Athens, Greece.- While a crew of thousands of people chanted “Long live the king” Y “Constantine, Constantine”, the coffin carrying the body of the last monarch of Greece left the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens Monday after a funeral to which attended by royals from different parts of Europe.
Constantine’s wife, Anna-Marie, sister of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and her eldest son, Pavlos, led the funeral procession.
The coffin, wrapped with the greek flagwas placed in a carriage for the journey to Tatoi, a royal estate north of Athens where Constantine, who died at the age of 82 old, was to be buried near his parents and ancestors.
Tatoi, once a wooded site Popular with Athenians for picnics and nature walks, it was devastated by a Forest fire two years ago and since then has remained for the most part blackened and abandoned.
Cleanup crews have been hard at work since the death of constantine last week so that the site was ready for the funeral monday.
The Greek monarchy was abolished definitively in a referendum in 1974. Constantine, a controversial figure during a turbulent time in Greek history, spent decades in exile.
Lived mainly in London before returning to his home country, where he spent his last years.
“By the grace of God, you breathed your last in our country, which you always loved above all else throughout your life,” he said. Pavlos in ato eulogy to his father.
The children and grandchildren of constantinenoted Pavlos, “they are ready, as they always have beento offer Greece whatever it asks of us.”
european royaltymany related to Constantine, arrived in Athens to attend the funeral, like Margarita and the Spanish royal family.
Constantine’s sister Sofia, is the mother of King Felipe VI of Spain and wife of King Emeritus Juan Carlos I.
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constantine was one of the godparents of Prince Guillermo, heir to the British throne. William’s aunt princess annerepresented the british royal family in Athens.
PA
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