Queen Sofia and her sister, Princess Irene, attended this morning the funeral of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark in Athens, who died last Sunday at the age of 85 in the capital hospital of Greece. The mother of Don Felipe VI did not want to miss the burial of her second cousin, to whom she was very close, and has accompanied her family in this difficult time for the entire Greek royal family, which is experiencing its lowest hours after the sad loss, led by the heir Paul of Greece.
Funeral of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, second cousin of Queen Sofia, who died last Sunday in a hospital in AthensDiego Sáez PapachristouEFE Agency
Following a religious service at the Holy Church of Saints Theodore of the First Cemetery of Athens, the remains of Michael of Greece will be interred on Thursday at the royal cemetery of Tatoi, on the outskirts of the Greek capital, where Queen Sofia’s parents, King Paul and Queen Frederica, and King Constantine, brother of the Spanish monarch, are also buried.
In strict mourning and very sad, Queen Sofia and her sister Irene, in a wheelchair, almost the entire Greek royal family have supported the Greek painter and sculptor Marina Karella, widow of the late Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, and her two daughters, Princesses Alexandra and Olga, together with their husbands. Queen Anne-Marie, wife of King Constantine of Greece, also attended Prince Michael’s farewell with all her children: Paul, current head of the Hellenic House, accompanied by his wife Marie-Chantal; Nicholas, Alexia, Philip and Theodora.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has sent a wreath to the religious temple where the funeral was held, as have King Felipe and Queen Letizia, Don Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia Sofia, and the princely family of Monaco, among others.
A hard blow for Queen Sofia
The death of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark in Athens has been a hard blow for Queen Sofia. The two were very close and, due to their small age difference, always maintained a relationship as cousins. “The atmosphere in the family has always been very warm and we have been in contact. I see my cousins, Constantine, Sofia and Irene, often. But this family, which was so large in the past, is getting smaller and smaller,” said Michael of Greece and Denmark in an interview on “Point de Vue”. The prince was the last living grandson of King George I of Greece, father of Constantine of Greece, grandfather of the Spanish monarch.
