Helen of Greece and Denmark (, romanized: Eléni; ; 2 May 1896 – 28 November 1982) was the queen mother of Romania during the reign of her son King Michael I (1940–1947). Her humanitarian efforts to save Romanian Jews during World War II led to her being awarded by the State of Israel with the honorific of Righteous Among the Nations in 1993.
Daughter of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia, Helen spent her childhood in Greece, the United Kingdom and Germany. The outbreak of World War I and the overthrow of her father by the Allies in 1917 permanently marked her and also separated her from her favorite brother, the young Alexander I of Greece. Exiled in Switzerland along with most members of the royal family, Helen then spent several months caring for her father, plagued by disease and depression. In 1920, the princess met Carol, Crown Prince of Romania, who quickly asked her hand in marriage. Despite the bad reputation of the prince, Helen accepted and moved to Romania, where she soon gave birth to their only son, Prince Michael, in 1921.
The situation of her family, however, continued to worry Helen, who made several trips abroad to visit her parents when they did not simply reside with her in Bucharest. In doing this, she distanced herself from her husband, whose multiple affairs ended when he fell in love with Magda Lupescu in 1924. Finally, in 1925, Crown Prince Carol abandoned his wife and renounced the throne in order to live openly with his mistress. Distraught, Helen tried to persuade her husband to return to her but eventually she accepted the divorce in 1928. In the meanwhile, Helen was proclaimed "Queen Mother of Romania" in 1927, as her son Michael ascended to the throne under the regency of his uncle Prince Nicolae. However, the political situation in Romania was complicated and Carol took advantage of the increased instability to return to Bucharest in 1930 and be acclaimed as king. Soon, the new ruler forced his ex-wife into exile and only authorized her to see their son two months per year.
In these circumstances, Helen moved to Villa Sparta at Fiesole, Tuscany. Always close to her family, she hosted her sisters Irene and Katherine and brother Paul, who stayed with her intermittently until the restoration of the Greek monarchy in 1935. The outbreak of World War II, the deposition of Carol II and the subsequent dismemberment of Greater Romania in 1940, however, brought Helen back to be with her son in Bucharest. Subject to the dictatorship of General Antonescu and vigilance of Nazi Germany, the king and his mother were cautious in their dealings with the fascist regime. They did not show their opposition to the participation of Romania in the invasion of the Soviet Union and the deportation of Jews. Finally, King Michael organized a coup against Antonescu on 23 August 1944 and Romania turned against the Axis powers; however, the country was, in the end, occupied by the Red Army.
For Helen and her son, the post-war period was marked by the interference of the Soviet Union in Romanian political life. In March 1945, the king was forced to accept a communist government headed by Petru Groza while the following year, the rigged general elections confirmed the hegemony of the PCR in the country. Finally, Michael I was forced to abdicate on 30 December 1947 and the royal family took the path of exile. She then returned to the Villa Sparta, where she divided her time among her family, gardening and the study of Italian art. Increasingly concerned about her finances, Helen finally left Italy for Switzerland in 1979 and died three years later with her son at her side.
Princess of Greece and Denmark
A Greek childhood
The third child and eldest daughter of Crown Prince Constantine of Greece and Princess Sophia of Prussia,Gould Lee 1956, p. 15. Helen was born on 2 May 1896 in Athens during the reign of her grandfather, King George I.Gould Lee 1956, p. 17. From birth, she received the nickname "Sitta" as her brother Alexander failed to correctly pronounce the English word "sister".Gould Lee 1956, p. 18.Mateos Sainz de Medrano 2004, p. 194 Growing up, Helen developed a special affection for Alexander, only three years her senior.Gould Lee 1956, pp. 19–20.
Helen spent most of her childhood in the Greek capital. Every summer, the princess and her family travelled to the Hellenic Mediterranean aboard the royal yacht Amphitrite or visited Sophia's mother, the Dowager Empress Victoria in Germany. From the age of 8, Helen began to spend part of the summer in Great Britain, in the regions of Seaford and Eastbourne.Gould Lee 1956, p. 21.Mateos Sainz de Medrano 2004, p. 83Van der Kiste 1994, p. 62. The princess grew up in a strongly anglophile environment, among a cohort of British tutors and governesses, including Miss Nichols, who took special care of her.
From the Goudi coup to the Balkan Wars
On 28 August 1909 a group of Greek officers, known as the "Military League", organized a coup d'état (called the Goudi coup) against the government of King George I, Helen's grandfather. While declaring to be monarchists, the League members, led by Nikolaos Zorbas, asked the king to dismiss his sons from military posts.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 68–69. Officially, this was to protect the Diadochos (Crown Prince) from the jealousy that could stem from his friendship with some soldiers. But the reality was quite different: the officers blamed Constantine for the defeat of Greece against the Ottoman Empire during the Thirty Days' War of 1897.
