Princess Sophie of Prussia, the Anglophile German Queen of the Hellenes

Just like her mother, the Empress Frederick, who was treated coldly in Prussia, Queen Sophia of Greece also endured the same in her adopted country because of one reason – she was German. But throughout her life, the former Princess Sophie of Prussia worked towards humanitarian causes, building hospitals, training Greek nurses and healing wounded Greek soldiers.

Sophia Dorothea Ulrike Alice was born on June 14, 1870 in the Neues Palais in Potsdam. She was the third daughter and the seventh of eight children of Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, and his wife, Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom, who was the eldest daughter and child of Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort.

Sophia was christened during the Franco-Prussian War, which explains why the men present during the ceremony were in uniform. Describing the event to Queen Victoria, the Princess Royal said: "The Christening went off well, but was sad and serious; anxious faces and tearful eyes, and a gloom and foreshadowing of all the misery in store spread a cloud over the ceremony, which should have been one of gladness and thanksgiving.”

 She was affectionately referred to as “Sossy” within the family circle. She and her sisters Viktoria and Margaret were largely ignored by their paternal grandparents, the Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kaiserin Augusta, who favored William, Charlotte and Henry. Nevertheless, her mother, a fervent Anglophile, raised Sophia and her siblings in an utterly English way despite objections from the Prussian royal family and German chancellor Count Otto von Bismarck. The children would also go on frequent trips to England to visit Queen Victoria. Thus, Sophia developed a profound attachment towards Queen Victoria that she would stay with her for extended periods.

Sophia exuded regality from an early age. Her nurse once unhesitatingly predicted that “Sophie will be a queen one day.” She became engaged to Prince Constantine of Greece on September 3, 1888, shortly after her father succumbed to throat cancer. Queen Victoria, who witnessed the couple’s growing relationship, once wrote: "Is there a chance of Sophie's marrying Tino?  It would be very nice for her, for he is very good."

Though Queen Victoria fully supported the betrothal, the same thing cannot be said about Sophia’s oldest brother, Wilhelm, by then the new kaiser, and his wife Augusta Victoria. Queen Olga, Constantine’s mother, was also initially reluctant about the upcoming marriage as she preferred for her son to marry an Orthodox (Sophie was a Lutheran).

Undeterred by these remonstrations, Sophia and Constantine wedded on October 27, 1889 in Athens, Greece, first in an Orthodox ceremony at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation, then in a Lutheran service held in the private chapel of  King George I of Greece.

The wedding was the first major international event to take place in Athens, which easily made the event popular amongst the Greeks. The couple was related to majority of the European dynasties, so representatives of every single one of the continent’s royal houses were present during the festivities. There was a humongous number of guests that King George I asked members of the Greek high society to receive some of the attendees as he could not accommodate all of them in his palaces.

The union produced six children. Sophia gave birth to her first child, the future King George II, on July 19, 1890. Apart from the baby being slightly premature, her son also came out of her womb with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, which nearly choked him. Luckily, a German midwife sent by the Dowager Empress Frederick was able to resolve the situation. Her other children wer the future King Alexander, Helen, the future Queen Mother of Romania, the future King Paul, Irene, later Duchess of Aosta by marriage, and Princess Katherine.

She officially converted to Orthodoxy on May 2, 1891, much to the delight of the Greek royal family. Her brother the kaiser, and his wife Augusta Victoria, however, were outraged by her decision that the latter went into premature labor and the former forbade Sophia from entering Germany for three years.

During the wars Greece had to endure in the late 19th century and early 20th century, Sophia, together with other members of the Greek royal family, actively worked with the Greek Red Cross. She helped put up field hospitals, facilitated the arrival of English nurses in Greece, and participated in training young women volunteers to care for wounded soldiers. In December of 1897, she and her mother-in-law were decorated with the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria in recognition of their work. In 1896, she founded the Union of Greek Women, which assisted refugees from the Ottoman Empire. She was also one of the founding members of the Greek Animal Protection Society.

The First Balkan war also saw Sophia, as well as her mother and sisters in law, actively aiding refugees and wounded soldiers. The war, however, worsened the rivalry between the princesses, particularly between Sophia and her sister-in-law Alice after the latter sent nurses to Thessaloniki without asking permission from the crown princess.

Since 1912, Sophia became even more estranged from her husband due to his numerous extramarital affairs, which the crown princess initially condoned. Around this time, Constantine was involved in a dalliance with a divorcee, Italian actress Countess Paola von Ostheim. After Constantine ascended to the Greek throne following King George I’s assassination on March 18, 1913, Sophia officially became the Queen Consort of the Hellenes.

The Greek Royal Family was forced into exile twice, first in Switzerland, then in Italy. The political instability in Greece drove Constantine—who was constantly accused of pro-German sentiments—into depression, while Sophia suffered increased anxiety. Constantine would abdicate on September 27, 1922 and would die of brain hemorrhage on January of the following year.

Sophia became increasingly religious during her older years. Though she remained an Orthodox, she would attend Anglican offices whenever she had the chance. After having diagnosed with advanced cancer, Sophia died surrounded by her family on January 13, 1932 at a hospital in Frankfurt, Hesse-Nassau, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic. She was 61 years old. Sophia’s body currently rests at the royal burial ground at Tatoi Palace in Athens, Greece.