| Prince Christopher | |
|---|---|
| Spouse | Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds Princess Françoise of Orléans |
| Issue | |
| Prince Michael | |
| House | House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg |
| Father | George I of Greece |
| Mother | Olga Constantinovna of Russia |
| Born | 10 August 1888 Pavlovsk, Russia |
| Died | 21 January 1940 (aged 51)
Greece |
| Burial | Royal Cemetery, Tatoi Palace, Greece |
| Religion | Greek Orthodox |
Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (10 August 1888 – 21 January 1940) was a member of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg Royal House.[1]
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He was born at Pavlovsk, Imperial Russia; his parents were George I of Greece and Olga, Queen of Greece; he was the youngest of their eight children (twenty years younger than their oldest child, Constantine), and was called "Christo" by the family. His older brothers included Constantine, George, Nicholas and Andrew.[2]
Christopher, like his siblings, was a polyglot, speaking Greek, English, Danish, Russian, French and Italian. The siblings spoke Greek to one another, and used English with their parents. The parents, however, spoke German to each other.
When Christopher came of age he joined the Hellenic Army, although apparently he would much rather have rather studied the piano. While a young man, he was apparently offered no less than three different thrones - those of Portugal, Lithuania, and Albania - but he declined them all, as he did not wish the stress of royal duties.
He was briefly engaged to Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife in about 1910. (Alexandra's mother, Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife, was a daughter of Alexandra of Denmark, an older sister of George I of Greece, his father.) The engagement was terminated when disapproving parents learned of the liaison.
Prince Christopher's mother, Queen Olga, was a former Grand Duchess of Russia before her marriage to King George I of Greece. With the coming of the revolution, eighteen close family members including his first cousin Nicholas II and his wife and five children, who were of the Romanov family, were murdered.[3]
On 1 January 1920, Christopher married a very wealthy American widow, Nonnie May "Nancy" Stewart Worthington Leeds, at Vevey, Switzerland.[4] His wife, who was previously widowed and divorced, was granted the title "HRH Princess Anastasia of Greece and Denmark", and her fortune, which she inherited from her second husband, a tin millionaire, greatly helped the Greek Royal Family during their exile in the 1920s. The wedding followed a six-year engagement while the legal details of marriage to a twice-married commoner were worked on. Shortly after their marriage she developed cancer, and died in London on 29 August 1923, leaving no children from this marriage. Prince Christopher did, however, have a stepson, William Bateman Leeds Jr (1902–1971), who married, in 1921, Princess Xenia Georgievna Romanova of Russia, who was Christopher's niece through his elder sister, Marie, Grand Duchess George of Russia.
Prince Christopher later remarried; his second wife was Princess Françoise of Orléans (25 December 1902 – 25 February 1953). Françoise was a daughter of Jean d'Orléans, Duc de Guise and Isabelle d'Orléans. Isabelle was a daughter of Philippe, Comte de Paris and his wife and first cousin Marie Isabelle d'Orléans. They were married in 1929 in Palermo, Italy; the civil ceremony was on 10 February, and the religious one on 11 February; in connection with the wedding Françoise de Guise, Princess of Orléans became Her Royal Highness, Princess Françoise of Greece and Denmark. They had one child, Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, who was born in 1939, shortly before his father's death in Athens.
Prince Christopher's first wife "Nancy" was the mother of William B. Leeds. Leeds was married to Prince Christopher's niece, Princess Xenia Georgievna of Russia, who lived on Long Island in the United States. In 1927, he was on a visit to his stepson and Xenia. Xenia was taking an interest in the strange case of a woman (Anna Anderson) who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the late Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. She had been found in one of the hospitals in Berlin where she had been taken after attempting suicide. Her story was that, when the rest of her family had been murdered, she had managed to make her way to Bucarest with the soldier who had rescued her from the cellar in Ekaterinburg. He had brought her to Berlin but left her destitute.[5] As Prince Christopher explained, "That was her story, and, fantastic as it was, there were many who believed then - and still believe - in her, among them one or two members of the Imperial Family."[6] He went on, "Dozens of people who had known the Grand Duchess Anastasia were brought to see the girl in the hope that they might be able to identify her, but none of them could come to any definite conclusion."[7] Beyond this there was little to justify her statements. Prince Christopher described her, "In the first place she was unable to speak Russian, which the Grand Duchess Anastasia, like all the Czar's children, had talked fluently and would only converse in German."[8] Summing up he said of her, "The poor girl was a pathetic figure in her loneliness and ill health, and it was comprehensible enough that many of those around her let their sympathy over-rule their logic. ... She was unable to recognise people whom the Grand Duchess Anastasia had known intimately, and her descriptions of rooms in the different palaces and of other scenes familiar to any of the Imperial Family were often inaccurate."[9]
Prince Christopher recorded his thoughts on Monarchy and those aspiring to it : "Nothing under the sun would induce me to accept a Kingdom. A crown is too heavy a thing to be put on lightly. It has to be worn by those born to that destiny, but that any man should willingly take on the responsibility, not being constrained by duty to do so, passes my comprehension." [10]
Prince Christopher of Greece died on 21 January 1940, aged 51.[11]
| Styles of Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark |
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|---|---|
| Reference style | His Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Sir |
Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark and Princess Françoise of Guise had one son, Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark.
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