- His Royal Highness Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
- Prince of Greece
- Prince of Denmark
- Major General - Greek Army in Balkan Wars (1919-1922)
Biography
Andrew von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, His Royal Highness Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, was born 2 February 1882 in Athens, Greece to George I of Greece (1845-1913) and Olga Constantinovna of Russia (1851-1926) and died 3 December 1944 Metropole Hotel, Monte Carlo, Monaco of heart failure, arterial sclerosis. He married Alice Mountbatten (1885-1969) 6 October 1903 in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany.
He was a grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark and the father of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He was a prince of Greece and Denmark, both by virtue of his patrilineal descent.
A career soldier, Prince Andrew began military training at an early age, and was commissioned as an officer in the Greek army. His command positions were substantive appointments rather than honorary, and he saw service in the Balkan Wars. In 1913, his father was assassinated and Andrew's elder brother Constantine became king. Constantine's neutrality policy during World War I led to his abdication, and most of the royal family, including Andrew, was exiled. On their return a few years later, Andrew saw service as Major General[1] in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), but the war went badly for Greece, and Andrew was blamed, in part, for the loss of Greek territory. He was exiled for a second time in 1922, and spent most of the rest of his life in France.
By 1930, Andrew was estranged from his wife, Princess Alice of Battenberg. His only son, Philip, served in the British navy during World War II, while all four of his daughters were married to Germans, three of whom had Nazi connections. Separated from his wife and son by the effects of the war, Andrew died in Monte Carlo in 1944. He had seen neither of them since 1939.
Early life
Prince Andrew was born at the Tatoi Palace[2] just north of Athens on 2 February 1882, the fourth son of George I of Greece. A member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, he was a prince of both Greece and Denmark, as his father was a younger son of Christian IX of Denmark. He was in the line of succession to the Greek and more distantly to the Danish throne.
Marriage
In 1902, Prince Andrew met Princess Alice of Battenberg during his stay in London on the occasion of the coronation of Edward VII, who was his uncle-by-marriage and her grand-uncle. Princess Alice was a daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, King Edward's niece. They fell in love, and the following year, on 6 October 1903, Andrew married Alice in a civil wedding at Darmstadt.[3] The following day two religious wedding services were performed: one Lutheran in the Evangelical Castle Church, and another Greek Orthodox in the Russian Chapel on the Mathildenhöhe.[4] Prince and Princess Andrew had five children, all of whom later had children of their own.
- Margarita of Greece and Denmark (1905-1981) - married Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.
- Theodora of Greece and Denmark (1906-1969) - married Margrave of Baden
- Cecilie of Greece and Denmark (1911-1937) - married Grand Duke of Hesse, but her family all died in a tragic plane crash over Belgium.
- Sophie of Greece and Denmark (1914-2001)
- Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021) - married Queen Elizabeth of England,father of King Charles III of United Kingdom (1948-).
Children
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Constantine I of Greece (1868-1923) | 2 August 1868 Athens | 11 January 1923 Salerno | Sophie von Preußen (1870-1932) |
| George of Greece and Denmark (1869-1957) | |||
| Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (1870-1891) | 30 August 1870 Corfu, Greece | 24 September 1891 Moscow, Russia | Paul of Russia (1860-1919) |
| Nicholas of Greece and Denmark (1872-1938) | 22 January 1872 Athens, Greece | 8 February 1938 Athens, Greece | Elena Vladimirovna of Russia (1882-1957) |
| Marie of Greece and Denmark (1876-1940) | |||
| Olga of Greece and Denmark (1881-1881) | |||
| Andrew of Greece and Denmark (1882-1944) | 2 February 1882 Athens, Greece | 3 December 1944 Metropole Hotel, Monte Carlo, Monaco | Alice Mountbatten (1885-1969) |
| Christopher of Greece and Denmark (1888-1940) | |||
Notable Descendants
- Charles III of the United Kingdom (1948-) - King Charles of England (Grandson)
Notable Ancestors
- Descendants of Christian IX of Denmark
See Also
- Andrew Oldenburg
- Oldenburg Family
- Oldenburg in Greece
- wikipedia:en:Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
- Prince Andrew at thePeerage
- Prince Andrew, Geni.com, https://www.geni.com/people/Prince-Andrew-of-Greece-and-Denmark/5495575341940116659, retrieved 01 Dec 2024
- Prince Andrew, FindAGrave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37118114/andrew-of_greece_and_denmark, retrieved 01 Dec 2024
- Prince Andrew, FamilySearch.org, https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LRN9-TR9/prince-andrew-of-greece-and-denmark-1882-1944, retrieved 01 Dec 2024
References
- ^ Kalaitzis, Georgios, Infantry Colonel (1965). The Minor Asia Campaign, Angora Operation, volume 5, part one. Athens: Army History Directorate, Greek Army General Staff. pp. 152.
- ^ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedphilipeade - ^ Brandreth, p. 49 and Vickers, p. 52
- ^ The Times (London), Thursday 8 October 1903, p. 3
Further reading
- Andreas, Prince of Greece; Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece (1930). Towards Disaster: The Greek Army in Asia Minor in 1921 London: John Murray OCLC 4046798
Footnotes (including sources)
| ‡ General |
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