Prince Michael of Greece, Queen Sofia’s second cousin, dies aged 85

Miguel de Grecia, in a file picture. (Luc Castel/GettyImages)

Queen Sofia has suffered a tough blow whereas having fun with her summer time trip in Mallorca. Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, cousin of Paul I and, due to this fact, second cousin of the queen emeritus, died this Sunday, July 28, in a non-public hospital in Athens on the age of 85, as confirmed to EFE by a household spokesperson.

Michael of Greece was the final dwelling grandson of the Greek monarch George I and cousin of the late Philip of Edinburgh, husband of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Though no particulars have been launched concerning the circumstances of his loss of life, the household spokeswoman has stated that he had been experiencing well being issues for a while.

Prince Michael was the one Greek royal to stay within the nation after his uncle Constantine I, the nation’s final king, led a coup in 1967 in opposition to the colonels who had seized energy months earlier.

Queen Sofia, in an archive picture. (Europa Press)

From 1970 onwards, Miguel de Grecia revealed dozens of works combining his historic information with narrative. Amongst his best-known historic novels are La noche del Serrallo and El rajá Borbón.

Born in 1939 in Rome, he was one yr outdated when his father died and he was transferred, alongside together with his mom, to the port metropolis of Larache, in northwestern Morocco, then beneath Spanish protectorate. He later lived in Malaga, earlier than settling in Paris, the place he graduated in Political Science.

After finishing his research, he served 4 years within the Greek military. In 1965 he married the Greek painter and sculptor Marina Karella, with whom he had two daughters, Alexandra and Olga. In recent times, the couple lived between Athens, Paris and the Greek island of Patmos, the place Queen Sofia has visited them on many events.

This loss has hit Queen Sofia onerous, as just some days in the past she started her summer time keep in Marivent along with her sister Irene, who’s in a fragile state of well being as a result of sickness she suffers from.

The loss of life of her second cousin, with whom Sofia had an in depth relationship, happens simply over a yr and a half after the emeritus misplaced her brother Constantine, who died in Athens on the age of 82 after struggling a stroke.

After this setback, Sofia must return to Athens sooner than deliberate and for a a lot much less joyful purpose than the go to she is going to make to the Greek capital subsequent September, when she is going to attend the marriage of her niece Theodora, youngest daughter of the late King Constantine II.

With data from EFE