Princess Irene of Greece, sister of Queen Sofia, has died

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark has died at the age of
83.

Princess Irene passed away peacefully at her home in Madrid with
her sister, Queen Sofia of Spain, at her side.

The princess had been ill for some time and her condition had
deteriorated in the past few weeks.

Her death was announced by her nephew, King Felipe VI of Spain,
in a brief statement.

It said ”Their Majesties the King and Queen and Her Majesty
Queen Sofia are saddened to announce the death of Her Royal
Highness Princess Irene of Greece at 11.40 this morning at the
Zarzuela Palace in Madrid.”

Queen Sofia and her sister had lived together at the palace for
several years and Spain had been Irene’s home since the 1980s.

She was close to all her family and was often seen with her
nephew and nieces as well as their children. Sofia’s younger
daughter, Infanta Cristina, named her only daughter Irene in honour
of her aunt.

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark was born on May 11 1942 in
Cape Town in South Africa where her parents were living after being
forced to flee Greece with other members of the royal family after
the Nazi invasion.

She was the youngest child of Paul and Federica who became King
and Queen of the Hellenes in 1947. Irene spent much of her
childhood in Greece and also attended school in Germany.

Irene grew up alongside her older sister, Sofie, and their
brother, Constantine, who had become Crown Prince of Greece on
their father’s accession to the throne.

King Paul would prove a popular monarch although Greece was
going through political difficulties for much of his time on the
throne.

In 1962, Irene was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her sister to
Juan Carlos of Spain and the newly renamed Sofia relied on her
sibling for support as she had her own family. Constantine married
Anne-Marie of Denmark in 1964, soon after his own succession to the
Greek throne. Irene didn’t marry – she was briefly linked to Prince
Michael of Orleans in the 1960s.

Following the death of King Paul, Princess Irene also became a
great support to her mother, Queen Frederica, and the two lived for
a while in India.

Queen Frederica’s death, in 1981, was followed by a move to
Madrid for Irene and she lived for most of the following 45 years
at the Zarzuela Palace, the family home of the Spanish royals.

She was very close to her sister, Sofia, who doted on her and
the two were often seen together, especially during the Spanish
royal holidays on the island of Mallorca.

In recent years, Irene had suffered cognitive issues and her
health had begun to fail. She was last seen at a public event in
2025 when she attended the wedding of her nephew, Prince Nikolaos
of Greece, to Chrysi Vardinogianni.

Even though she had given up her Greek citizenship, having spent
just a few decades of her life in the country, it was perhaps a
fitting final appearance for a Princess of Greece who found her
life dominated by change, exile and turmoil.