Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark

Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark (; ; – 14 December 1940) was a daughter of King George I of Greece and his wife Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia. She was a sister of King Constantine I of Greece and a first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and King George V of the United Kingdom.

Born as a princess of Greece and Denmark, she was educated in Athens by private tutors. Her father instilled in her a great love for Greece and throughout her life, she remained a fervent patriot. She married Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, her first cousin once removed, who courted her for five years. The wedding took place in 1900 in Corfu. The couple settled in St. Petersburg and they had two daughters: Princesses Nina (1901 -1974) and Xenia (1903 -1965).

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich had a house built for her in Crimea and he was a devoted father and husband, but the marriage was unhappy. Princess Maria, known upon her marriage as Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna of Russia, neither got to love her husband nor her adopted country. Longing for her native Greece, she never adapted to life in Russia. Over the years, she became estranged from her husband taking any opportunity to spend time abroad. At the outbreak of World War I, she was vacationing in England with her daughters and chose not to return to Russia. During the conflict, she was a patron of three military hospitals in Harrogate, which she financed generously.

Her husband was trapped in Russia after the revolution and he was shot by the Bolsheviks with several other Romanov relatives in January 1919. In her widowhood, deprived of her Russian income, Princess Maria faced serious financial difficulties. She returned to live in Greece with her daughters in 1920. There, she began a relationship with Admiral Perikles Ioannidis, who had been the commander of the ship that she took at her return to Athens. They were married in 1922. The proclamation of the Second Hellenic Republic in 1924, sent her into exile. The princess returned to live in Britain for a couple of years and she settled in Rome in 1926 with her second husband. She lived in Italy for over a decade until the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in 1940 forced her to return to her native Greece. She was in poor health and was cared for by her nephew King Paul of Greece and his wife Frederica. She died, as the Greek royal family was about to leave for exile. She left a book of memoirs, published posthumously by her grandchildren with the title A Romanov Diary.

Early life Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark with her parents and siblings. Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark was born on at the Royal Palace in Athens. She was the fifth child and second daughter of King George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia. Maria's father was born a Danish prince. Thus, the Greek royal family was part of the Danish.

Princess Maria, nicknamed "Greek Minnie" to tell her apart from the elder "Minnie", her paternal aunt (Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia), grew up as part of a large family of eight children. One sister, named Olga, died in childhood, but she had five brothers: (Constantine, George, Nicholas, Andrew, Christopher) and one surviving sister: Alexandra.

King George and Queen Olga were devoted parents who provided a happy, homely environment for their children. English was the children's first language. They spoke Greek between themselves and English with their parents. Maria's education followed the conventions for princesses of her time. There was an emphasis on languages and she learned German, English, and French besides her native Greek. She studied mathematics, history, literature, and geography. In addition, she was taught court etiquette, Orthodox religion, drawing, painting, music, dancing and learned to play the piano.

As Maria's eldest brothers were already occupied by their studies, she grew up closer to her sister Alexandra and her brother Nicholas, who preceded her in age. Family reunions took her many times abroad. She visited Wiesbaden, Germany in 1882. In 1886, her mother took her to Russia for the first time. They stayed with the Romanovs at Pavlovsk, the home of her maternal grandmother.

Every two years, Princess Maria spent holidays in Denmark, visiting her paternal grandparents. At Fredensborg Palace on the island of Zealand, Maria and her siblings met their Russian and British cousins in large family gatherings. In February 1897, King George sent his son, Prince George, to take possession of the island. They were forced to give up Crete to international administration, and agree to minor territorial concessions in favor of the Turks and to a monetary indemnity.

Since her sister Alexandra's marriage in 1889, Princess Maria became her father's favorite child and constant companion. She helped her father acting as his unofficial secretary as her mother, Queen Olga, suffered from bad eyesight. The King tried to shield his daughter; both were unhurt though a footman and both horses were wounded. In her late teens, she fell in love with a Greek commoner, but her parents did not allow her to contract an unequal union. Princess Maria found King Alexander too ugly and rejected him. She accepted him and the engagement was officially announced on 4 April 1896. This time, under pressure from her family, the Greek princess finally accepted his proposal, yet reluctantly. Before she had a change of heart, Queen Olga hurried the wedding. The marriage took place in Greece at the church of the old Venetian fortress in Corfu on 12 May [O.S. 30 April] 1900. It was a relatively simple ceremony with the reception held at the Greek Royal family residence in Corfu: Mon Repos. After the wedding, the couple boarded the Greek royal yacht and sailed to the Bay of Naples. They spent their honeymoon in Italy and traveled around Austria-Hungary.

Grand Duchess Maria and her husband settled in apartments located within the New Michael Palace on the Palace Quay in Saint Petersburg, the household of her father-in-law, Grand Duke Michael Nicholaievich. They shared the large palace with the Grand Duke's widowed father and two unmarried brothers: Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, and Grand Duke Sergei Mihailovich, to whom Maria Gerogievna became particularly close. The family had Milkhailovkoye near Peterhof as their summer country retreat. Two years, two months and two days later on 22 August 1903, she had her second daughter and last child Princess Xenia Georgievna. Shortly after Xenia's birth, Grand Duchess Maria's father in law became paralyzed by a stroke and moved permanently to the south of France to recover. In the summer of 1900, Maria Georgievna visited Crimea with her husband.

