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Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark

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Prince Michael
Prince Michael in 2008
Born(1939-01-07)7 January 1939
Rome, Italy
Died28 July 2024(2024-07-28) (aged 85)
Athens, Greece
Burial1 August 2024
Royal Cemetery, Tatoi Palace, Greece
Spouse
​
(m. 1965)​
IssuePrincess Alexandra
Princess Olga, Duchess of Aosta
Other namesΜισέλ ντε Γκρες
HouseGlücksburg
FatherPrince Christopher of Greece and Denmark
MotherPrincess Françoise d'Orléans
ReligionEastern Orthodox Church [1]

Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark (Greek: Μισέλ ντε Γκρες, romanized: Michel de Grèce;[2] 7 January 1939 – 28 July 2024) was a Greek historian, author, and member of the Greek royal family. He wrote several historical books and biographies of Greek and other European figures,[3] in addition to working as a contributing writer to Architectural Digest.

He was a first cousin, among others, of Kings George II of Greece, Paul of Greece, their sister, Queen Helen, Queen Mother of Romania, in addition to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and also of Prince Henri d'Orléans.

Birth and family

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Michael was born in Rome to Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (youngest son of King George I of Greece) and his second wife, Princess Françoise d'Orléans (daughter of the Orleanist claimant to the defunct French throne, Jean d'Orléans, Duke of Guise).[4] His godparents were his two first cousins Queen Helen, Queen Mother of Romania and King George II of Greece (eldest children of his paternal uncle King Constantine I).[5][6]

His father died in 1940, when Michael was a year old. His mother died in 1953, when Michael was 14, leaving him an orphan.[4] Although a Greek prince, like many members of his dynasty he grew up largely abroad, sometimes in exile.[4] As Europe marched into World War II, the infant Michael's family scattered: his mother's father, the Duke of Guise, left his residence of exile in Brussels, the Manoir d'Anjou, for their property at Larache, Morocco, in March 1939 where he died on 24 August, the Manoir having become the Belgian headquarters for Germany's invading Wehrmacht.[7]

About eight months before her father's death, Françoise was widowed by the death of Prince Christopher, following an abscess of the lung, in Athens in January. She took Michael to join her mother's household in Larache where her elder sister, Princess Isabelle Murat and her family, had also taken refuge from Europe. Their brother, Henri, Count of Paris, who succeeded his own father as head of the Orleanist monarchist movement, sent for his wife and children to come from their relatives in Brazil, and by the spring of 1941 they too were settled in Spanish Morocco (still being banned from the French sector), near Casablanca, in a small house without electricity that was named Oued Akreech in the town of Rabat.[7] Michael lived his early childhood years on the African continent in the midst of his mother's family. Later, they also spent time in Spain.[8]

By the time Michael's mother died in Paris in early 1953, France had repealed the law of banishment against its former ruling families (24 June 1950) and the Comte de Paris had taken up residence in the capital. When, in August 1953, Monseigneur moved the Comtesse and their children to a new estate, the Manoir du Cœur Volant in Louveciennes, Michael joined the couple and their four eldest children in the main building, while the seven younger children and their governesses occupied an annex given the name la maison de Blanche Neige ("Snow White's cottage"). Henceforth, Michael was given into the care of his uncle and raised with his Orléans cousins.[7]

Michael later acknowledged that his uncle had been a poor manager of his ward's assets, but maintained that there was no malfeasance or attempt to conceal losses.[8] He would also comment that, allegations to the contrary notwithstanding, his uncle's notorious relationship with his assistant Monique Friesz in his later years, during which substantial assets were presumed to have been consumed or diverted, did not reflect manipulation on her part so much as the desire of the Comte de Paris for companionship when he chose to isolate himself from the society, culture and luxury to which he had previously been accustomed.[8]

Following the death of his second cousin, Christian Ludwig Gustav Fritz Castenskiold (1926–2024), on 16 July 2024, he became the last surviving great-grandchild of King Christian IX of Denmark.[9]

Activities

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Michael studied political science in Paris.[4] He then re-patriated to Greece for military duty, serving for four years in the Cavalry-Tank Corps, in Athens and Thessaloniki.[10] He inherited from his mother a half-interest in the domain of the Nouvion-en-Thiérache, once the seat of the Dukes of Guise, from whom the Bourbon-Orléans inherited the vast property, which included a grand château and a petit château, in Aisne. The Comte de Paris owned the other half of the Nouvion. He and Michael sold the grand château in 1980 to the city of Roubaix, which subsequently became a conference center for environmental studies, while the petit château was sold in 1986 to the local government of Nouvion.[7]

List of works

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Having watched his mother observe a family tradition by igniting what he called a kind of auto-da-fé in which she burned his late father's papers and memorabilia following the sale of his villa in Rome after the war,[8] Prince Michael grew up to become a biographer and historian. He penned several biographies about members of ruling dynasties, those about contemporaries often including accounts and anecdotes attributed to his royal relatives.[4] He also authored novels about historical royalty, distinguished for meticulous detail.[4]

  • Les rois les dynasties qui ont fait l'histoire; les dynasties francaises; les Valois, les Bourbons, les Orléans, les Bonaparte (1972)[11]
  • Quand Napoléon faisait trembler l'Europe (1978)[12]
  • Louis XIV, the other side of the sun (1984)[13]
  • Rani, La femme sacrée, a novelised but well documented biography of the Rani of Jhansi (French: 1984 ; English: 2013) ISBN 978-2266023610
  • The royal house of Greece (1988), illustrated album[14]
  • Συρία : ελληνικοί απόηχοι (1993)[15]
  • Living with ghosts (1996)[16]
  • Nicholas and Alexandra: the family albums (1996)[17]
  • The Empress of Farewells: the story of Charlotte, Empress of Mexico (1998)[18]
  • The White Night of St. Petersburg (2000), novelised biography of Grand Duke Nicholas Kostantinovich[19]
  • Jewels of the Tsars (2006), illustrated album[20]
  • Le Rajah Bourbon (2007), concerning the Bourbons of India[21]
  • Voices of light (2012), illustrated by Marina Karella ISBN 978-2916123608

