Constantine II, the last king of Greece, died this Tuesday in Athens, aged 82, Greek public broadcaster ERT announced.
Constantine II, brother of the emeritus queen of Spain Sofia, and cousin of the British monarch, King Charles III, died of a stroke, according to ERT. He was admitted to a hospital in Athens last week with breathing problems, Greek media reported.
He was the last member of a centuries-old dynasty to rule when a ruthless military dictatorship took over the country in 1967. Eight months after the army came to power, Constantine staged a military counter-coup that failed.
When democracy was restored that year, nearly 70% of Greeks voted in a referendum to abolish the monarchy, ending a dynasty started by Constantine’s great-grandfather George I, born in Denmark in 1863.
In 2008, less than 12 percent of Greeks supported a return to a constitutional monarchy, according to a poll.
Constantine II had come to the throne at the age of 23 in 1964, in one of the most turbulent periods in contemporary Greek history.
The political crises of the time created favorable terrain for a coup d’état designated by the colonels in April 1967 and the seven years of the junta that would support the CIA.
According to later declassified US diplomatic documents, Constantine attempted to impose martial law in 1967 to prevent the return of Georges Papandréou, or socialist son Andreas, who was elected prime minister 15 years later.
He left the country in 1968 and lived in London for 40 years before returning to Greece in 2013.
Married to Anne-Marie, sister of Queen Margaret II of Denmark, he has five children.
With Lusa
Source: DN
