Greece: Greece’s former ruler Mr. Constantine II, the last king of the country who spent decades in exile, has died at age 82. Mr. Constantine, a cousin of British monarch King Charles III, died “of a stroke.” Recently, the former king was admitted to an hospital in Athens with breathing problems.
Mr. Constantine was born on June 2, 1940, in Athens to Princess Frederica of Hanover and Prince Paul, the younger brother of King George II.
The older sister of the exiled king, Ms. Sophia, is the wife of former King Juan Carlos I of Spain. Mr. Constantine was also the nephew of Greek-born Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, and husband of the UK’s late Queen Elizabeth II.
The family, which had ruled in Greece from 1863, apart from a 12-year republican interlude between 1922 and 1935, was descended from Prince Christian, later Christian IX of Denmark, of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg branch of the Danish ruling family.
Mr. Constantine was already popular as an Olympic gold medalist in sailing when he Lastacceded to the throne in 1964 at the age of 23.
