(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, JANUARY 11 - The former king of Greece,
Constantine II, has died at the age of 82, Greek public
television Ert reports. The former monarch, cousin of British
monarch King Charles III, a godfather to Prince William, cousin
of Queen Sofia, the wife of former king Juan Carlos of Spain and
mother of current monarch Felipe VI, died due to a stroke at a
hospital in Athens, where he had been admitted last week.
An Olympic gold medallist in sailing at the 1960 Rome Olympics, he reigned from 1964 until the proclamation of the Republic in 1974, which coincided with the end of the regime of the Colonels (1967-1974).
In 1968, eight months after the military coup, he attempted a counter-coup which failed. Constantine then fled with the royal family to Rome and subsequently moved to England in 1974. In a referendum after the return of democracy, nearly 70% of Greeks voted to abolish the monarchy. Connected to the British and Danish monarchies, the dynasty Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, started by Constantine's Danish grandfather George I, in 1863, ends with him. (ANSAmed).
An Olympic gold medallist in sailing at the 1960 Rome Olympics, he reigned from 1964 until the proclamation of the Republic in 1974, which coincided with the end of the regime of the Colonels (1967-1974).
In 1968, eight months after the military coup, he attempted a counter-coup which failed. Constantine then fled with the royal family to Rome and subsequently moved to England in 1974. In a referendum after the return of democracy, nearly 70% of Greeks voted to abolish the monarchy. Connected to the British and Danish monarchies, the dynasty Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, started by Constantine's Danish grandfather George I, in 1863, ends with him. (ANSAmed).
