Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There are three Princesses of Greece called Olga:
- Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark, daughter of King George I of Greece, who died aged three months in 1881.
- Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark, born in 1903, daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and wife of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia (see biography below)
- Princess Olga Isabelle of Greece, born in 1971, the daughter of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark.
Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark (11 June 1903 — 16 October 1997) was the granddaughter of King George I of Greece and wife of the last Prince Regent of Yugoslavia.
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[edit] Ancestry
Olga was born in Tatoi, the eldest daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna of Russia.
Her father, Prince Nicholas was the third son of King George I and Olga, Queen of Greece. His older brothers were Constantine I of Greece and Prince George of Greece. His younger brothers were Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, father of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark, father of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark. Prince Nicholas also had three sisters, one elder, Princess Alexandra, mother of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich; and two younger, Princess Marie and Princess Olga. Both Princesses Alexandra and Marie married Romanov Grand Dukes; Princess Olga died as an infant.
Her mother, Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna was a daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (22 April 1847 — 17 February 1909) and Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Grand Duchess Helen's paternal grandparents were Alexander II of Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine and her maternal grandparents were Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz.
Princess Olga's paternal grandfather George I was a son of Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. His older siblings were Frederik VIII of Denmark and Alexandra of Denmark, Queen consort of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. His younger sisters included Dagmar of Denmark, Queen consort of Alexander III of Russia, and Thyra of Denmark, consort of Ernst August of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland.
Her paternal grandmother and namesake, Queen Olga of Greece, was a daughter of the Russian Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich and Alexandra Iosifovna.
[edit] Marriage and children
Brought up in relative poverty, she married in Belgrade 22 October 1923 HRH Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, the regent after the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. She then became officially known as Princess Paul of Yugoslavia. Prince and Princess Paul had three children:
[edit] Diminished status
Yugoslavia became a republic in 1945 and the Yugoslav Royal Family went into exile, Paul and Olga settling in South Africa. When Greece became a republic in 1975, it stopped recognizing royal titles of Greek citizens. Olga's Yugoslavian and Greek titles were thus of questionable validity in those respective nations, but her Danish title remained valid and she continued to be known as Princess Olga until her death.
[edit] Namesake cousin
Princess Olga Isabelle of Greece was born 17 November 1971, daughter of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Marina Karella, an artist and heiress. Olga grew up in Paris and New York, spending summers at the family's island retreat at Patmos, Greece.[1] She chose to attend boarding school in England, has studied history in Rome, and is a graduate of Princeton University. [2] Her engagement to her second cousin, Prince Aimone of Savoy, Duke of Apulia, the son of Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta, was announced in May 2005. In August, it was reported that the wedding was to be held in the intimate setting of Patmos on the 9th of October, with fewer than fifty family members and guests invited to attend.[3] But the event did not take place and it is not clear if it was ever actually scheduled for that date. No new wedding date had been announced as of the beginning of 2007, although the couple were occasionally pictured in society magazines attending monarchist and cultural events in 2006, and one such periodical, Point de Vue, affirmed that the couple were still betrothed.[4]
Unlike the other Princesses Olga referred to in this article, she was not deemed a full member of the Greek royal house under the monarchy, despite being born of a marriage recognized by King Constantine II of Greece (pursuant to Greek legislative decree 1298/1949. As daughters of a non-dynastic marriage, she and her elder sister, Princess Alexandra, are not accorded the traditional Style of Royal Highness, nor do they bear the titular suffix "and Denmark".[5]
| Princess Olga of Greece | |
| Born | November 17, 1971 (age 35) Athens, Greece |
|---|---|
| Other names | Olga Isabelle |
| Title | Princess of Greece |
| Spouse | engaged to Prince Aimone, Duke of Apulia |
| Parents | Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark and Marina Karella |
[edit] References
- ^ (1991-02-21) "Talents et volonté" (in French). Point de Vue.
- ^ Bern, Stéphane (1987-03-13). "Michel de Grèce: prince et romancier" (in French). Dynastie: pages 12-15.
- ^ Meylan, Vincent (2005-08-31). "Le Plus Royal" (in French). Point de Vue: page 21.
- ^ (2006-12-20) "Ils Sont Ensemble" (in French). Point de Vue.
- ^ Willis, Daniel (1999). The Descendants of Louis XIII. Baltimore, MD: Clearfield Co., pages 94, 762. ISBN 0-8063-4942-5.