Marriage and issue

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Michael married Marina Karella (born 17 July 1940) on 7 February 1965 in Athens, daughter of Theódoros Karellas and Elli Chalikiopoulos.[3] Marina is a Greek artist and sculptor of international reputation whose work has often been exhibited in Athens, Paris and New York.[4] The marriage was held at the Royal Palace in Athens. This was a non-dynastic marriage,[8] which obtained the legally required authorisation of King Constantine II only after Michael renounced all rights of succession to the Greek throne for himself and his descendants.[4]

The couple have two daughters:

Death

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Prince Michael died at a hospital in Athens, on 28 July 2024, at the age of 85.[22] He was the last surviving grandchild of George I of Greece with a lineage to the House of Bourbon through his mother's side of the family and the last surviving great-grandchild of Christian IX of Denmark.[9]

His funeral was held on 1 August 2024 at the Church of Saint Theodores in the First Cemetery of Athens, followed by burial in the Tatoi Royal Cemetery. [23][24] His immediate family – Marina Karella, Princess Alexandra of Greece, Nicolas Mirzayantz, Princess Olga, Duchess of Aosta, Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta, and his grandchildren – attended the funeral. Other dignitaries included Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece, Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark, Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark, Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark, Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark, Queen Sofía of Spain, Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, Princess Anne, Duchess of Calabria, Princess Mafalda of Savoy-Aosta, Princess Bianca of Savoy-Aosta and Mareva Grabowski, the wife of the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.[25][26][27]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

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Styles of
Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark
Reference styleHis Royal Highness
Spoken styleYour Royal Highness

Titles and styles

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  • 7 January 1939 – 28 July 2024: His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark.[4]

Foreign honours

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Ancestry

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See also: Descendants of Christian IX of Denmark

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Prince Michael of Greece
  2. ^ Greek Royal Family
  3. ^ a b c Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. "Burke's Royal Families of the World: Volume I Europe & Latin America, 1977, pp. 94, 326–327. ISBN 0-85011-023-8
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy . Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery. Paris. 2002. pp. 458–460, 522–525, 532–533 (French) ISBN 2-9507974-3-1
  5. ^ "Prince Michael". 24 May 2017. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  6. ^ "Prince Michael". 20 October 2014. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d de Montjouvent, Philippe. Le Comte de Paris et sa Descendance. Editions du Chaney, 1998, Charenton, France. pp. 23, 77–78, 92, 96, 136, 173. (French). ISBN 2-913211-00-3.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Beéche, Arturo. The Gotha, Volume 1. Kensington House Books, California, 2009, pages 81, 235, 237. ISBN 978-0-97-719617-3.
  9. ^ a b Watling, Tom (28 July 2024). "Prince Michael of Greece dies aged 85 in Athens hospital". The Independent. Retrieved 29 July 2024 – via Yahoo News.
  10. ^ Michel de Gres: The 100 lives of a prince in Greek
  11. ^ Les rois les dynasties qui ont fait l'histoire; les dynasties francaises ; les Valois, les Bourbons, les Orléans, les Bonaparte. *WorldCat. OCLC 1268123633. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  12. ^ Quand Napoléon faisait trembler l'Europe. WorldCat. OCLC 892088188. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  13. ^ Louis XIV : the other side of the sun. WorldCat. OCLC 10274858. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  14. ^ The Royal House of Greece. WorldCat. OCLC 59773890. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  15. ^ Συρία : ελληνικοί απόηχοι. WorldCat. OCLC 1182617181. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  16. ^ Living with ghosts : eleven extraordinary tales. WorldCat. OCLC 832530779. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  17. ^ Nicholas and Alexandra : the family albums. WorldCat. OCLC 832175629. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  18. ^ The Empress of farewells : the story of Charlotte, Empress of Mexico. WorldCat. OCLC 48390625. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  19. ^ The white night of St. Petersburg. WorldCat. OCLC 55616260. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  20. ^ Jewels of the tsars : the Romanovs & Imperial Russia. WorldCat. OCLC 69992457. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  21. ^ Le rajah Bourbon : roman. WorldCat. OCLC 470762454. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  22. ^ Πουρνάρα, Μαργαρίτα (28 July 2024). "Πέθανε ο πρίγκιπας Μιχαήλ της Ελλάδος και της Δανίας, ο λογοτέχνης Μισέλ Ντε Γκρες". Η Καθημερινη (in Greek). Archived from the original on 28 July 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  23. ^ Bishop, Holly (28 July 2024). "Prince Philip's cousin, Prince Michael of Greece, dies aged 85 as tributes pour in". GB News. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  24. ^ "Announcement of the Funeral Procession of Prince Michael of Greece". Greek Royal Family. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  25. ^ Burack, Emily. "The Greek Royal Family Gathers in Athens for Prince Michael's Funeral". Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  26. ^ Moore, Matthew (1 August 2024). "Greek royals put on a united front as they mark family funeral". Hello!. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  27. ^ Charlie, Kowalenko (1 August 2024). "Funeral of Prince Michael Held in Athens". Greek City Times. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  28. ^ Jørgen Pedersen: Riddere af Elefantordenen 1559–2009, Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag, 2009. ISBN 8776744345
  29. ^ Badraie Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
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