Prince Michael of Greece & Denmark 1939-2024

[Richard R]

Obit in the Times of 30 July 2024:

E X T R A C T

Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark obituary: cousin of Prince Philip

Author and historian who renounced his right of succession to the Greek throne to marry a commoner

“I do not envy him, the poor guy,” Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark said when his cousin King Charles III succeeded to the throne of the United Kingdom. “He does it with dedication. But I would not like that job at all.”

Michael and Charles were related via Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, whose father and Prince Michael’s father were brothers — but their lives were to take very different courses.

Almost 60 years before Charles’s ascension, Prince Michael had renounced his right of succession and those of his descendants to the Greek throne. It was not a renunciation as seismic in its consequences as the abdication of Edward VIII, for Prince Michael was only third in line to the Greek throne and unlikely to have been called to sit upon it.

Yet it was done for the same reason — to be free to marry a commoner — after he fell in love with Marina Karella, the daughter of Theodoros Karella, an Athens-based textile manufacturer, whom he met in 1963 in Amman, at a party thrown by King Hussein of Jordan, when she was an art student.

At the time, the expectation had been that he would marry Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy, the youngest daughter of the former King Umberto of Italy, but once he met Marina, his resolve was unshakable.

…He is survived by his wife, who did not take the title Princess or Her Royal Highness, but became Marína, Consort of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark and is an artist and sculptor whose work has been exhibited in galleries around the world.

He is further survived by their two daughters, Princess Alexandra Elli Francisca Maria of Greece, who followed her father’s example and married a non-royal, and Princess Olga Isabelle of Greece, who married into the former royal family of Italy.

…Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark was born in Rome in 1939, the only child of Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark, the youngest son of King George I of Greece, and his second wife, Princess Françoise d’Orléans, the daughter of Prince Jean d’Orléans, Duke of Guise, the Orléanist pretender to the Bourbon throne of France as Jean III.

Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, author and historian, was born on January 7, 1939. He died on July 28, 2024, aged 85

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/prince-michael-of-greece-and-denmark-obituary-cousin-of-prince-philip-7lnt2wszj

[malcolm davies]

Morganatic marriages seem to be a thing of the past(a welcome change in my view).

Does anyone know the last Royal to be permitted to marry only morganatically?

Prince Micheal married in 1965.Any since then?

[Stephen Raven]

As far as I am aware, part of giving up Prince Michael’s succession rights for himself & his descendants was that Marina would get to be HRH Princess of Greece & for their children. This followed the same line when King Alexander married Greek commoner Aspasia Manos. When King Constantine returned to the throne Aspasia was given the title of HRH Princess of Greece for herself & their daughter Alexandra. This was also in exchange for Alexandra having no succession rights to the throne.
https://groups.google.com/g/peerage-news/c/QYo2dxyJcmQ

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