The ex-king de Greece Constantine II, in power before the restoration of the Republic in 1974, he died in Athens on Tuesday at the age of 82, the Greek public broadcaster ERT announced.
The ex-sovereign, cousin of King Charles III of the United Kingdom and Godfather of Prince William“died (…) of a stroke,” ERT announced.
He had been hospitalized in Athens last week due to respiratory problems, according to Greek media. Descendant of the royal family of Gluecksburg,
Constantine was the brother of Sofía, mother of King Felipe VI of Spain.
The monarchy in Greece was abolished by the 1974 referendum that ended the Danish dynasty established in 1863 by Constantine II’s great-grandfather, George I.
Constantine II acceded to the throne at the age of 23 in 1964 in one of the most turbulent periods in contemporary Greek history. The political crises that followed provided favorable ground for the colonels’ coup in April 1967 and the junta septenate that the CIA was accused of supporting.
According to later released US diplomatic documents, Constantine tried to impose martial law in 1967 to prevent the return of Georges Papandréou or his Socialist son Andréas, elected Prime Minister 15 years later.
He then left Greece and lived for 40 years in London in a 9,000-square-foot mansion in Hampstead, before returning in 2013. Married to Anne-Marie, sister of Margaret II, Queen of Denmark, they had five children.
EFE
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