Did Lutheran churches get built in Athens specifically for them? Or did they already exist?
As for Orthodox royals: to the best my knowledge, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (a granddaughter of Czar Alexander II) has been the only one to marry into a Scandinavian royal house (the Bernadottes of Sweden). Had the engagement in 1922 of the then-crown prince (future King Frederik IX) of Denmark to Princess Olga of Greece been successful, that would have been another example.
Are there Orthodox churches in the Scandinavian countries -- at leas in the big cities (e.g. Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen)? I'm assuming that religious accommodations would have had to be made for marriages with foreign royals of different church affiliations. One saw this sort of thing in the UK, where the Duke of Edinburgh married the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, and the Netherlands, where the future King Willem II married the Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna.
I've read that King Olav V fought for years against the marriage of his only son to a commoner -- vainly holding onto hope that he would give in to duty by marrying a royal princess. The father's preferred choice of bride for his heir was Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark (younger daughter of King Paul).
Had such a match been successful, Norway would have an Orthodox queen today ...
Message Thread
« Back to index