Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ATHENS: The last king of Greece, Constantine II, will be laid to rest in a funeral service on Monday, with a host of European royalty scheduled to attend the event.
British, Danish, Luxembourgian, Monacoese, Dutch, Norwegian, and Spanish royals will attend the service to pay their respects to the late monarch, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 82. The funeral arrangements, however, have generated criticism in Greece. The government declined to give Constantine the honor of a state funeral since he was a controversial figure in the country’s history.
A large number of Royals expected to attend the service
Nearly 200 people are expected at the private ceremony, which starts at noon at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral. The whole Spanish royal family, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Crown Prince Frederik, the royals of Sweden, the Netherlands’ king and queen, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, and Prince Albert II of Monaco are expected to attend.
Princess Anne, the late queen Elizabeth II’s daughter, will represent the British Crown. Prince William, the godson of Constantine, and King Charles III, the former Greek king’s cousin, are not expected to accompany her. President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece will not be present at the burial. Members of the public will be able to pay their respects to Constantine’s body from 6:00 am (0800 GMT) to 10:00 am.
Reaction by Greece
Many Greeks feel anger or indifference toward the past king. Constantine, the final monarch of a century-old family, had only been in power for three years in 1967 when a harsh army dictatorship took over. According to declassified US diplomatic cables, Constantine may have considered martial law before the coup. Constantine organized a military counter-coup that was unsuccessful. Along with the rest of the royal family, he escaped to Rome before moving on to London. After the restoration of democracy in 1974, the junta abolished the monarchy, and the Greeks decided not to restore the royal dynasty. Constantine later became involved in a bitter property battle with the Greek government, and in 1994, his citizenship was withdrawn. In 2013, the former king sold the 9,500-square-foot London property where his family had lived for 40 years and returned to Greece.
The prime minister stated that a private funeral will be held the day after Constantine passed away in a posh Athens hospital. On Saturday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized that it was the appropriate choice, highlighting the fact that the former king presided over the “Kingdom of Greece, which no longer exists.” History “will judge Constantine fairly and harshly,” he claimed.
Christos Zampounis, a journalist and royals’ expert, said that “I am embarrassed every time colleagues from outside ask me why the previous king is not laid to rest with the honors of a head of state while having been a head of state. Constantine’s body will be taken from the funeral service to the royal tombs in Tatoi, which is located about 29 kilometers (18 miles) north of Athens. The majority of the former royal family, including George I, the dynasty’s founder who was born in Denmark, are buried at the former royal summer palace in Tatoi. Constantine had five children with Anne-Marie, the sister of the Danish Queen Margrethe.
