''There are three Princesses of Greece called Olga:
★ 'Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark', daughter of King
George I of Greece, who died aged three months in
1881.''
★ 'Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark', born in
1903, daughter of
Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and wife of
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia ''(see biography below)''
★ '
Princess Olga Isabelle of Greece', born in
1971, the daughter of
Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark.
'Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark' (
11 June,
1903 –
16 October,
1997) was the granddaughter of King
George I of Greece and wife of the last
Prince Regent of
Yugoslavia.
Ancestry
Olga was born in
Tatoi, the eldest daughter of
Prince Nicholas of
Greece and
Denmark and his wife,
Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna of
Russia.
Her father, Prince Nicholas was the third son of King George I and
Olga, Queen of Greece. His older brothers were
Constantine I of Greece and
Prince George of Greece. His younger brothers were
Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, father of
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and
Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark, father of
Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark. Prince Nicholas also had three sisters, one elder,
Princess Alexandra, mother of
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich; and two younger,
Princess Marie and Princess Olga. Both Princesses Alexandra and Marie married Romanov Grand Dukes; Princess Olga died as an infant.
Her mother, Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna was a daughter of
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (
22 April,
1847 –
17 February,
1909) and
Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Grand Duchess Helen's paternal grandparents were
Alexander II of Russia and
Marie of Hesse and by Rhine and her maternal grandparents were
Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Augusta of
Reuss-Köstritz.
Princess Olga's paternal grandfather George I was a son of
Christian IX of Denmark and
Louise of Hesse-Kassel. His older siblings were
Frederik VIII of Denmark and
Alexandra of Denmark,
Queen consort of King
Edward VII of the United Kingdom. His younger sisters included
Dagmar of Denmark, Queen consort of
Alexander III of Russia, and
Thyra of Denmark, consort of
Ernst August of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland.
Her paternal grandmother and namesake, Queen Olga of Greece, was a daughter of the Russian
Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich and
Alexandra Iosifovna.
Olga was once engaged in 1922 to the Danish Crown Prince Fredrick (later
Frederick IX of Denmark), however they never married.
Marriage and children
Brought up in relative poverty, she married in
Belgrade 22 October 1923 HRH
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, the regent after the assassination of King
Alexander I of Yugoslavia. She then became officially known as 'Princess Paul of Yugoslavia'. Prince and Princess Paul had three children:
★
Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia
★
Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia
★
Princess Elisabeth of Yugoslavia
Diminished status
Yugoslavia became a republic in
1945 and the Yugoslav Royal Family went into exile, Paul and Olga settling in
South Africa. When Greece became a republic in
1975, it stopped recognizing royal titles of Greek citizens. Olga's Yugoslavian and Greek titles were thus of questionable validity in those respective nations, but her Danish title remained valid and she continued to be known as Princess Olga until her death.
Namesake cousin
'Princess Olga Isabelle of Greece' was born
17 November 1971, daughter of
Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Marina Karella, an artist and heiress. Olga grew up in Paris and New York, spending summers at the family's island retreat at
Patmos, Greece.
[1] She chose to attend
boarding school in England, has studied history in Rome, and is a graduate of
Princeton University.
[2] Her engagement to her second cousin,
Prince Aimone of Savoy, Duke of Apulia, the son of
Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta, was announced in May
2005. In August, it was reported that the wedding was to be held in the intimate setting of Patmos on the 9th of October, with fewer than fifty family members and guests invited to attend.
[3] But the event did not take place and it is not clear if it was ever actually scheduled for that date. No new wedding date had been announced as of the beginning of
2007, although the couple were occasionally pictured in society magazines attending monarchist and cultural events in
2006, and one such periodical, ''Point de Vue'', affirmed that the couple were still betrothed.
[4]
Unlike the other Princesses Olga referred to in this article, she was not deemed a full member of the Greek
royal house under the monarchy, despite being born of a marriage recognized by King
Constantine II of Greece (pursuant to Greek
legislative decree 1298/1949. As daughters of a non-
dynastic marriage, she and her elder sister, Princess Alexandra, are not accorded the traditional
Style of ''
Royal Highness'', nor do they bear the titular suffix "and Denmark".
[5]
References
1. Talents et volonté, , , , Point de Vue,
2. Michel de Grèce: prince et romancier, , Stéphane, Bern, Dynastie,
3. Le Plus Royal, , Vincent, Meylan, Point de Vue,
4. Ils Sont Ensemble, , , , Point de Vue,
5. The Descendants of Louis XIII, , Daniel, Willis, Clearfield Co., ,
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