Prince Paul of Greece and his wife Princess Frederica of Hanover. Constantine was their second child and only son. Constantine has two sisters, (former) Queen Sofia of Spain is the older and Princess Irene of Greece & Denmark is the younger. At the time of his birth Constantine's uncle King George II was reigning. Constantine was second in line to the throne after his father.
When he was just one year old the Nazis invaded Greece and his family was sent into exile. Constantine spent the war years in Egypt and Cape Town, South Africa. In 1946 after the end of WW2 his family returned to Greece. Sadly a year later in 1947 Constantine's uncle died and his father became King Paul of Greece. Seven year old Constantine became Crown Prince Constantine.
The Crown Prince attended boarding school and was noted to be above average academically. Afterwards he went into the military and spent time serving in all three branches (land, air, navy). During this time he attended NATO Air Force Special Weapons school in Germany. After this he went to study law at the University of Athens.
Like many royals Constantine enjoys his sport and competed in the Summer Olympics of 1960 in Rome. Constantine won a Gold Medal for Greece in Sailing. Constantine also enjoyed karate, squash, track events and horse riding.
Constantine's father Paul died of cancer in 1963 and at age 23 he became King Constantine II of Greece. Two years after his reign began the Constantine and the Greek Prime Minister's relationship deteriorated. This was mostly due to the Prime Minister's son who was aligned with the political left. Greece wanted nothing to do with any left wing politics as they were still reeling from the effects of Nazi occupation just 20 years prior.
Events with the Prime Minister's son led to the dismissal of the PM and Constantine appointed a new Prime Minister. The new PM was unable to gain the confidence of the government meaning more problems for the new king. In the one year between 1965 and 1966 Greece went through a number of Prime Ministers and strikes became a regular occurrence in the country.
Finally on 21st April 1967 the right wing nationalist group in Greece began a coup. On 13th December of the same year King Constantine launched a counter coup. Since Athens was now in the hands of the military the King took his wife Queen Anne-Marie, two children (Princess Alexia and Crown Prince Pavlos), his mother Queen Frederica, sister Princess Irene and fled to the city of Kavala where he would organise his armed forces.
Sadly his plans did not work and the Junta (military) arrested the royal loyalists. The next day on 14th December Constantine and his family went into exile in Rome. Constantine remained as King of Greece until July 1st 1973 which was then the new republic was formed. However Constantine was in exile the whole time and never returned to Greece in the role of King.
In 1974 Greece held a referendum to decide whether to restore the monarchy. King Constantine was living with his family in London at the time and admitted his mistakes, specifically getting involved in the politics of the country. Only 31% of Greeks voted to restore the royal family. With the result Constantine promised that he & his mother would stay away from the country.
Constantine did not return home until 1981 when the government allowed him to return for just a few hours to bury his mother Queen Frederica in the family cemetery. In 1992 Constantine gave up most of the land he owned within Greece to a non-profit organisation. Constantine attempted to visit in 1993 but left due to security reasons. In 1994 the Greek Prime Minister stripped Constantine of his remaining property and his Greek citizenship. Constantine took the Greek government to the European Court of Human Rights and sued them for the seizure of his property as well as property belonging to his sisters Princesses Irene and Ekaterini. He won 12 million pounds of the 50 he wanted back. Naturally the new Greek Republic did not, and still does not recognise his royal titles.
Constantine successfully returned to Greece in 2004 for the Athens Olympics as a member of the International Olympic Committee. As Constantine is also a Prince of Denmark he was able to travel with his Danish passport. After residing for a long time in London, Constantine and Anne-Marie moved back to Greece in 2013.
Constantine's family life is just as interesting as short reign as King of Greece. Constantine married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark on September 18th 1964. Anne-Marie is the youngest daughter of King Frederick IX of Denmark and sister the current monarch, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Constantine and Anne-Marie have five children together (two born in Greece and 3 born in exile).
1). Princess Alexia of Greece & Denmark (July 10th 1965)
2). Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece (20th May 1967)
3). Prince Nikolaos of Greece & Denmark (1st October 1969)
4). Princess Theodora of of Greece & Denmark (9th June 1983)
5). Prince Philippos of Greece & Denmark (26th April 1986)
Constantine and Anne-Marie also have 9 grandchildren via Alexia and Pavlos.
Constantine happens to be related to many European royals. As mentioned above he is the brother-in-law of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and uncle to her children Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim through his wife. His sister was Queen Sofia of Spain before her husband King Juan Carlos I abdicated. Constantine is therefore the uncle to their children which includes King Felipe VI of Spain. In addition Constantine was a first cousin to Alexandra, (former) Queen of Yugoslavia, a nephew of Queen Helen of Romania, a second cousin to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and his first cousin on his mother's side, Prince Ernst August V is married to Princess Caroline of Monaco, making him a first cousin, once removed to their daughter Princess Alexandra of Hanover. He is also a cousin to the Swedish royal family through his wife as her mother is Princess Ingrid of Sweden.
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