Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark (Greek: Ειρήνη; born 11 May 1942) is the youngest child and second daughter of King Paul of Greece and his wife Queen Frederica. She is the younger sister of Queen Sofía of Spain and of the deposed King Constantine II of Greece, Prince of Denmark and maternal aunt of king Felipe VI of Spain.

Princess Irene
Princess Irene in 1966
Born (1942-05-11) 11 May 1942
Cape Town, South Africa
HouseGlücksburg
FatherPaul of Greece
MotherFrederica of Hanover

Biography

She was born in Cape Town, South Africa, on 11 May 1942. She was a pupil of concert pianist Gina Bachauer and, for a while, she was a professional concert pianist herself.

She was dating Prince Michel of Orléans, comte d'Évreux, a younger son of the Orléanist pretender Henri, Count of Paris, when he met French noblewoman Béatrice Marie Pasquier de Franclieu,[1] whom he married on 18 November 1967 in Casablanca, Morocco, without his father's consent.[2]

After her brother was dethroned, she moved to India with her mother. Since her mother's death in 1981, Princess Irene has lived in Spain in an apartment at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, the residence of her sister and brother-in-law, Queen Sofía and King Juan Carlos.

She is the founder and president of the World in Harmony organisation (Mundo en Armonía).[3] On 16 March 2018, Princess Irene obtained the Spanish nationality and renounced her Greek nationality.[4][5]

Notable published works

  • En Decelia: fragmentos cerámicos de Decelia y miscelánea arqueológica. Athens, (1959–1960). Edited in Spanish in Spain, 2013.[6][7] ISBN 9788494103308

Titles and honours

  • 11 May 1942 – present: Her Royal Highness Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark.

Ancestry

References

  1. Herrero, Nieves. Beatriz de Orleans, El Mundo Magazine. 4 October 2009
  2. Velde, Francois. The Royal Family: A Genealogy, Heraldica.org, Retrieved 12 October 2009
  3. "Who We Are". World In Harmony. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  4. El Mundo
  5. «Real Decreto 164/2018, de 16 de marzo, por el que se concede la nacionalidad española por carta de naturaleza a Su Alteza Real doña Irene de Grecia de Hannover.»
  6. "Logintegral". Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
  7. Librería Marcial Pons
  8. Flickr, Photo of Princess Irene and Princess Sofia, Queen of Spain
  9. Membership of the Constantinian Order Archived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Sito web del Quirinale: dettaglio decorato.
  11. Royal State Visits
  12. Jørgen Pedersen: Riddere af Elefantordenen 1559–2009, Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag, 2009. ISBN 8776744345
Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark
House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
Cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg
Born: 11 May 1942
Greek royalty
Preceded by
Constantine
as Crown Prince
Heir-presumptive to the Greek throne
1964–1965
Succeeded by
Princess Alexia
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