Irene of Greece (1904–1974)

Irene of Greece and Denmark, 1925

Irene of Greece and Denmark (born January 31 ^{. Jul} / 13. February  1904 ^greg. In Athens ; † 15. April 1974 in Fiesole in Florence ) was a Greek princess , Duchess of Aosta and wife of under the name "Tomislav II. “Proclaimed King of Croatia, Aimone of Savoy .

Early life and marriage

Irene was the fifth child of the Greek King Constantine I and his wife Sophie of Prussia . After the engagement to Prince Christian von Schaumburg-Lippe had been broken (1927), she married Prince Aimone of Savoy , the Duke of Spoleto, on July 1, 1939 . On September 27, 1943, Prince Amadeus of Savoy was the only child of the couple .

Duchess of Aosta and "Queen of Croatia"

Aimone became the 4th Duke of Aosta on March 3, 1942 after the death of his brother Amadeus . On 18 May 1941, he was under the Treaty of Rome under the name Tomislav II. To the King of Croatia, Duke of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Wojwoden of Dalmatia, Tuzla and Temun proclaimed. Aimone was not crowned, however, like his wife, never entered the state territory and never exercised political power in Croatia. He acted only as a political puppet at the grace of Hitler and Mussolini and resigned from the claim to the Croatian crown on October 12, 1943 after Italy withdrew from the war .

During the war, the Duchess lived mainly in the Palazzo Cisterna in Florence and narrowly escaped death in an air raid on September 27, 1943. Since she openly sided with the Allies after Mussolini was overthrown , she was arrested with her son in 1943. Like other members of the Italian royal family, she was sent to an internment camp in October 1943, first in Pavia , then in Hirschegg in the Kleinwalsertal to the Hotel Ifen.

Exile, return and death

After the war ended, the couple went into exile in Switzerland . After Aimone's death on January 29, 1948 in Buenos Aires , Duchess Irene was allowed to return to Italy and also received some possessions and agricultural goods back in the former Duchy of Aosta. In 1972 she was granted honorary citizenship of the city of Florence because she had not left the city during the air raids. She outlived her husband by 26 years and died in 1974 in the Villa San Domenico in Fiesole . She was first buried in the Il Borro cemetery in Arezzo and transferred to the Superga basilica in Turin in 1996 .

literature

• Jean-Fred Tourtchine: Les manuscrits du Center d'Etudes des Dynasties Royales Européennes - Le Royaume de Grèce , ISSN  0993-3964
• Giulio Vignoli: Il sovrano sconosciuto. Tomislavo II Re di Croazia , Mursia Publishing House, Firenze

Web links

Commons : Irene of Greece  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Zita from Bourbon-Parma	"Queen of Croatia" 1941–1943	---