Princess Maria of Greece

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

source: Wikipedia

Princess Maria of Greece

Princess Maria of Greece was the second daughter and fifth child of King George I of the Hellenes and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia. She was born at the Royal Palace in Athens on March 3, 1876, and had seven siblings:

Maria, known within the family as Minnie, was raised primarily at the Royal Palace in Athens, where she was educated privately. In addition to history and geography, she learned several languages, becoming fluent in German, English, and French at a young age in addition to Danish, Russian, and Greek. The family often holidayed in Denmark, and she was very close to her first cousin, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia. Later, she and Xenia would also become sisters-in-law by marrying two brothers.

Princess Maria of Greece and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, c1900. source: Royal Collection Trust RCIN 2927293

Fiercely patriotic, Maria declared that she would not marry if it would mean leaving Greece. But soon a marriage was arranged – one which she was against from the beginning. After much coercing from her parents – and the King conceding to her demand that she would retain her place in the line of succession to the Greek throne and position within the Royal Family – Maria married Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, in Corfu on April 30, 1900. He was the son of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich of Russia and Princess Cecilie of Baden. The couple lived in apartments at the Mikhailovsky Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, and later built a palace in the Crimea. Maria – now Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna – and her husband had two daughters:

The marriage was never particularly happy. Maria was not in love with her husband, despite his apparent devotion to her. She soon found excuses to leave Russia – and her husband – and spent more time in Greece and elsewhere in Europe, often using her daughters’ health as the reason for her travels. When World War I began, Maria was living in Harrogate, England with her two daughters and chose to remain there and not return to Russia. While in England, she was the patron of several military hospitals which she funded herself. Her husband – like many in the Russian Imperial Family – was murdered by the Bolsheviks with three other Grand Dukes of Russia in January 1919, leaving Maria a widow.

Maria with her daughters, c1918. source: Wikipedia

In 1920, Maria was able to return to Greece when her eldest brother, King Constantine I, was brought back to power. She traveled aboard a Greek destroyer commanded by Admiral Pericles Ioannidis, and a romance developed. The couple married two years later, on December 16, 1922,  in Wiesbaden, Germany. They had no children.

The couple settled in Athens but In 1924, the Second Hellenic Republic was declared and the monarchy was abolished. They lived many years in exile, first in the United Kingdom until 1925, and then in Italy until 1935. In 1935, Perikles and Maria were able to return to Greece when the monarchy was restored with Maria’s nephew King George II on the throne. Perikles and Maria’s marriage did have its issues. Perikles had mistresses and often gave his mistresses jewelry stolen from his wife. Maria lost money playing backgammon and Perikles was forced to carefully monitor their expenses.

Tomb of Princess Maria and Pericles Ioannidis. photo: by Kostisl – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25382837

Maria died of a heart attack in Athens on December 14, 1940, in the midst of the Greco-Italian War. She is buried at the Royal Cemetery at Tatoi Palace near Athens, Greece. Admiral Perikles Ioannidis survived his wife by twenty-five years, dying in Athens, Greece on February 7, 1965, at the age of 83. He was buried with his wife in the Royal Cemetery at Tatoi Palace.

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