Frederica of Hanover

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Frederica of Hanover
Kingdom of Spain
Burial	12 February 1981 Royal Cemetery, Tatoi Palace, Greece
Spouse	Paul of Greece ​ ​ (m. 1938; died 1964)​
Issue	Sofía, Queen of Spain Constantine II of Greece Princess Irene
House	Hanover
Father	Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick
Mother	Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia
Signature

Frederica of Hanover (Friederike Luise;

In 1934, Adolf Hitler, in his ambition to link the British and German royal houses, asked for Frederica's parents to arrange for the marriage of their seventeen-year-old daughter to the Prince of Wales.^[4][5] In her memoirs, Frederica's mother described that she and her husband were "shattered" and such a possibility "had never entered our minds".^[6] Victoria Louise herself had once been considered as a potential bride for the very same person prior to her marriage. Moreover, the age difference was too great (the Prince of Wales was twenty-three years Frederica's senior), and her parents were unwilling to "put any such pressure" on their daughter.^[6]

To her family, she was known as Freddie.^[7]

Marriage

During the early part of their marriage, they resided at a villa in Psychiko in the suburbs of Athens. Ten months after their marriage, their first child, the future Queen Sofía of Spain (and future mother of Felipe VI), was born on 2 November 1938. On 2 June 1940, Frederica gave birth to the future King Constantine II.

According to several accounts, she had an affair with CIA director, Allen Dulles, after meeting him in 1958.^[8][9]

War and exile

At the peak of

In exile, King George II and the rest of the Greek royal family settled in South Africa. Here Frederica's last child, Princess Irene, was born on 11 May 1942. The South African leader, General Jan Smuts, served as her godfather. The family eventually settled in Egypt in February 1944.

After the war, the 1946 Greek referendum restored King George to the throne. The Hereditary Prince and Princess returned to their villa in Psychiko.

Queen consort

On 1 April 1947, George II died and Frederica's husband ascended the throne as Paul I, with Frederica as

During the civil war, Queen Frederica set the Queen's Camps or Child Cities (translation of: Παιδο(υ)πόλεις / Paidopoleis or Paidupoleis) a network of 53 camps around Greece where she would rescue children of members of DSE and former partisans.^[13][14][15]

The

On 6 March 1964, King Paul died of cancer. When her son, King Constantine II, married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark later that year on 18 September, Queen Frederica stepped back from the majority of her public duties in favor of her daughter-in-law. She remained a figure of controversy and was accused in the press of being the éminence grise behind the throne.^[21]

She retired to the countryside where she lived an almost reclusive life. However, she continued to attend royal events that were family-oriented, such as the baptisms of her grandchildren in both Spain and Greece.

Exile

regime of the colonels. ^{[citation needed]} Faced with a difficult situation, King Constantine initially collaborated with the military dictatorship, ^{[citation needed}

] swearing in their government under a royalist prime minister. Later that year he attempted a counter-coup in an attempt to restore democracy, whose failure forced him into exile. Following this, the junta appointed a regent to carry out the tasks of the exiled monarch.

In 1971, Frederica published an autobiography, A Measure of Understanding.[22]

On 1 June 1973 the junta abolished the Greek monarchy without the consent of the Greek people and then attempted to legitimize its actions through a

1973 plebiscite that was widely suspected of being rigged. The new head-of-state became President of Greece George Papadopoulos

.

The dictatorship ended on 24 July 1974 and the pre-junta constitutional monarchy was never restored. A plebiscite was held on 8 December 1974 in which Constantine (who was able to campaign only from outside the country) freely admitted past errors, and promised to support democracy.^[23] However, 69% of Greeks voted to make Greece a democratic republic.

Death

Frederica died on 6 February 1981 in exile in Madrid of heart failure, reportedly following eyelid surgery^[24] (blepharoplasty), although a biographer has claimed the surgery was cataract removal.^[25]

She was interred at

Tatoi

(the royal family's palace and burial ground in Greece). Her son and his family were allowed to attend the service but had to leave immediately afterwards.

