Queen Anne-Marie of Greece

Princess Anne-Marie's birthplace: Frederick VIII's Palace at Amalienborg

Princess Anne-Marie was born on 30 August 1946 in Frederick VIII's Palace, an 18th-century palace which forms part of the Amalienborg Palace complex in central Copenhagen. She was the third and last daughter and child of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark. Her father was the eldest son of King Christian X of Denmark and his wife, Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; her mother, born a Princess of Sweden, was the only daughter of the Crown Prince of Sweden and his late British first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught, daughter of the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. At birth, Anne-Marie had two elder sisters: Princess Margrethe, the present Queen of Denmark, and Princess Benedikte, who married Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and lives in Germany.[1]

Anne-Marie was baptised on 9 October 1946 in the Holmen Church in Copenhagen. Her godparents are the King and Queen of Denmark (paternal grandparents); Crown Prince of Sweden (maternal grandfather), Prince Bertil of Sweden (maternal uncle), the King of Norway (paternal grand-uncle), Prince George of Greece and Denmark (grandfather's first cousin), the Crown Princess of Norway (father's first cousin), Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, Princess Dagmar of Denmark (paternal grand-aunt) and the Crown Princess of the Netherlands.[2]

She is the great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, thus the third cousin to the late Queen Elizabeth II and her late husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as well as of King Juan Carlos I of Spain and King Michael I of Romania. Through her mother, Queen Ingrid born princess of Sweden, she is also the first cousin of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and the second cousin to King Harald V of Norway.

Princess Anne-Marie with the royal family on the balcony of Amalienborg Palace on her father's 55th birthday in 1954.

Princess Anne-Marie and her sisters grew up in apartments at Frederick VIII's Palace at Amalienborg in Copenhagen and in Fredensborg Palace in North Zealand. She spent summer holidays with the royal family in her parents' summer residence at Gråsten Palace in Southern Jutland. On 20 April 1947, less than a year after Princess Anne-Marie's birth, her grandfather King Christian X died, and her father ascended the throne as King Frederick IX.

At the time of her father's accession to the throne, only males could ascend the throne of Denmark. As Anne-Marie's parents had no sons, it was assumed that her uncle Prince Knud would one day assume the throne. The popularity of Frederick IX and his daughters and the more prominent role of women in Danish life paved the way for a new Act of Succession in 1953 which permitted female succession to the throne following the principle of male-preference primogeniture, where a female can ascend to the throne if she has no brothers. Her eldest sister Margrethe therefore became heir presumptive, and Princess Benedikte and Princess Anne-Marie became second and third in the line of succession.

Anne-Marie was educated at N. Zahle's School, a private school in Copenhagen, from 1952 to 1961. In 1961, she attended the Chatelard School for Girls, an English boarding school outside Montreux in Switzerland. In 1963 and 1964, she attended the Institut Le Mesnil, a Swiss finishing school also in Montreux.

Constantine and Anne-Marie at their pre-wedding gala at the Royal Palace.

In 1959, at the age of 13, Anne-Marie first met her future husband, her third cousin Constantine, Crown Prince of Greece, who accompanied his parents, King Paul and Queen Frederica, on a state visit to Denmark.[3] They met a second time in Denmark in 1961, when Constantine declared to his parents his intention to marry Anne-Marie. They met again in Athens in May 1962 at the marriage of Constantine's sister Princess Sofia of Greece and Denmark to Prince Juan Carlos of Spain at which Anne-Marie was a bridesmaid: and again in 1963 at the centenary celebrations of the Greek monarchy.

On 6 March 1964, King Paul died, and Constantine succeeded him as King of the Hellenes. In July 1964, the announcement of the engagement of Constantine and Anne-Marie raised the polite protests of the Left in Denmark.[4] Anne-Marie and Constantine were married on 18 September 1964 (two weeks after Anne-Marie's 18th birthday) in the Metropolis, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Athens. Prior to the wedding, Anne-Marie converted from Lutheranism to the Greek Orthodox Church. Also, in view of the fact that she was marrying a foreign ruler, consent to the marriage was given on the condition that Anne-Marie renounce her succession rights to the Danish throne for herself and her descendants.[5]

Queen Anna Maria of Greece with her firstborn child, Princess Alexia in 1965.

As Queen of Greece, Anne-Marie spent much of her time working for a charitable foundation known as "Her Majesty's Fund" and later as the "Anne-Marie Foundation", which provided assistance to people in rural areas of Greece. On 10 July 1965, Queen Anne-Marie gave birth at the villa Mon Repos in Corfu to her first child, Princess Alexia, who was heir presumptive to the throne of Greece, from her birth until the birth of her younger brother Crown Prince Pavlos on 20 May 1967, Greece's order of succession adhering to male-preference primogeniture.[1]

Anne-Marie at Constantine's funeral

King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie attending a horse show in Rome during their exile in Italy.

