Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark

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Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark bigraphy, stories - Princess of Greece and Denmark

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark : biography

11 May 1942 –

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Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark () (born 11 May 1942) is the youngest child of King Paul of Greece and his wife Frederika of Hanover. She is the younger sister of Queen Sofía of Spain and of deposed King Constantine II of Greece. She is officially styled in Denmark as Her Royal Highness Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark.

Ancestry

Biography

She 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.

She was a bridesmaid at the 1962 wedding of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain to her sister Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark.

She was dating Prince Michel of Orléans, comte d’Évreux, a younger son of the Orléanist pretender, when he met Béatrice Pasquier de Franclieu,Herrero, Nieves. , El Mundo Magazine. 4/10/2009 whom he married on 18 November 1967 in Casablanca, Morocco, without his father’s consent.Velde, Francois. The Royal Family: A Genealogy, , accessed 12/10/2009

Princess Irene has never married and is close to her brother, Constantine.

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

She is the founder and president of the World in Harmony organisation (Mundo en Armonía). She also collaborates with other benefic foundations and cultural activities.

Her niece, Infanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca named her daughter Irene (born in 2005) after her. On 23 April 2008 together with Mohammed VI of Morocco they became the godparents of Simeon Hassan Muñoz, the son of Princess Kalina of Bulgaria and Antonio "Kitín" Muñoz Valcárcel.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

  • 11 May 1942 – present: Her Royal Highness Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark

Honours

See also List of honours of the Greek Royal Family by country

Greek honours

  • : Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Olga and SophiaFlickr, Photo of and Princess Sofia, Queen of Spain

Foreign honours

  • Dame Grand Cross of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George