Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, known as a historian and writer under the pseudonym Michel de Grèce, died in an Athens hospital at the age of 85.
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Prince Michael was the only member of the Greek royal family who did not leave Greece after the events of December 13, 1967, when King Constantine tried to overthrow the junta. He was also the only member of the Greek royal family to have Greek citizenship, in the census of the municipality of Athens he was recorded as “Michel De Grès”.
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He was the only remaining living grandson of George I; his father, Prince Christopher, was the fifth son of the king, and his mother was Francesca of Orléans of the House of Bourbon.
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Although he was the same age, he was the uncle of the late King Constantine. He was related to the largest royal houses of the Old Continent, but chose to marry a mere mortal: the artist Marina Carella, daughter of the industrialist Teodoro Carellas, with whom he had two daughters, Princess Alexandra and Princess Olga.
“He lost his father when he was just a year old, grew up in Morocco and Spain and then studied in France, but always loved Greece and its history. He came to Greece to fulfill his military duties, lived in Greece for a long time, and in recent years divided his time between our homeland and abroad,” local media write.
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Despite his high birth, which gave him fame, Mikhail achieved international recognition as a writer, writing dozens of best-selling novels that combined his knowledge of history with literary plot. His career began in 1970, and he worked tirelessly every day, either writing or researching, on a wide variety of historical topics that occupied him, from Greece to the Ottoman Empire, Louis and the Kings.
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Information about his funeral has not yet been announced.