In April 1967, Anne-Marie's husband King Constantine II, after a military coup, swore into office a military junta. In December 1967, the King attempted to shake off the authoritarian regime and tried to stage a counter-coup with the help of certain like-minded people. The counter-coup failed and Anne-Marie and her family had to flee to Italy.[6] In the aftermath, Anne-Marie miscarried a child.[7] The family lived for two months in the Greek embassy in Rome and then for the next five years in a house in a suburb of Rome.

In 1973, Anne-Marie moved with her family to England. They lived first in Chobham in Surrey. Later, they moved to the London suburb of Hampstead. The Greek government seized their former private home of Tatoi. It was only after a successful appeal to the European Court of Human Rights that the Greek government were forced to pay compensation for the property. King Constantine used the money obtained to establish the Anna-Maria Foundation, which was established in 2003 to provide aid to victims of natural disasters, including earthquakes and floods, in Greece. As of 2019 Anne-Marie serves as president of the foundation.[8]

In 1980, Anne-Marie and Constantine founded Hellenic College of London, a bilingual school where her own children were educated. The school closed in 2005.[9]

The government of Greece did not permit Anne-Marie to return to Greece until 1981 when she was allowed to enter Greek territory for several hours to attend the funeral of her mother-in-law, Queen Frederika. She and her family paid a private visit to Greece in 1993. Since 2003 – when a property dispute between her husband Constantine and the government of Greece concluded – Anne-Marie has visited Greece numerous times. In 2013, Constantine returned to reside in Greece. He and his wife Anne-Marie purchased a villa in Porto Cheli, Peloponnese residing there until they relocated to Athens in the spring of 2022.

Anne-Marie in 2018

The former King and former Queen in Stockholm, at the celebrations of the wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, June 2010.

On 21 May 2004, Anne-Marie was peripherally involved in a dispute in Madrid between former Crown Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Italy and his cousin and dynastic rival Prince Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta. At a soirée held at the Zarzuela Palace during the wedding celebrations of Felipe, Prince of Asturias, Amedeo approached Vittorio who reportedly punched him twice in the face, causing him to stumble backward down the steps.[10] The quick intervention of Anne-Marie, who propped him up, prevented Amedeo from falling to the ground. She discreetly assisted him indoors while stanching his bleeding facial wounds until first aid was administered.[10] Upon learning of the incident Spain's King Juan Carlos, a cousin of both men, reportedly declared that "never again" would an opportunity to abuse his hospitality be afforded the competing pretenders.[10]

On 14 August 2004, Anne-Marie and her husband Constantine visited their former home in Athens, the former Royal Palace that is now the Presidential Palace, for the first time since 1967. They were received by then-President of Greece Costis Stephanopoulos along with other members of the International Olympic Committee, of which Constantine was an honorary member of. In December 2004, Constantine, Anne-Marie and their children were again invited to pay a personal private visit by President Stephanopoulos.

On 10 January 2023, Anne-Marie was widowed when her husband died of a stroke at the private Hygeia Hospital in Athens at the age of 82.[11]

She has been the titular Queen of the Hellenes since 1973. This title is not recognized under the terms of the republican Constitution of Greece.[12]

• 9 October 1946 – 18 September 1964: Her Royal Highness Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark
• 18 September 1964 – 1 June 1973: Her Majesty The Queen of the Hellenes, Princess of Denmark
• 1 June 1973 – present: Her Majesty Queen Anne-Marie of the Hellenes, Princess of Denmark[13][14]

•  Denmark:[15]
  • Knight of the Order of the Elephant (R.E.)
  • Commemorative medal on Margrethe II's 25th anniversary of her reign
  • Commemorative medal on Queen Margrethe's and Prince Henrik's silver wedding anniversary
  • Commemorative medal on the centenary of Frederik IX's birth
  • Memorial medal on the centenary of Christian X's birth
  • Queen Ingrid's Memorial Medal
• Greek Royal Family:
  • Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Redeemer
  • Grand Mistress & Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Saints Olga and Sophia
  • Grand Mistress Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Beneficence
  • Centennial Medal

•  Thailand : King Rama IX Royal Cypher Medal, First Class.[16]
•  Sweden:
  • Recipient of the Commemorative Golden Jubilee Medal of His Majesty The King.[17]

Coats of Arms of Queen Anne-Marie of Greece

Personal Monogram of Queen Anne-Marie of Greece

Dual Cypher of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece

Dual Cypher of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece

The coats of arms of Queen Anne-Marie combine the 1936–1973 royal coat of arms of Greece and the 1948–1972 coat of arms of Denmark which was current at the time of her marriage in 1964. The Danish coat of arms is almost identical with the dynastic arms inescutcheon in the Greek coat of arms, which equals the Danish coat of arms of 1819–1903. The only difference is that the Greek arms also include Iceland's white stockfish on red in the lower dexter corner.