by Christos Zabounis

From the first morganatic marriage of the Greek royal family, in 1919, between King Alexander I of the Hellenes and Aspasia Manou, to the upcoming union of Prince Nicholas –now De Grece– with Chryssi Vardinoyannis, almost a century has passed. The changes that occurred, in the meantime, in our country were stormy. First and foremost, the regime changed. From a Regal Republic it became a Presidential Republic. On the surface of course, since the powers of each President were curtailed by the New Democracy of Konstantinos Karamanlis after the Dictatorship and the PA.SOK. of Andreas Papandreou afterwards. The latter, in fact, passed a law through Parliament, the famous Venizelos law, which removed Greek citizenship from the members of the Greek royal family, formerly of Greece, as its official international title is. For thirty years, therefore, Constantine, Anna-Maria, Alexia, Pavlos, Nicholas, Theodora, Philip were stateless, without forgetting Princess Irene, sister of Sophia of Spain and King Constantine. When Prince Nicholas met Chrysi Vardinoyannis, she had Greek citizenship and he did not. With a political initiative of the government, it was decided to implement the Venizelos law with the unbearable condition of granting citizenship in exchange for a change of name. In this way, Chryssi, if she wishes, can change her surname and be called De Gres domestically. Abroad, she will be called, as provided for by the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, Son Altesse Royale (S.A.R.) la princesse Nicolas de Grece, or, more simply, due to the dominance of the English language, Princess Chryssi of Greece.