Queen Anne-Marie of Greece turns 80

Queen Anne-Marie of Greece is marking her 80th birthday today.

The Queen was born as Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark on 30 August 1946 in Amalienborg Palace to Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid. She joined two older sisters, Princess Margrethe (later Queen Margrethe) and Princess Benedikte.

She grew up with her sisters in Frederik VIII’s Palace at Amalienborg, and before she was a year old, her father had ascended the throne as King Frederik IX. It wasn’t until 1953 that the three princesses were in the line of succession. That year, Denmark adopted the Act of Succession in 1953 allowing women to ascend the throne. Margrethe was heir presumptive, and young Anne-Marie found herself third in line to succeed her father.

She was educated in Denmark and Switzerland and was prepared for her future role as a wife and mother.

Princess Anne-Marie met her future husband when she was 13, while King Paul and Queen Frederica of Greece were on a state visit to Denmark. They brought their 19-year-old son, Crown Prince Constantine, to Copenhagen, and two years later, he told the Danish King and Queen that he wanted to marry their youngest child. King Frederik was first opposed to the relationship due to their age, but he eventually granted his permission for them to marry.

By Anefo – http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ad8c72d2-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

Constantine became King of Greece in March 1964, and the pair wed on 18 September 1964 in Athens. Anne-Marie converted from the Church of Denmark to the Greek Orthodox Church following her marriage. She also had to renounce her claim and her descendants’ claim to the Danish throne as she was now the Queen Consort of the Hellenes.

The King and Queen had five children: Princess Alexia (b. 1965), Crown Prince Pavlos (b. 1967), Prince Nikolaos (b. 1969), Princess Theodora (b. 1983) and Prince Philippos (b. 1986). They also have nine grandchildren.

The Queen worked with several charities, including the Red Cross, to help the disadvantaged. By the late 1960s, the Greek monarchy was in trouble, and a military dictatorship had taken control of the government. After a failed countercoup in 1967, the Royal Family fled into exile in Rome. The monarchy was officially abolished in 1973, and a referendum the following year officially made Greece a republic.

King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie spent the majority of their time in the UK following the abolition and weren’t permitted to visit Greece again until 1991, when they were allowed to retrieve belongings. The family was also stripped of their Greek citizenship in 1993 since they would not swear an oath to the republic and renounce their dynastic rights.

The family took the Greek government to court in 1996 for the confiscation of their properties and citizenship. After failing to win in Greece, they took their case to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled the Greek government had to compensate the royals for the property they took.

The Royal House ©

The Greek Royal Family’s exile was officially revoked in 2004, and the King and Queen returned to Greece to live in 2013. After years of bad health, King Constantine died in January 2023 in Athens. A state funeral was denied by the government, but they did allow him to lie in state at Saint Eleftherios Chapel. He was buried at Tatoi Palace.

In 2024, Queen Anne-Marie’s children and some grandchildren applied for Greek citizenship, which was granted. The Queen did not request Greek citizenship and retains her Danish citizenship. She regularly travels back to Denmark to spend time with her two sisters.