Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece and Marie-Chantal will NOT move to Athens

Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece and his wife Crown Princess Marie-Chantal will not be moving to Athens following the death of King Constantine, sources have claimed. 

Prince William’s godfather and the nephew of the Duke of Edinburgh, King Constantine II of Greece passed away from a stroke earlier this month at the age of 82.

Now a royal aide has confirmed to Danish publication, Billed Bladet, that his wife Anne-Marie has no intention of leaving Athens. 

Meanwhile sources told HOLA that Pavlos and Marie-Chantal, who usually split their time between London and New York, plan to spend an extended period of time in the city in order to support Anne-Marie.

Pavlos and Chantal have lived between New York and London since 2004, with Marie Chantal running a children’s clothing line out of the UK.

Together the family enjoy a life befitting of the world’s mega wealthy, splitting their time between their stunning Upper East Side New York home and holidays around the world.

As well as the New York home, the Greek royals have four other properties around the world including a house in London, a Cotswolds estate, a holiday home in the Bahamas, as well as a country retreat in Yorkshire.

However it now appears they will be spending more time in Greece to support Anne-Marie, following the death of King Constantine. 

However it now appears they will be spending more time in Greece to support Anne-Marie, following the death of King Constantine

A second cousin of King Charles and Godfather to Prince William, Constantine II lived most of his life in exile after a Greek referendum which rejected the monarchy in 1974.

He was the only son of King Paul and Queen Frederica of Greece and the last king of the country. 

Constantine, an Olympics gold medalist in sailing, was 27 years old and had been a king for three years in 1967, when he was forced into exile with his wife Princess Anne-Marie, the youngest daughter of King Frederick IX of Denmark and his family.

He wasn’t to return to Greece for decades, where he was deeply unpopular for his decision to swear-in the colonels who seized power in April 1967. He briefly cooperated with them before staging a failed counter-coup, that led to his exile.

Prince William’s godfather and the nephew of the Duke of Edinburgh, King Constantine II of Greece passed away from a stroke earlier this month at the age of 82

While Anne-Marie will remain in Greece (left), Pavlos and Marie-Chantal will spend an extended period in the country supporting her (pictured, at a Thanksgiving service for Prince Philip in March 2022) 

The military junta abolished the monarchy in 1973. In a referendum after the fall of the junta in 1974, Greece rejected monarchy again.

After the referendum, his relationship with Greece was testy. He was allowed to return only for a few hours in 1981 to bury his mother, Queen Frederika, at the family estate at Tatoi, about 20 kilometres north of Athens.

In the 1990s, Constantine was stripped of his Greek citizenship and the state seized Tatoi and a palace on the island of Corfu where Britain’s Prince Philip was born.

The King had been in ill health in recent months, having several hospital admissions towards the end of 2022. 

He is survived by his wife, the former princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, youngest sister of Queen Margrethe II; five children, Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora and Philippos; and nine grandchildren.