The signs are that the Greek Royal Family is returning to Greece. Given the state of the country, it is not before time that the symbols of national unity and constitutional propriety are once again to be found among their people.
So this year, the King's son Prince Nikolaos was married in Greece on the island of Spetses.
Born in Rome, Prince Nikolaos was educated at the Hellenic College in London, which was founded by his father, the King of the Hellenes and The Queen.
In 1993 the Prince graduated in International Relations from Brown University. He has been working in his father's private office since 1998, and is a member of Board of the Anna-Maria Foundation.
Established to help victims of natural disasters in Greece, the Foundation was financed by The King from compensation awarded by a European Court for property illegally seized by the Greek republican government.
It will interest Australians to know that Prince Nikolaos was with Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at the Slip Inn in Sydney during the 2000 Summer Olympics when the Danish Prince met his future bride, Princess Mary.
…wedding…
Prince Nikolaos married Tatiana Blatnik on the island of Spetses on 25 August 2010. On her marriage, his bride became Her Royal Highness Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark.
Most of the Danish Royal Family, the Queen of Spain, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and other members of several Royal Families came to the wedding.
I am advised that an Athens based republican politician had his revenge on this display of happiness by imposing a fine of €400,000 (about A$539,000 against a landowner.
This was for the offence of putting up a temporary stage for the wedding entertainment without some municipal approval.
No one on the island was aware of the need for this bureaucratic piece of paper.
An appeal has been filed and lawyers estimate it will be heard by 2015.
{youtube}4y3iDpHwo9Y{/youtube}
The Greek Royal Family no doubt has long wished to return to live among the Greek people. The King has recently indicated that he and The Queen will be returning to live permanently in Greece.
There can be no doubt that they are especially welcome in Greece, as the video clip below demonstrates.
This shows the reaction of a group of striking truck drivers in Athens when The King and Queen strolled by earlier this year.
You can only imagine their reaction if a group of Greek republican politicians had passed by. That is if they dared.
{youtube}h0oPt69O_bA{/youtube}
….Welcome to The King…
[Continued below ]
It should be recalledll that after the fraudulent plebiscite which made Greece a republic –especially due to a treacherous prime minister who pretended to support the Crown – the Greek republicans not only banned the Royal Family from returning to Greece. They even illegally seized their private property, Tatoi, an estate near Athens purchased by an earlier King.
But European courts and institutions have alleviated the more rigorous aspects of these illegal acts. However the compensation paid was less than 1% of its worth, such was the spite of the republican politicians. ( See this column “Greece: little confidence in the politicians' republic” 15 December 2008 )
…the people and The King….
In the video clip above you can the truck drivers, not only surprised but delighted to see The King of the Hellenes and The Queen.
They rush over, calling out:
We want you, we want you!
People are listening and realising, now is our time!
There were cheers and cries of Long Live the King!In this video people can be heard saying in Greek:
So when are you coming back to save us Mr. King?
We want you, we want you.
Bread, olives and Con as King.
We have the Junta here, come back.
You should have put them all on ships when you had the chance, King.
Congratulations on your kids. Come back and get rid of the ******rs.
It’s all the thieves fault, come back.
One of the truck drivers with a mobile says:
My mother is on the phone. Can you talk to her please?