Royal Profile: Princess Alexia of Greece & Denmark

Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark was born 10 July 1965, as the eldest child of King Constantine II and Queen Anne Marie of Greece {Source}. At the time of her birth, her father was not in power, however the monarchy was still in tact{Source}.  From her birth to the birth of her younger bother, Crown Prince Pavlos in 1967, she was heiress presumptive to the throne  {Source}. 

As a member of the Greek Royal Family, she is related to many other Royal Families in Europe:
  • Denmark: Queen Margarethe II is her mother's sister, making her a maternal niece
  • Spain: the former Queen Sofia is her paternal aunt, making King Felipe VI her first cousin
  • United Kingdom: Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh is her 1st cousin 3x removed from King George I of Greece & Queen Elizabeth II is her 3rd cousin 1x removed from Queen Victoria
She spent her early years in Greece, before the family's re-location to Rome, Italy in December 1967 {Source}. She began her education in Italy, where she was taught Greek by a private tutor{Source}.


During her childhood, she was very close with both her grandmothers. her Greek grandmother, Queen Fredrica, would visit her family on Saturdays, and Queen Ingrid of Denmark would often visit the family in Rome{Source}. During her visits with her Danish grandmother, tea would be served at apporximately 4PM, and the pair would often go to the ballet or theatre together{Source}.  

In 1973, a year after her maternal grandfather's death and the accession of her aunt to the Danish throne, she spent a year living in Amalienbourg Palace in Denmark{Source}. In 1974, she and her family would move again, this time to England {Source}. During her time in England, Princess Alexia, her brother and their friends would often re-enact historical and mytical stories{Source}. 

As her siblings did, she also attended the school started up by her parents, The Hellenic College in London, where she earned a Greek Baccalaureate{Source}. In addition to the Greek Bacalauraeate, she also gained two British A-Levels {Source}. She then spent a year (1984-5) doing voluntary work at the London Hospital for Sick Children helping in the Play Centre at the Hospital{Source}. She went to the Froebel College of the Roehampton Institute, a division of Surrey University, in 1985 and took a BA in History and Education in 1988{Source}. In 1989, she achieved a Post Graduate Certificate of Education and became a primary school teacher in the inner city area of Southwark in London between 1989 and 1992{Source}.She attended the Catalan Foundation for Down's Syndrome where she took a Master's Degree in 'Early Childhood Intervention'{Source}. This qualified her to work with children who have physical or psychological problems, -and to help their parents in coping with the difficulties{Source}.  Up to the birth of her first daughter, Arrietta, she worked as a Group Therapist with Down's Syndrome children at the Foundation, having in her particular care 18 children{Source}. 

In 1992, Princess Alexia took a year's sabbatical and went to Barcelona to attend the 1992 Olympics, where some of her friends won Gold Medals for sailing. She was then offered the opportunity to take part in a World Championship sailing contest in the 3/4 Ton Class in 1993 with an 'All Girl' crew. 

Along with the rest of her family, she returned to Greece in 1981 to bury her grandmother{Source}. Her next visit wouldn't be for another 12 years, in 1993{Source}. Since then, she has joined her parents on numerous visits to their former homeland{Source}.

In 1994, she met the man she would later marry, Carlos Morales Quintana at a boat race in Spain{Source}. They were married in London on the day before her  34th birthday in 1999{Source}. Just prior to their wedding, they were in a serious sailing accident, where she broke her collar bone and he fractured his kneecap, however, they both fully recovered in time for their nuptials{Source}! Today, they lead private lives for the most part in the Canary Islands with their three daughters and son{Source}:

Princess Alexia is also a royal godmother, several times over:
  • Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece (1996, her niece)
  • Pablo Nicolas Urdangarin y de Borbon (2000, her 1st cousin 1x removed)
  • Countess Ingrid Alexandra von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth (2003, her 1st cousin 1x removed)
  • Princess Isabella of Denmark (2007, her 1st cousin 1x removed)
  • Miss Emma Tallulah Behn (2008, daughter of Princess Martha Louise of Norway)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Royal Profile: Princess Haalah bint Al Hashim of Jordan

Royal Profile: Prince Constantin d'Orléans

Royal Profile: Royal Twins