Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark

{|align=right
Infobox Greek Royalty
name = Prince Christopher
title = Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark
styles = "HRH" Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark


imgw = 180px
date of birth = birth date|1888|8|10
place of birth = Pavlovsk, Russia
date of death = death date and age|1940|1|21|1888|8|10
royal house = House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
father = George I of Greece
mother = Olga Constantinovna of Russia
spouse = Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds
Princess Françoise of Orléans
issue = Prince Michael

Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (10 August, 1888 - 21 January, 1940) was a member of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg Royal House. [ Lines of Succession by Jiri Louda, Table 142 ]

Family Background

He was born at Pavlovsk, Imperial Russia; his parents were George I of Greece and Olga, Queen of Greece; he was the youngest of their eight children (twenty years younger than their oldest child, Constantine), and was called "Christo" by the family. His older brothers included Constantine, George, Nicholas and Andrew. [ Memoirs of Prince Christopher of Greece, p.15 ]

Christopher, like his siblings, was a polyglot, speaking Greek, English, Danish, Russian, French and Italian. The siblings spoke Greek to one another, and used English with their parents. The parents, however, spoke German to each other.

Early adulthood

When Christopher came of age he joined the Hellenic Army, although apparently he would much rather have rather studied the piano. While a young man, he was apparently offered no less than three different thrones - those of Portugal, Lithuania, and Albania - but he declined them all, as he did not wish the stress of royal duties.

He was briefly engaged to Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife in about 1910. (Alexandra's mother, Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife, was a daughter of Alexandra of Denmark, an older sister of George I of Greece, his father.) The engagement was terminated when disapproving parents learned of the liaison.

Russian Revolution

Prince Christopher's mother, Queen Olga, was a former Grand Duchess of Russia before her marriage to King George I of Greece. With the coming of the revolution, seventeen close family members including his first cousin Nicholas II and his wife and five children, of the Romanov family were murdered. [ ibid, p.150 ]

First Marriage

On 1 January, 1920, Christopher married a very wealthy American widow, None May "Nancy" Stewart Worthington Leeds, at Vevey, Switzerland. [ ibid, p.152 ] His wife, who was previously widowed and divorced, was granted the title "HRH Princess Anastasia of Greece and Denmark," and her fortune, which she inherited from her second husband, a tin millionaire, greatly helped the Greek Royal Family during their exile in the 1920s. The wedding followed a six-year engagement while the legal details of marriage to a twice-married commoner were worked on. Shortly after their marriage she developed cancer, and died in London on 29 August, 1923, leaving no children from this marriage. Prince Christopher did, however, have a stepson, William Bateman Leeds Jr (1902-1971), who married, in 1921, Princess Xenia Georgievna Romanova of Russia, who was Christopher's niece through his elder sister, Marie, Grand Duchess George of Russia.

econd Marriage and Family

Prince Christopher later remarried; his second wife was Françoise de Guise, Princess of Orléans (25 December, 1902 - 25 February, 1953). Françoise was a daughter of Jean d'Orléans, Duc de Guise and Isabelle d'Orléans. Isabelle was a daughter of Philippe, Comte de Paris and his wife and first cousin Marie Isabelle d'Orléans. They were married in 1929 in Palermo, Italy; the civil ceremony was on 10 February, and the religious one on 11 February; In conection with the wedding Françoise de Guise, Princess of Orléans became Her Royal Highness, Princess Françoise of Greece and Denmark. They had one child, Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, who was born in 1939, shortly before his father's death in Athens.

