Princess Maria Georgievna of Greece and Denmark

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Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna

Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna with her husband, Grand Duke George, and daughters Princesses Nina and Xenia.
Born March 3, 1876(1876-03-03)
Athens, Greece
Died December 14, 1940 (aged 64)
Athens, Greece
Spouse Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia; Pericles Ioannides
Parents George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia

Maria or Marie Georgievna, Princess of Greece and Denmark (March 3, 1876-December 14, 1940), was the fifth child and second daughter of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia and thus a family member of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

She was born in Athens as a younger sister to Constantine I of Greece, Prince George of Greece, Alexandra Georgievna of Greece and Prince Nicholas of Greece. She was an older sister of Prince Andrew of Greece and Prince Christopher of Greece as well as the shortly-lived Princess Olga of Greece. She was very close with her cousin Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia. They both later married two Romanov Grand Duke and stayed together on many occasions.

On April 30, 1900, Maria was married to Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia in Corfu. George, who was affectionately known as "Gogi", chased after Maria, who was nicknamed "Greek Minny" to tell her apart from the Dowager Empress Maria of Russia. She refused to marry Gogi unless her place in the line of succession to the Greek and Danish thrones was secured. She made it clear that she was not in love with him when she married him, but the Grand Duke hoped that feelings might grow in time. The couple had two daughters:Nina, born 7 June 1901, and Xenia, born 9 August 1903. As they grew older, Maria seized the opportunity to spend more time abroad, ostensibly for her daughters' health, but also to spend more time away from her husband. She was in Great Britain when World War I broke out and could not return to Russia. She was patron of a military hospital there.

She became a widow on January 30, 1919, when her husband was murdered by the Bolsheviks. On December 16, 1922, Maria was remarried to Pericles Ioannides in Wiesbaden. She died in her native Athens during the Greco-Italian War (October 28, 1940 - April 30, 1941).

Her daughter Xenia lived for years in Long Island with her alleged second cousin once removed Anna Anderson. Anna claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, a daughter of Nicholas II of Russia and granddaughter of Alexander III.