Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark (Greek: Ειρήνη; born 11 May 1942) is the youngest child and second daughter of Paul of Greece and his wife Queen Frederica. She is the younger sister of Queen Sofía of Spain and of the deposed Constantine II of Greece, Prince of Denmark and maternal aunt of Felipe VI of Spain.

This article is about the daughter of King Paul of Greece. For information on her namesake aunt, see Princess Irene, Duchess of Aosta.

Princess Irene
Irene in 1966
Born (1942-05-11) 11 May 1942
Cape Town, South Africa
HouseGlücksburg
FatherPaul of Greece
MotherFrederica of Hanover

Biography

Irene was born in Cape Town, South Africa, on 11 May 1942. She was a pupil of concert pianist Gina Bachauer and, for a while, she was a professional concert pianist herself.

Irene was courted by Prince Michel of Orléans, a younger son of the Orléanist pretender Henri, Count of Paris, until he met French noblewoman Béatrice Marie Pasquier de Franclieu,[1] whom he married on 18 November 1967 in Casablanca, Morocco, without his father's consent.[2]

After her brother was dethroned, Irene moved to India with her mother. Since her mother's death in 1981, she has lived in Spain in an apartment at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, the residence of her sister and brother-in-law, Queen Sofía and King Juan Carlos.

Irene is the founder and president of the organisation World in Harmony (Mundo en Armonía).[3] On 16 March 2018, Princess Irene obtained the Spanish nationality and renounced her Greek nationality.[4][5]

Notable published works
  • En Decelia: fragmentos cerámicos de Decelia y miscelánea arqueológica. Athens, (1959–1960). Edited in Spanish in Spain, 2013.[6][7] ISBN 9788494103308

Titles and honours
  • 11 May 1942 – present: Her Royal Highness Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark.
See also: List of honours of the Greek Royal Family by country

Ancestry

References
  1. Herrero, Nieves. Beatriz de Orleans, El Mundo Magazine. 4 October 2009
  2. Philippe de Montjouvent. Le Comte de Paris et sa Descendance. Editions du Chaney, 1998, Charenton, France. pp. 21, 23-26, 34-36, 40-41, 187, 197, 310, 313, 467-468. (French) ISBN 2-913211-00-3.
  3. "Who We Are". World In Harmony. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  4. El Mundo
  5. «Real Decreto 164/2018, de 16 de marzo, por el que se concede la nacionalidad española por carta de naturaleza a Su Alteza Real doña Irene de Grecia de Hannover.»
  6. "Logintegral". Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
  7. Librería Marcial Pons
  8. Membership of the Constantinian Order Archived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Sito web del Quirinale: dettaglio decorato.
  10. Jørgen Pedersen: Riddere af Elefantordenen 1559–2009, Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag, 2009. ISBN 8776744345
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