The King

I saw The King once. No, not Elvis, at least not in person. It was King Constantine II, king of Greece. And I saw him in 1964 as he was driving away from the palace with his new wife, Ann-Marie from Denmark. Constantine was driving a sports car, maybe a convertible, maybe not. I don't remember everything.

Constantine had just ascended to the throne, and he had just married Ann-Marie. The lamp posts around the palace were topped off with Danish and Greek flags. It was nice day in July, or maybe it was August. It was pleasantly warm.

I was in Greece visiting my Uncle George and Aunt Maria, and my three cousins. George was an older brother of my father and was a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral who settled in Athens after leaving the service in the late 1950s. He did engineering consulting work for some concern that of course had contracts with the United States. First you do good, then you try and do well.

They lived in a nice area of Athens, a few blocks from the Grande Bretagne Hotel, which is like living near the Plaza Hotel if you were in New York. They had a live-in housekeeper, Dimitri, I think.

The oldest of my three cousins, Angelica, who was probably five years older than me ( and still is), was excited about the new king and his bride. From news reports she knew she could get a glimpse of the king if she hung outside the palace at a certain time. There would be a good chance he would emerge, and come humming down the driveway. 

I don't remember much of the palace as a building, but it certainly wasn't extremely large or ostentatious. A good size library perhaps, with nice landscaping. How many bedrooms and bathrooms I couldn't tell you.

The day my cousin picked for the viewing he did emerge. There was a small scrum of well-wishers doing the same thing, and it was easy to get close. And sure enough, out he came, with Anne-Marie in the passenger seat, motoring down the driveway, waving to the cheering group of people.

I don't remember any kind of motorcade, or security trying to keep up. He was going moderately fast, headed who knows where a king and queen go at that hour of the morning. Pick up the papers?

I followed Greek politics for awhile after that. I was aware of the junta overthrow and the king's exile in London. And that his exile from power in Greece was permanent. I learned a few things from the NYT obit that has just appeared by Niki Kitsantonis, a Greek correspondent for The Times.

I didn't realize that eventually Constantine wasn't very popular, and that the idea of a monarchy wasn't well thought of either. I didn't know he was a descendant of the Danish Glücksburg monarchy. I didn't know that all through his exile he insisted on being addressed as "your majesty." (By visitors, not by  members of his family.)

He didn't use a surname, even when one would have been required to attain a Greek passport after his exile. He insisted on being called Constantine, one name, like Cher, Anne-Margaret, Madonna, and Jay-Z.

Prince Constantine on the right

I did know he won an Olympic gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome for a sailing competition. This contributed to his popularity as he ascended the throne from his father Kind Paul in 1964. It wasn't long-lasting enough, as he interfered in Greek politics and lost the trust of the people, and particularly the colonels who overthrew the government in 1967.

After living in the States for decades, my cousin Angelica retired to Greece somewhere. I wonder if she'll go to the funeral in Athens for one last look at the king.

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