This was the discreet life of Miguel de Grecia, great-uncle of Queen Sofia

The quiet life of Prince Michael of Greece came to an end last Sunday at the age of 85 in an Athens hospital, surrounded by his family and after having gone through a difficult month, according to the Greek newspaper To Kahtimerin. Also known under the pseudonym Michel de Gres, under which he gained international literary recognition, he was the only remaining grandson of King George I, founder of the dynasty that reigned in Greece until 1967. Michael of Greece was a first cousin of Philip of Edinburgh and great-uncle of Queen Sofia, therefore, also of the late King Constantine and Princess Irene of Greece.His life was more that of a writer than a prince, starting with the fact that he renounced his dynastic rights when he met his great love, Marina Karella. He also did not leave Greece when the monarchy fell and his intense life has been narrated in a very beautiful way by himself, through books and also on his social networks.

© GTRESPrince Michael of Greece at his home in Chora, Patmos, Greece

Miguel of Greece andHe was the last of a generation: the only son of Prince Christopher of Greece (younger brother of King Constantine I) with Francisca of Orleans. Born in 1939, he was one year younger than his grandniece Queen Sofia and one year older than King Constantine. “My first photo in my parents’ arms. I was born in Rome, where my parents lived at the time. They had settled there during one of the many exiles of the Greek royal family. Despite the restoration of the monarchy they decided to stay. Ruined by a financial accident, fortunately they found the solution, which was common for nobility and royalty. They rented a suite at the Excelsior Hotel, at the time the best in Europe.. “I like to imagine I was born in a hotel, however, like most people, I was born in a clinic,” she wrote on her Instagram, an astonishingly generous account for history and royalty lovers.

© Prince Michael of Greece Prince Michael of Greece with his parents, Prince Christopher of Greece and Princess Frances of Orleans

“I like to imagine that I was born in a hotel, however, like most people, I was born in a clinic”

Michael of Greece

When he was only one year old, his father died, also in Athens, and so he and his mother began a period of exile, financial ruin and pilgrimage at the time when the Second World War was breaking out in Europe. Mother and son moved from Morocco (a Spanish protectorate) to Malaga and from there to Paris, while Greece was still at war and the United Kingdom refused to grant them residency, a story that is known thanks to the books written by Prince Michael himself.

After settling in Paris with the help of his maternal aunt, Isabel de Orleans, he began a period that would not be better, since his mother, Francisca de Orleans, sank into a depression until her death in 1953, so Prince Michael was also orphaned by his mother at the age of 14 and went to live under the guardianship of his uncle Henri de Orleans, Count of Paris. It was there in the French capital where he studied Political Science and, at the age of 20,he made the decision to return to Greece, where King Paul opened the doors of his house (the Royal Palace) and his family to him.until he left to do four years of military service in the Armored Cavalry Corps and the Hellenic Coast Guard between Athens and Macedonia. “I didn’t discover my country until I was 20 and when I arrived I said: ‘What if I don’t like Greece? What if the Greeks don’t like me? ’ But it was love at first sight,” he recalled.

© GTRESQueen Frederica of Greece with Prince Michael of Greece © GTRESFuneral of King Paul I of Greece in March 1964, in the front row is the new king, Constantine II, with his mother, the widowed Queen Frederica. In the second row, covered in mourning, are Queen Sofia, Princess Irene, Prince Michael and King Juan Carlos

Although his position within the Greek line of succession was far from the throne, he was a prince of the Royal House and Marriages with other members of European royalty were also considered for him, but that was until he met the sculptor Marina Karella.the daughter of an Athenian industrialist, with whom he fell in love to the point of renouncing his dynastic rights. A decision that for him meant the freedom to be able to dedicate himself to whatever he wanted. “I got married in 1965 at the age of 26 and Marina was 24, she had already begun a career as an artist. I soon began to write, so she exhibited and I published,” the prince said in his own biography. It should be noted that at the time of their wedding, Queen Sofia’s father, Paul I, had already died, so she obtained permission from his nephew, King Constantine II, who in the wedding photos poses with the bride and groom and his wife, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.

© Getty ImagesWedding of Prince Michael of Greece to Marina Karella at the Royal Palace in Athens with Queen Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, 7 February 1965

“I soon began to write, so she exhibited and I published”

Michael of Greece

Shortly afterwards, in the spring of 1967, the coup d’état that would end with the overthrow of the monarchy would begin, however, Prince Michael was the only member of the Royal Family who did not leave the country and who always kept his citizenship. Although it is true that over timeThe couple and their two daughters, Alexandra, born in 1968, and Olga, born in 1971, moved to Paris and then lived for 13 years in New York. The place where their professional careers developed, although finally, like King Constantine, they returned to Greece to live between Athens and Patmos.

© Getty ImagesPrince Michael of Greece with his daughter Princess Alexandra at her wedding to Nicolas Mirzayantz in Torcello, Italy, in June 1998 © Getty ImagesPrince Michael of Greece with his wife Marina Karella and their daughter Princess Olga in Venice in June 2009

As a writer and historian, sometimes under the name of Michel de Gres, She has written numerous royal biographies, and has also shared many photos and stories about the Greek Royal Family, He has studied the Russian Tsars in depth (his grandmother was Queen Olga of Greece, born Grand Duchess of Russia) and has even dedicated books to their jewels. He also became well known for his historical novels, some inspired by his own family. In total he wrote 31 books, one of them his biography entitled “With or Without a Crown”.

She devoted her later years to travelling, both for work and pleasure; to her four grandsons and one granddaughter; and to the foundation she created for the protection of children following the shock created by the murder of the girl Elisa Izquierdo in New York, a project that seeks to instruct doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers and social workers to recognise a case of child abuse and know how to act accordingly.

© GTRESQueen Sofia during a private visit to Syria in the company of her sister, Princess Irene of Greece, and her great-uncle Prince Michael, with his wife Marina Karella

The Greek press defines him as an iA hard-working intellectual, a man of affable demeanor, an interviewee with a great sense of humor and a much-loved family member.His funeral has been announced by Kathimerini The ceremony will take place on Thursday at 12 noon at the First Cemetery in Athens, according to the Greek media, in the presence of Sofia of Spain and other members of the Greek royal family, and the burial will take place at Tatoi, where the remains of Queen Sofia’s parents and also of her brother, King Constantine, rest within a close family circle.