Andre of Greece

Andre de Shleswig-Holstein-Sonderbourg-Gluücksbourg, prince de Grèce and of Denmark (in Greek Πρίγκιπας Ανδρέας της Ελλάδας ) was born on January 20th, 1882 with Athens, in Greece, and is deceased the December 3rd 1944 with Monte Carlo, in the principality of Monaco. It is a family member royal Helene and a Greek soldier.

Family

Prince André is the fourth wire and the seventh child of the king Georges Ier of Greece (1845-1913) and his wife the large-duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia (1851-1926). By his father, he is the grandson of the king Christian IX of Denmark (1818-1906), called the “father-in-law of Europe”, while, by his mother, he is the great-grandson of the tsar Nicolas Ier of Russia (1796-1855).

October 6th, 1903, prince André marries in Darmstadt, in Germany, the princess hessoise Alice de Battenberg, girl of the prince Louis Alexandre de Battenberg (1854-1921), future marquis de Milford-Haven, and of his wife the princess Victoria of Hesse-Darmstadt (1863-1950). By her mother, the Alice princess is the grand-daughter of the large-duke Louis IV of Hesse-Darmstadt (1837-1892) and the back-small-girl of the queen Victoria Ière of the United Kingdom (1819-1901) while, by her father, it goes down in line Morganatique from the large-duke Louis II from Hesse-Darmstadt (1777-1848).

From this union are born five children:

Marguerite (1905-1981), princess of Greece and Denmark, who marries the prince Gottfried d' Hohenlohe-Langenbourg (1897-1960). From where posterity;
Théodora (1906-1969), princess of Greece and Denmark, who marries the margrave Berthold de Bade (1906-1963). From where posterity;
Cecile (1911-1937), princess of Greece and Denmark, who marries the large-duke heir Georges Donatus to Hesse-Darmstadt (1906-1937). From where posterity;
Sophie (1914-2001), princess of Greece and Denmark, who marries in first weddings the prince Christophe de Hesse-Cassel (1901-1943), then the prince Georges Guillaume of Hanover (1915-2006). From where posterity of the two unions.
Philippe (1921), prince de Grèce and of Denmark then duke of Edinburgh, which marries the queen Elisabeth II of the United Kingdom (1926). From where posterity.

Biography

A Greek prince

Of all the family members royal Helene, prince André is undoubtedly Greek. Whereas its House is of German-Danish origin and that the language of use of its family is English, the prince thus openly refuses to speak another language that the modern Greek with his parents.

Like his other brothers, André of Greece follows, very young person, a military career and integrates the school of the juniors by Athens. But its role, in the army, remains however minor. In 1908, it is even forced to resign of its military functions following the pressures organized by the Stratiotikos Syndesmos , a nationalist league, on the government of his father.

In 1912-1913, when burst the first then the Second Balkan war, which sees Greece facing very with turn the Ottoman Empire and the Bulgaria, prince André is thus satisfied to organize a military hospital, with the back of the face.

During the first world war, prince André lines up behind the policy of neutrality installation by the government of his brother, the king Constantin I {{er}} of Greece. He goes however on several occasions visits some in the United Kingdom, where part of the political community shows it to be an agent with the pay of the Germans.

First exile and gréco-Turkish war

June 11th, 1917, prince André and his family leave Greece for Switzerland in company of king Constantin Ier, that the Greek First-Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and the Allies forced to abdicate in favor of his second wire, the young person Alexandre I {{er}}.

When Constantin Ier is restored on his throne in 1920, prince André and his family regain their native land and settle with the palate of My Rest, on the island of Corfou. Little time after, the prince is invited by his brother to take again service in the army and to take part in the war which opposes Greece to the Turkey since 1919. In August - September 1921, it is thus him which is with the command of the Second Greek Army corps, during the Bataille of Sakarya. But this battle is a terrible defeat for the Greeks and it precipitates the return of Smyrna and the Thrace within Turkey.

In Athens, the shock is immense and king Constantin must abdicate once again. The colonel Nikolaos Plastiras seizes the power then and makes stop six generals and politicians monarchists, of which prince André, who he shows to be responsible for the defeat vis-a-vis Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Prince André is thus considered in martial court and is recognized guilty of “disobedience to the orders” and “of actions taken according to his own initiative”. In spite of fears of the British embassy, the prince has however more chance than the other official decrees. Whereas those all are carried out, is only banished to him with life. He thus leaves Greece in company of his wife and their five children aboard British cruiser HMS Calypso .

New exile

After these unhappy events, Andre of Greece and his family settle with Saint-Cloud, the sides of the princess Marie Bonaparte and of her husband the prince Georges of Greece. They remain there until 1929, and these are the latter which take financially charges the expenditure with them with the family, completely ruined by the exile.

In 1930, the prince publishes his own version of the events of the gréco-Turkish war in a work entitled Toward Disaster. The Greek Army in Asia Minor in 1921.

Little time after, his wife, Alice de Battenberg, suffers from a serious depression and is recognized Schizophrène by the doctors. During two years, the princess is interned in a Swiss sanatorium and the two husbands move away one from the other. When she is declared cured in 1932, Alice thus refuses to find her husband and undertakes a series of voyages through the Central Europe. Once left Alice, it is all the family which disperses. The princesses Marguerite, Théodora, Cecile and Sophie marry German princes in turn and leave the paternal home. Little time afterwards, it is with the turn of Philippe to leave his father to go to continue his studies in Germany then in the United Kingdom. In 1935, monarchy is restored in Greece and the judgment with the exile which touches prince André is abolished the following year. In May 1936, this one thus turns over for a short stay in its native land.

The following year, a new drama touches prince André and his family. His pregnant daughter, the princess Cecile, the husband of this one and two of their three children find death in an air crash to Ostend, whereas they go to England to celebrate the weddings of the one there their parents. At the time of the funeral which follows this tragic event, André of Greece and Alice de Battenberg have found themselves for the first time for seven years. The couple is reconciled without however deciding to live again together.

In 1938, the Alice princess decides to set out again to live in Greece to carry out a life of nun to it. Her husband remains as for him in the South of France, where it is established in a yacht, in company of his mistress, the Andrée countess of Bigne. It is besides in France that the prince passes the war whereas the majority of the royal family Helene is in exile in South Africa and that his wife is always in Athens.

December 3rd, 1944, prince André of Greece dies of a Heart attack and Sclérose of the arteries to the Hotel Metropolis of Monte Carlo. After the war, its body is transported to the royal cemetery of Tatoi, to Greece.

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