Cousins Alexandra of Yugoslavia | Name Princess of | |
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Parents Frederica of Hanover, Paul of Greece Siblings Sofia of Spain, Constantine II of Greece Grandparents Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia Similar People Sofia of Spain, Constantine II of Greece, Paul of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, Princess Alexia of Greece a | ||
Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark (Greek: Πριγκίπισσα Ειρήνη της Ελλάδας και Δανίας; born 11 May 1942) is the youngest child of King Paul of Greece and his wife Frederika of Hanover. She is the younger sister of Queen Sofía of Spain and of the deposed King Constantine II of Greece.
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Biography
She was born in Cape Town, South Africa, on 11 May 1942. She was a pupil of concert pianist Gina Bachauer and, for a while, she was a professional concert pianist herself.
She was a bridesmaid at the 1962 wedding of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain to her sister Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark.
She was dating Prince Michel of Orléans, comte d'Évreux, a younger son of the Orléanist pretender Henri, Count of Paris, when he met Béatrice Pasquier de Franclieu, whom he married on 18 November 1967 in Casablanca, Morocco, without his father's consent.
Princess Irene has never married and is close to her brother, Constantine.
After her brother was dethroned, she moved to India with her mother. Since her mother's death, Princess Irene has lived in Spain in an apartment at the La Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, the royal residence of her sister and brother-in-law, the King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía of Spain.
She is the founder and president of the World in Harmony organisation (Mundo en Armonía). She also collaborates with other benefic foundations and cultural activities.
Her niece, Infanta Cristina named her daughter Irene (born in 2005) after her. On 23 April 2008, she and Mohammed VI of Morocco became the godparents of Simeon Hassan Muñoz, the son of Princess Kalina of Bulgaria and Antonio José "Kitín" Muñoz Valcárcel.