<\/p>\n
Greece\u2019s highest administrative court has brought a legal battle over the status of 10 members of the country\u2019s former royal family to a close, ruling that both their Greek citizenship and their use of the De Gr\u00e8ce surname are lawful.<\/p>\n
The Council of State, the country\u2019s top administrative court, reached the decision after closed-door deliberations. The ruling is expected to be published in the coming weeks and, once released, will effectively end the dispute over the family\u2019s citizenship status and registered surname.<\/p>\n
The decision covers the five children of former king Constantine II and Anne-Marie: Pavlos De Gr\u00e8ce, Nikolaos De Gr\u00e8ce, Philippos De Gr\u00e8ce<\/a>, Theodora De Gr\u00e8ce and Alexia De Gr\u00e8ce.<\/p>\n It also applies to the five children of Pavlos, the late king\u2019s eldest son: Achileas-Andreas De Gr\u00e8ce, Odysseas-Kimon De Gr\u00e8ce, Constantine-Alexios De Gr\u00e8ce, Aristidis-Stavros De Gr\u00e8ce and Maria-Olympia De Gr\u00e8ce.<\/p>\n The ruling confirms that the family members enjoy the same rights as all other Greek citizens under the Hellenic Republic, including the right to vote and the right to stand for public office. Those rights are grounded in Article 51 of the Greek Constitution, which enshrines core political rights and the principle of popular sovereignty.<\/p>\n The process began in 2024 with a declaratory act signed by Interior Minister Theodoros Livanios under Law 2215\/1994.<\/p>\n That law set specific conditions for members of the former royal family. They had to state explicitly that they accepted the constitutional order established after the 1974 referendum that abolished the monarchy in Greece, and affirm their respect for the Constitution and parliamentary democracy.<\/p>\n They also had to waive any claims linked to the former political system and any status derived from it, including titles of nobility, and complete their registration in the citizens\u2019 registry.<\/p>\n According to the case record, the family members met those requirements and declared that they had no claims against Greece<\/a>.<\/p>\n Panagiotis Lazaratos, a professor at the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, brought the legal challenge before the Council of State. He asked the court to annul the interior minister\u2019s decisions granting Greek citizenship to members of the former royal family.<\/p>\nHow the citizenship process began<\/h2>\n
The challenge filed by Panagiotis Lazaratos<\/h2>\n