Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark (R.E.); (born 11 May 1942) is the youngest child and second daughter of King Paul of the Hellens and his wife, Queen Frederica. She is the younger sister of Queen Sofia of Spain and King Constantine II of the Hellens. She is also great-granddaughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, who was the first grandson of Queen Victoria.

Biography

Irene was born in Cape Town, South Africa, where her parents were living in exile, on 11 May 1942. She was christened at her parents' Claremont home by the Metropolitan of the Holy Archdiocese of Good Hope. She had ten godparents, including General Jan Smuts, Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (her paternal aunt), King George II of the Hellens (her paternal uncle), Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, and the Duchess of Kent (her paternal first cousin once removed). She was a pupil of concert pianist Gina Bachauer and, for a while, she was a professional concert pianist herself.

Irene was courted by Prince Michel of Orleans, Count of Evreux a younger son of the Orleanist pretender Henri, Count of Paris, until he met French noblewomen Beatrice Marie Pasquier de Franclieu, whom he married in 1967.

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