Prince Michael of Greece, The Royal Author

Prince Michael of Greece and Marina Karella. Image from HuffPost

Prince Michael of Greece is perhaps more recognized as an author of historical books rather than his status as a member of the deposed Royal House of Greece. Here is his interesting life…

Born on January 7, 1939 in Rome, Italy, he is the only child of Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark and his second wife Princess Françoise d'Orléans of France. His father had earlier married, as his first wife, the wealthy American  heiress, Nancy Leeds.  Princess Francoise, nevertheless, was not without a substantial heritage herself. She came into the marriage with Christopher with a considerable dowry, mainly in jewels, properties and stocks.  As the daughter of the immensely wealthy Duke of Guise, the repository of many fortunes within the French Royal Family, Guise left all his children financially endowed.

Prince Christopher died when Michael was only a year old. He and his mother left Italy for Morocco and lived with his maternal grandmother in the town of Larache at the onset of the Second World War.   Later, the family settled in Spanish Morocco (the family was banned from the French sector), near Casablanca, where they occupied a small house without electricity, which they called Oued Akreech.

Prince Christopher of Greece. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Princess Francoise d'Orleans. Image from Wikimedia Commons

As a young boy, Prince Michael watched her mother observe a family tradition of burning his father’s papers and memorabilia following the sale of Prince Christopher’s villa after the war. Such experience heavily influenced his interest in writing and his eventual profession as a historian and biographer.

Michael spent his early childhood years on the African continent with his mother's family. Later, they also spent time in Spain. In 1948, they moved to Paris, where Prince Michael started his education.

His mother’s death in  1953 left him an orphan at the age of 14. Prince Michael was then raised by his uncle, the Comte de Paris.  In 1950, France repealed the law that banished former ruling families so the Comte de Paris established his residence in the capital.

Michael later joined the Comte and Comtesse de Paris and their children when they moved to their new estate, the Manoir du Cœur Volant in Louveciennes. In 1960, Prince Michael graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris with a degree in Political Science. After finishing his studies in Paris, Prince Michael went back to Greece and served in the Greek Army for four years. He was discharged with the rank of Sub-lieutenant.

The chateau on the Nouvion-en-Thiérache property. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Following a family agreement, the Comte de Paris and Prince Michel of became the owners of the family property in Nouvion-en-Thiérache, which includes a grand château, a petit château chateau and a vast forest.  few years later, Michael sold his shares, while the Comte de Paris sold his own in 1980 to the City of Roubaix to make it a center for children. The petit château was sold in 1986 to the local government of Nouvion.

Prince Michael married the internationally renowned sculptor Marina Karella on February 7, 1965 in the ballroom of the Royal Palace in Athens, Greece. The union produced two daughters: Alexandra (born 1968), who married to Nicolas Mirzayantz in 1998; and Olga (born 1971), who married in 2008 her second cousin Prince Aimone of Savoy, Duke of Apulia, a member of the former royal family of Italy.

Prince Michael’s marriage with Marina Karella was considered un-dynastic that he had to relinquish his and his descendants’ rights to the Greek throne before obtaining the consent of King Constantine II.

Prince Michael and his family were the only members of the royal family allowed to remain in Greece following the overthrow of the monarchy in 1967, though they would leave for Paris five years later. They then moved to New York in 1980 and stayed there for 13 years before eventually returning to Greece.

Monsieur le Comte de Paris. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Prince Michael has written more than 30 books. His novels about historical royalties have garnered praises for their meticulous detail. The book La femme sacrée, which tackles the life of Maharani of Jhansi, is his top favorite amongst his books. “She is the heroine of the Indian mutiny, young, beautiful, she died in a battle, everything. I love her, she is my favorite character,” Prince Michael said in an interview with Alain Elkann.

While living in New York in the early 1990s, Prince Michael met and developed a bond with a young girl named Elisa Izquierdo and pledged to pay her tuition through high school. Unfortunately, in 1995, a six-year-old Elisa was murdered by her own mother, which devastated Michael and Marina. Using their own resources and connections to help raise awareness on child protection, the couple founded the ELIZA Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in 2008.

Prince Michael maintains a blog—Prince Michael’s Chronicles.