Greek crown jewels

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The Greek Crown Jewels are the regal insignia of the kings of the Kingdom of Greece .

When Otto von Wittelsbach was appointed King of Greece by the great powers in 1832 , he brought a crown , a scepter and a sword for his coronation (according to the Roman Catholic rite ) to Greece from the personal treasure of the Wittelsbach family . When he went into exile in Bavaria , he at least took the crown back with him as personal property.

After Otto was banished from the country, Georg I, the dynasty of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg family , came to power in Greece . Before his enthronement, the new king adopted the Greek Orthodox faith . After Otto I, there were no more coronations in Greece, as they were considered to be linked to Otto's divine grace . Instead, the new king took an oath in front of parliament.

Finally, in 1959 , Albrecht of Bavaria returned Otto's crown jewels to King Paul .

By marrying into the Greek royal family, valuable European and Russian jewelry that were brought or bought by princesses ( tiaras , necklaces, etc.) came to Greece. As a result, the royal Greek treasure of jewels grew considerably. Also worth mentioning are the individual marriage crowns of the Greek ruling couples, which are used at the wedding according to the Byzantine rite .

After the establishment of the Hellenic Republic , all official coronation insignia remained in Athens. The royal family took a large part of the private jewelry into exile .

literature

  • John Van der Kiste, Kings of the Hellenes: The Greek Kings 1863-1974 (Sutton Publishing, 1994).

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