Honours

Styles of Queen Frederica of Greece
Reference style		Her Majesty
Spoken style	Your Majesty

• Denmark: Knight of the Order of the Elephant^[26]
• Italy: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic^[27]
• Thailand: Dame Grand Cordon with Chain of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri^[28]

References

1. ^
   ISBN 0-220-66222-3
   .
2. ^ ^{a b} "Haus Braunschweig-Lûneburg (Maison de Brunswick-Lunebourg)". Almanach de Gotha (in French). Gotha: Justus Perthes. 1942. p. 39.
3. ^ ^{a b} "The London Gazette". The Stationery Office. 31 December 1937: 8169. Retrieved 20 January 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. ISBN 9780491018081
   .
5. ISBN 9780195161335
   .
6. ^ ^{a b} Viktoria Luise, p.188
7. ^ The Royals. Written by Kitty Kelley
8. ^ Kinzer, Stephen (10 November 2012). "When a C.I.A. Director Had Scores of Affairs". The New York Times.
9. ISSN 0015-7120
   .
10. ISBN 9780750921473
    .
11. ^ ^{a b} Van der Kiste, p.178
12. ^ Van der Kiste, p.177
13. ^ See the recent archival research from the General State Archives of Greece of the former Royal Palaces of letters from citizens from the area of Trikala to Frederiki for admission to hospitals or employment. Μιχάλης Φύλλας,«Επιστολές Τρικαλινών στη βασίλισσα Φρειδερίκη «Στηρίζω εις σας μεγαλειοτάτη όλας μου τας ελπίδας...», Θεσσαλικό Ημερολόγιο, τομ. 77 (2020), σελ.282-286 [1], και την Σάμο, Μιχάλης Φύλλας,«Επίκειται ο εξ ασιτείας θάνατός μου...». Όψεις της σαμιακής κοινωνίας στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του '60», Απόπλους, τχ.83 (Άνοιξη 2020), σελ.330-336 [2]
14. ISBN 960-87931-8-1
15. ^ https://www.alphatv.gr/index.asp?a_id=76&news_id=26761 ^{[dead link]}
16. ^ ^{a b} George P. Malouhos, 'Former King Constantine: The Third End', In, 16 January 2023, [3]
17. ^ Kaloudis, George Stergiou Modern Greek democracy: the end of a long journey, University Press Of America, Inc., 2000 p. 35
18. ^ Pettifer, James The Greeks:the land and people since the war, Viking, 1993, p20
19. ^ Keeley, Robert V., The Colonels' Coup and the American Embassy: A Diplomat's View of the Breakdown of Democracy in Cold War Greece, Penn State University Press 2001, p36
20. ^ "Greece: The King's Wife". Time. 26 October 1953.
21. ISBN 9780312302399
    .
22. ISBN 0333124545
23. ^ Proclamation of King Constantine for the 1974 Referendum https://www.greekroyalfamily.gr/images/stories/eggrafa_afieromata/DIAGELMA20DIMOPSIFISMATOS201974.pdf
24. ^ Wolfgang Saxon, Frederika, Greek Queen Mother; In Madrid Hospital as an Exile, The New York Times, 7 February 1981
25. ^ Van der Kiste, p.185
26. ISBN 8776744345
27. ^ Sitio web del Quirinal
28. ^ Royal Thai Government Gazette (28 December 1960). "แจ้งความสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์" (thajsky) Dostupné online

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Queen Frederica of Greece.

• New York Times obituary
• Μιχάλης Φύλλας,«Επιστολές Τρικαλινών στη βασίλισσα Φρειδερίκη «Στηρίζω εις σας μεγαλειοτάτη όλας μου τας ελπίδας...», Θεσσαλικό Ημερολόγιο, τομ. 77 (2020), σελ.282-286. [4]
• Μιχάλης Φύλλας,«Επίκειται ο εξ ασιτείας θάνατός μου...». Όψεις της σαμιακής κοινωνίας στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του '60», Απόπλους, τχ.83 (Άνοιξη 2020), σελ.330-336 [5]

Frederica of Hanover House of Hanover Cadet branch of the House of Welf Born: 18 April 1917 Died: 6 February 1981
Greek royalty
Preceded by Elisabeth of Romania	Queen consort of the Hellenes 1 April 1947 – 6 March 1964	Vacant Title next held by Anne-Marie of Denmark