Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark obit

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark Has Died at Age 83

She was the sister of Queen Sofia of Spain. 

She was not on the list.

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, younger sister of Queen Sofia of Spain and the late former King Constantine of Greece, has died at age 83.

“Their Majesties the King and Queen and Her Majesty Queen Sofia regret to announce the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Irene of Greece at 11:40 a.m. today at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid,” the Spanish royal household said in a statement on Thursday.

Born on May 11, 1942, in Cape Town, South Africa, while her family was living in exile during World War II, Princess Irene was the youngest child of then-Crown Prince Paul of Greece and Princess Frederica. They had left Greece after the Italian invasion and subsequent Nazi occupation.

The family returned to Greece in 1946, when Irene was four. A year later, her father ascended the throne as King Paul, and her brother became crown prince at age six.

Irene was educated in Germany at Salem School and pursued advanced musical training as a pianist. She later studied archaeology and co-published Archaeological Digest in 1960 with her sister Sofia and Greek scholar Theophano Arvanitopoulou.

King Paul died in 1964 after an illness, and Constantine succeeded him as King Constantine II at 23. (Irene briefly became Crown Princess and heir presumptive until the birth of her niece, Princess Alexia, on July 10, 1965.)

Political instability followed Constantine II’s ascension, and after a military coup in 1967 and a failed counter-coup, the King was deposed and went into exile. The Greek monarchy was formally abolished in 1973.

Irene moved to India with her mother, where per Tatler, they became interested in Hindu philosophy. Following Queen Frederica’s death in 1981, Irene relocated to Madrid to live with her sister, Queen Sofia, at the Zarzuela Palace, the royal residence of the King and Queen of Spain, where she lived for the rest of her life. Princess Irene never married and devoted much of her life to intellectual and cultural pursuits.

Princess Irene received several honors over the years, including Denmark’s Order of the Elephant in 1964, the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George from the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in 1962, Italy’s Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1962, and Thailand’s Order of Chula Chom Klao. She was also Head of the Corps of Greek Girl Scouts. In 2018, she obtained Spanish citizenship and renounced her Greek nationality.

Princess Irene, Queen Sofia, then-Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia at the London Olympics in 2012. Prince Albert of Monaco and then-Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark are sitting behind them.

Princess Irene is survived by her sister, Queen Sofia, and the children and grandchildren of her siblings, including King Felipe of Spain and Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece. Infanta Cristina of Spain, the younger daughter of Queen Sofia and King Juan Carlos, named her daughter Irene, born in 2005, after her aunt.

She was the youngest child and second daughter of King Paul of the Hellenes and his wife, Queen Frederica. She was the younger sister of Queen Sofía of Spain and the late King Constantine II of the Hellenes. She was also the great-granddaughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, who was the first grandson of Queen Victoria.