Prince Christopher on Anna Anderson

Prince Christopher's first wife was the mother of William B. Leeds who was married to his niece, Princess Xenia Georgievna of Russia who lived on Long Island in the United States. In 1927, he was on a visit to his step-son and Xenia. Xenia was taking an interest in the strange case of a woman who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the late Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. She had been found in one of the hospitals in Berlin where she had been taking after attempting suicide. Her story was when the rest of her family had been murdered she had managed to make her way to Bucarest with the soldier who had rescued her from the cellar in Ekaterinburg. He had brought her to Berlin but left her destitute. [ ibid pp.216-217 ] As Prince Christopher explained, "That was her story, and, fantastic as it was, there were many who believed then - and still believe - in her, among them one or two members of the Imperial Family." [ ibid, p.217 ] He went on, "Dozens of people who had known the Grand Duchess Anastasia were brought to see the girl in the hope that they might be able to identify her, but none of them could come to any definite conclusion." [ ibid ] Beyond this there was little to justify her statements. Prince Christopher described her, "In the first place she was unable to speak Russian, which the Grand Duchess Anastasia, like all the Czar's children, had talked fluently and would only converse in German." [ ibid ] Summing up he said of her, "The poor girl was a pathetic figure in her loneliness and ill health, and it was comprehensible enough that many of those around her let their sympathy over-rule their logic. ... She was unable to recognise people whom the Grand Duchess Anastasia had known intimately, and her descriptions of rooms in the different palaces and of other scenes familiar to any of the Imperial Family were often inaccurate." [ ibid ]

Prince Christopher on Monarchy

Prince Christopher recorded his thoughts on Monarchy and those aspiring to it : "Nothing under the sun would induce me to accept a Kingdom. A crown is too heavy a thing to be put on lightly. It has to be worn by those born to that destiny, but that any man should willingly take on the responsibility, not being constrained by duty to do so, passes my comprehension." [ Monarchs In Waiting by Walter J.P.Curley, frontpiece ]

Death

Prince Christopher of Greece died on 21 January, 1940, aged 51. [ Lines of Succession by Jiri Louda, Table 143 ]

Ancestry

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1= 1. Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark
2= 2. George I of Greece
3= 3. Olga Constantinovna of Russia
4= 4. Christian IX of Denmark
5= 5. Louise of Hesse-Kassel
6= 6. Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaevich of Russia
7= 7. Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg
8= 8. Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
9= 9. Princess Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel
10= 10. Landgrave William of Hesse-Kassel
11= 11. Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark
12= 12. Nicholas I of Russia
13= 13. Charlotte of Prussia
14= 14. Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
15= 15. Duchess Amelia of Württemberg
16= 16. Friedrich Karl Ludwig, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck
17= 17. Countess Friederike of Schlieben
18= 18. Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Kassel
19= 19. Princess Louise of Denmark and Norway
20= 20. Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Kassel
21= 21. Princess Caroline Polyxene of Nassau-Usingen
22= 22. Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway
23= 23. Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
24= 24. Paul I of Russia
25= 25. Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg
26= 26. Frederick William III of Prussia
27= 27. Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
28= 28. Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
29= 29. Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
30= 30. Duke Louis of Württemberg
31= 31. Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg

References

infobox hrhstyles


royal name=Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark
dipstyle=His Royal Highness
offstyle=Your Royal Highness
altstyle=Sir|

Books

*cite book
last = Greece
first = Christopher, Prince
authorlink = Prince Christopher of Greece(author)
coauthors =
title = Memoirs of HRH Prince Christopher of Greece
publisher = The Right Book Club
date= 1938
location = London
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
*cite book
last = Curley
first = Walter
authorlink = Walter J.P. Curley (author)
coauthors =
title = Monarchs In Waiting
publisher = Hutchinson & Co (Publishers) Ltd
date= 1975
location = London
pages =
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0 09 122310 5
*cite book
last = Louda
first = Jiri
authorlink = Jiri Louda (author)
coauthors = Michael Maclagan
title = Lines of Succession
publisher = Orbis Publishing
date= 1981
location = London
pages =
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0 85613 276 4

External links

* [http://www.glintofgold.org/romanovs/bio/christo.html Christopher of Greece]

Issue

Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark and Princess Francoise of Guise had one son, Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark.