In what a member of the Greek government called a “historically pending matter,” ten members of Greece’s former royal family received Greek citizenship and simultaneously acknowledged the country’s republican system of government.
The late king Constantine II and his family members were stripped of Greek citizenship in 1994 in a dispute with the government over formerly royal property and claims that he refused to renounce any right to the Greek throne for his descendants.
The ex-royals comings and goings in Greece for vacations, private visits, weddings and funerals caused brief stirs in the media. But the latest news is making political headlines.
Interior ministry official Athanasios Balerpas said relatives of the late king Constantine, who died last year at the age of 82, signed a declaration on December 19, 2024, acknowledging the republican government of Greece and adopting a new surname, “De Grece” – French for “of Greece”.
Their choice for a surname has ruffled feathers of the left wing parties.
“When they say that they are giving up their titles and any future claims [to the throne], by opting for this family name they create confusion,” the Socialist party said.
The leftwing Syriza party added, “the choice of family name is problematic … because the Greek legal order does not recognize titles and nobilities”.
“It is with deep emotion that, after 30 years, we hold the Greek citizenship again. The law of 1994 deprived us of our citizenship, rendering us stateless with all that this entails in terms of individual rights and great emotional distress,” the former royal family said in a statement in Greek and English on the family’s official website.
“Our father and our family fully respected the result of the 1974 referendum,” the statement said. “However, the provision of the 1994 law on citizenship, a result of the political status at the time, was not befitting of a former head of the Greek state and an institution that served the country faithfully. The passing of our father marked the end of an era.”
Those who obtained Greek citizenship include all five children of the late ex-king Constantine II– Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora and Philippos – as well as five of the late king’s grandchildren. The 78-year-old former Queen Anne-Marie, did not apply.
