Royal wedding in Greece

Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Tatiana Blatnik

 After 46 years, a royal wedding will be taking place in Greece on Wednesday. Prince Nikolaos, 41, the second son of King Constantine of Greece, the groom of the previous royal wedding to Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, will wed Miss Tatiana Blatnik, PR for fashion house DVF. The wedding will be taking place on the island of Spetsai, a stronghold of the Greek navy during the Greek Revolution of 1821, just to the South of Athens, near the Peloponnesian coast, what a friend calls " the Southampton of Greece".Thus the portrait of the couple, created by a local artist, Dina Theodoropoulos, a wedding present from the municipality of Spetsai to the couple. 

Discussion of the Greek royal family is a taboo in Greek politics and journalism. A great part of the last four decades has been spent cursing them for every possible evil. They kept mostly silent. one must admit, that the ex-king is not particularly brilliant politically, that is why he has been tricked by the late President of the Republic Karamanlis into not returning to Greece after the fall of the 1967-1974 military dictatorship and ask for a referendum that Karamanlis skillfully masterminded. But little by little the Greek royal family has been making a come back to the public scene.

I think one of the most powerful moments in my mind was when King Constantine was allowed just a few hours stay to burry his mother at the royal palace of Tatoi. Who could do that to a person, let alone a former head of state? Upon landing from London the King kneeled and kissed the Greek soil. I shall always remeber that scene. I cannot hide either that I feel a strong satisfaction knowing that some mighty powerful people have been and will be bending their knees to his sister, the Queen of Spain, and will bend over backwards to secure an invitation. It may not amount to a return of the king, but it is a sweet revenge...

Crown Prince Paul on the other hand, is not very brilliant either, and his wife, Marie-Chantal is too distant and too lofty to be loved by the people. If the Greek royal family were ever to return to Greece, Prince Nikolaos and his bride who has charmed almost everyone during her stays in Greece, would be its best bet. It is not a coincidence that Tatiana has been offered kisses, posies and good wishes everywhere she went, and accepted them with grace and understanding, very much like her mother-in-law, nearly five decades ago. Let's hope that Wednesday's bain de foule will be a success for the new Princely couple. May their life together sail with all good winds and be long and fruitful.