Greece’s former royal family seeks to reclaim citizenship 50 years after monarchy abolished

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Members of Greece’s former royal family have applied for Greek citizenship and formally acknowledged the country’s republican system of government, in a landmark move 50 years after the monarchy was abolished, officials confirmed Friday.

The late King Constantine II and his family members were stripped of Greek citizenship in 1994 in a dispute with the government over formerly royal property and over claims that he refused to renounce any right to the Greek throne for his descendants.

Interior Ministry official Athanasios Balerpas said that relatives of the late king, who died last year at the age of 82, signed a declaration Thursday acknowledging the republican government and adopting a new surname, “De Grece” – French for “of Greece.”

“A historically pending matter is being resolved,” Balerpas told state-run radio. “Let’s look to the future now. I think it’s a good moment because it closes an account from the past and we can now look forward as a people.”

Officials have not officially named the applicants. But Greek news media widely reported that ten family members have sought citizenship, including all five children of Constantine II and former Queen Anne-Marie – Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora, and Philippos – as well as five of the late king’s grandchildren.

The Greek monarchy was abolished by referendum in December 1974, when voters overwhelmingly backed a republican constitution, months after the fall of a seven-year military dictatorship.

Members of the royal family lived in exile for decades before Constantine returned as a private citizen in his seventies. They were stripped of their Greek citizenship in 1994 during a legal battle over the former royal estate, which is now state-owned.

They had previously refused to adopt a surname, distancing themselves from the name Glucksburg, assigned in a 1994 law, which they saw as linking them too closely to their German ancestry and making them seem less legitimately Greek.

The decision on citizenship must now be published in the official government gazette before they can apply for state identity cards and Greek passports.

Lawmakers from center-left and left-wing opposition parties argued that the former royal family members should not have been permitted to choose their own surname but did not oppose their right to citizenship.

Some lawmakers from center-left and left-wing opposition parties objected to the surname chosen by the former royal family members, arguing it sounds like a title rather than a standard surname, but did not oppose the their right to citizenship.

Derek Gatopoulos, The Associated Press