Members of Greece’s former royal family have applied for Greek citizenship and formally acknowledged the country’s republican system of government, in a landmark move 50 years after the monarchy was abolished, officials have confirmed.
The late king Constantine II and his family members were stripped of Greek citizenship in 1994 in a dispute with the government over formerly royal property and claims that he refused to renounce any right to the Greek throne for his descendants.
Interior ministry official Athanasios Balerpas said relatives of the late king, who died last year at the age of 82, signed a declaration on Thursday acknowledging the republican government and adopting a new surname, “De Grece” – French for “of Greece”.
But their choice to apply using the family name “De Grece” - which means “of Greece” in French – has annoyed leftwing politicians, with one claiming it creates “confusion”.
“When they say that they are giving up their titles and any future claims [to the throne], by opting for this family name they create confusion,” the Socialist party said.
For the leftwing Syriza party, “the choice of family name is problematic ... because the Greek legal order does not recognise titles and nobilities”.
Officials have not officially named the applicants. But Greek news media widely reported that 10 family members have sought citizenship, including all five children of Constantine II and former Queen Anne-Marie – Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora and Philippos – as well as five of the late king’s grandchildren.
“A historically pending matter is being resolved,” interior ministry official Balerpas told state-run radio. “Let’s look to the future now. I think it’s a good moment because it closes an account from the past and we can now look forward as a people.”
The Greek monarchy was abolished by referendum in December 1974, when voters overwhelmingly backed a republican constitution, months after the fall of a seven-year military dictatorship.
Members of the royal family lived in exile for decades before Constantine returned as a private citizen in his seventies. The 1994 stripping of their Greek citizenship occurred during a legal battle over the former royal estate, which is now state-owned.
They had previously refused to adopt a surname, distancing themselves from the name Glucksburg, assigned in a 1994 law, which they saw as linking them too closely to their German ancestry and making them seem less legitimately Greek.
The decision on citizenship must now be published in the official government gazette before they can apply for state identity cards and Greek passports.
Legislators from centre-left and leftwing opposition parties said the former royal family members should not have been permitted to choose their own surname – with some arguing it sounded like a title rather than a standard surname – but did not oppose their right to citizenship.
With Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
