Irene of Greece

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Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark (born May 11, 1942) is the youngest child of King Paul of Greece and his wife Queen Frederika. She is the younger sister of Queen Mother Sofia of Spain and of deposed King Constantine II of Greece. She is officially styled in Spain and Denmark as Her Royal Highness Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark.

Irene was born in Cape Town, South Africa, on May 11, 1942. She was baptised two months later, her godfather being Union of South Africa president Jan Smutts.

At age ten, she became a pupil of concert pianist Gina Bachauer and, for a while, she was an amateur concert pianist herself. At the death of her father, Irene became Crown Princess of Greece - a title she held until her niece, Princess Alexia, was born. After her brother was dethroned, she moved to India in 1969 with her mother. Since her mother's death, Princess Irene has lived in Spain, in an apartment at the La Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, the royal residence of the King and Queen of Spain. Her niece, Infanta Cristina of Spain, named her daughter Irene (born in 2005) after her.

Princess Irene has never married though, she claimed, she had many suitors. In an interview, she joked that any potential husband would have had to have been a saint as "she is impossible to live with".

She is the founder and president of the World in Harmony Foundation (Fundación Mundo en Armonía). She is also involved in philanthropic works in India and Greece.


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