World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbasePaul of the House of Glücksburg was born in Athens, Greece as the third son of King of the Hellenes Constantine I and Princess Sophia of Prussia. He was trained as a naval officer. On 9 Jan 1938, he married Princess Frederica of Hanover and had three children. Between 1917 and 1920 and between 1923 and 1935, he lived in exile with his father. When the Axis forces entered Greek territory in Apr 1941, he fled to London, England, United Kingdom with his brother King George II; they eventually made their way to Cairo, Egypt during the war, where Crown Prince Paul made broadcasts into Greece to inspire resistance against the German occupation. After the war, he returned to Greece in 1946 and was crowned the King of the Hellenes in 1947 upon the death of his brother. Later that year, he suffered from typhoid fever, thus was unable to attend the wedding of his cousin Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to Princess Elizabeth of York, the future Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. In the 1950s, he became the first Greek monarch to visit a Turkish head of state, though was criticized for his interference in Greek politics. In late Feb 1964, he underwent an operation for stomach cancer which he could not recover from. He passed away in Athens about a week later. His son succeeded him as King Constantine II.

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