Harax Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna and her husband Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia with their two daughters. 1908 As Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna was very fond of everything English, the villa was constructed in the English style with local limestone, but they gave the property a Greek name, Harax, the fortress, in memory of an ancient fortress that once stood on the tip of Ai-Todor. Harax, the villa of Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna and her husband in Crimea, constructed in the English style. 1913. Construction took place between 1905 and 1907. Harax, encompassing 46 rooms, lay upon a gray stone foundation extending to the surrounding terraces in a cruciform plan. The two-story house, overlooking the Black Sea with a red-tiled roof and dotted with chimneys, was decorated by the Grand Duchess with English furniture, silverware, textiles, and wallpaper all imported from England. The property was later expanded adding a farm, a playhouse for their daughters, housing for their staff's family and a church in 1908. Husband and wife both took on gardening with enthusiasm working on the surrounding park. As Harax was on walking distance from Livadia Palace, the residence in Crimea of Tsar Nicholas II and his immediate family, the Tsar and his children were frequent visitors.

For seven years the Grand Duke and his wife led a quiet life in Crimea, returning to St Petersburg in the winter for the social season at the Imperial capital. With a poor command of Russian, Grand Duchess Maria spoke in French with her husband and in English with her daughters. Princess Nina, the eldest was described by as "dark, calm and indolent" while Xenia, the youngest was "blond, vivacious and full of life". For Maria Georgieva, who had been so close to her father it was a terrible blow. For many weeks, she was inconsolable. Grand Duke George was a devoted father and husband, but the Grand Duchess never fell in love with him. She never liked Russia either and eventually became estranged from her husband.

War and Revolution Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna with her two daughters. 1917.

In the summer of 1914, the Grand Duchess left Russia with her two daughters and her lady in waiting, Baroness Agnes von Stoeckl for England to improve her daughter Xenia's frail health with the mineral waters of the Spa town of Harrogate, where they had been three times before. In reality, she wanted a trial separation from her husband.

After a stay at the Claridge's Hotel, the Princess moved to Harrogate, where Grand Duke George Mikhailovich was going to join them a few weeks later. However, the outbreak of World War I on 28 July 1914 thwarted their plans. Grand Duke George was forced to cancel his trip as he had to resume his duties in the Tsarist army. For her part, Grand Duchess Maria declined the chance to rush back to Russia with her aunt the Empress Maria Feodorovna, who was in London that summer. Instead, the Grand Duchess decided to extend her stay in the United Kingdom with her daughters and later used the dangers involved in a trip back during wartime in not attempting a return to Russia.

Determine to help with the war of the Triple Entente against the Central Powers, Grand Duchess Maria founded a small military hospital N 2 in Harrogate. Aimed at British and Canadian naval men wounded in the war. During the four years of the war, more than 1200 patients were treated there. Impressed by her work, her cousin, King George V, conferred her the Royal Red Cross in July 1915. Unable to subsidize any longer the hospitals she patronized, the Grand Duchess entrusted them to the protection of her aunt Queen Alexandra. At the request of her patients, however, she remained the director until the end of the war.

After several months of uncertainty, the Grand Duke was finally shot on 30 January 1919 at the Peter and Paul Fortress by the Bolsheviks. Along with her husband, Maria lost her brother-in-law Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, her former brother-in-law Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich and her younger maternal uncle, Grand Duke Dimitri Constantinovich.

A Greek marriage

Queen Olga, Princess Maria of Greece and her second husband Admiral Ioannides.

In her widowhood, Princess Maria of Greece reverted to her original name and title and her focus shifted to her own family. In order to force the Greeks to join the allied cause, the French bombarded Athens and demanded King Constantine's departure. He was forced to leave the country, and on 10 June 1917, he was replaced as King by his second son Alexander. Princess Maria and her two daughters then joined King Constantine and the Greek Royal family in Italy, where the small group boarded a ship of the Hellenic Navy towards Corfu. Then, members of the royal family continue their journey aboard the destroyer Ierax, which took them to Athens. During this trip, Princess Maria met the commander of the ship, Admiral Perikles Ioannidis. Widowed and determined to end her days with "Greek blood", the princess was smitten with the Greek Admiral. Five years her junior, Ioannidis had just spent three years in Venizelist jails because of his support for the monarchy.

On the other hand, Princess Maria's relationship with her daughters was strained. The princesses resented that their mother had kept them away from their father during the war. That they never were able to see him again, as Grand Duke George Mikhailovich had been killed during the Russian Revolution, only increased their resentment and they disapproved of their mother's relationship with Ioannidis. In part to distance themselves from their mother, both daughters married early.

A wandering life Princess Maria of Greece, her nephew King George II and her niece Helena (sitting in front). Standing in the back: Princess Irene, Prince Christopher, Admiral Ioannides and Paul of Greece .

After a honeymoon in Frankfurt and Munich Princess Maria of Greece and her second husband returned to Athens. The Greek Princess devoted herself to drawing and she made a series of whimsical illustrations in color of exotic people and animals that she called "Katoufs" "making a face" in Greek. She published her drawing as a children's book in 1925 with rhymes written by Princess Maria Trubetskoy, née Rodzianko (1877–1958). The two women dedicated the book to their common grandson, Prince David Chavchavadze. Many members of the Greek royal family were also living in Italy. The Princess acquired a residence, the Villa Attica, located on via Antonio-Bertoloni. The couple followed a relatively simple existence, and Princess Maria divided her time between gardening and the writing of her memoirs, published years later by her grandchildren. Maria was an inveterate backgammon player while her husband carefully monitored their expenses. In 1933, she visited the United States for a couple of months to see her daughters and two grandchildren staying on Long Island.

Later life Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna died in her native Athens during the Greco-Italian War (28 October 1940 – 30 April 1941) Her daughter Xenia lived for years in Long Island and was for a time married to millionaire William Leeds, son of Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds and the stepson of Maria's brother Prince Christopher. She took in for a few months a woman later found to be an impostor, Anna Anderson. Anderson fraudulently claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the youngest daughter of her cousin, Emperor Nicholas II, and was forced to leave Xenia's house at the demand of William Leeds. Grand Duchess Maria never recognized Anderson.

Ancestry