The situation was so tense that the sons of George I were finally forced to resign from their military posts to save their father from the shame of their being expelled.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 69–70. The Diadochos also decided to leave Greece with his wife and children. For several months, the family moved to the Schloss Friedrichshof at Kronberg in Germany. It was the first of many times that the 14-year-old Helen would have to go into exile.Gould Lee 1956, p. 25.
After much tension, the political situation eventually subsided in Greece and Constantine and his family were allowed to return to their homeland. In 1911, the Diadochos was restored in his military duties by the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos.Van der Kiste 1994, p. 70. A year later, the First Balkan War broke out, which allowed Greece to annex large territories in Macedonia, Epirus, Crete and the North Aegean. It was also at the end of this conflict that King George I was assassinated in Thessaloniki on 18 March 1913 and Helen's father succeeded him on the Hellenic throne as King Constantine I.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 72–75.Gould Lee 1956, pp. 26–28.
After these events, Helen spent long weeks touring Greece, of which she previously only knew the main towns and the island of Corfu. With her father and brother Alexander, she travelled in Greek Macedonia and the various battlefields of the First Balkan War.Gould Lee 1956, pp. 31–32. However, this period of calm was short-lived as the Second Balkan War broke out in June 1913. Once again, Greece emerged victorious from the conflict, allowing it to significantly expand its territory,Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 78–79. which grew by 68% after the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest.John Grenville, The major international treaties of the twentieth century, London, Taylor & Francis 2001, 3rd edition, p. 50.
World War I
During World War I, King Constantine I first sought to maintain Greece in a position of neutrality. He considered that his country was not yet ready to participate in a new conflict after the Balkan Wars. But, educated in Germany and linked to Emperor William II (who was his brother-in-law), Constantine I was quickly accused of supporting the Triple Alliance and wishing for the defeat of the Allies. The king quickly fell out with his Prime Minister Venizelos, who was convinced of the need to support the countries of the Triple Entente to fulfill the so-called Megali Idea. In October 1916, Venizelos, protected by the Entente countries, and in particular by the French Republic, formed a parallel government in Thessaloniki. Central Greece was occupied by the allied forces and the country was soon in the middle of a civil war, the so-called National Schism.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 89–101.Gould Lee 1956, pp. 35–42.
Weakened by all these tensions, Constantine I became seriously ill in 1915. Suffering from pleurisy aggravated by a pneumonia, he remained in bed for several weeks and nearly died. In Greece, public opinion was affected by the rumor, spread by Venizelists, that the king was not sick but that Queen Sophia in fact injured him in the course of an argument where she tried to force him to fight alongside the emperor. The health of the sovereign declined so much, that a ship was sent to the Island of Tinos in order to seek the miraculous Icon of the Virgin and Child, which was supposed to heal the sick. After kissing the holy picture, the king partially recovered his health. But the situation remained worrying and the king was in need of surgery before he could reassume his duties.Van der Kiste 1994, p. 93.Mateos Sainz de Medrano 2004, pp. 87–88. These events had a special impact on Princess Helen, who was very close to her father: impressed by his recovery, she developed a deep religiosity, a trait that she would retain throughout her life.Gould Lee 1956, pp. 37–39.
Despite these difficulties, Constantine I refused to change his policies and was faced with the increasingly clear opposition of the Triple Entente and Venizelists. Thus, on 1 December 1916 the so-called Greek Vespers took place where the Allied soldiers fought against Greek reservists in Athens and the French fleet bombarded the Royal Palace.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 102–104. On this occasion, Helen was nearly killed by a gunfire from the Zappeion. After hearing the gunshots and worried for the life of her father, the princess ran to the gardens of the royal palace but was saved by the royal Garde du Corps which took her back inside the palace.Gould Lee 1956, pp. 49–50.
Finally, on 10 June 1917, Charles Jonnart, the Allied High Commissioner in Greece, asked the king for his abdication.Van der Kiste 1994, p. 106. Under the threat of an invasion in Piraeus, the king agreed and went into exile, but without formally abdicating. The Allies did not wish to establish a Republic in Greece, so one of the members of the royal family had to stay and succeed him. Because the Diadochos George was also considered pro-German like his father, they wanted someone considered malleable, as a puppet ruler of Constantine I's enemies. Finally the younger brother of the Diadochos, Prince Alexander, was chosen by Venizelos and the Triple Entente as the new king.Van der Kiste 1994, p. 107.Mateos Sainz de Medrano 2004, p. 183.Gould Lee 1956, pp. 51–57.
From exile to the Romanian wedding Life in Switzerland
On 11 June 1917 the Greek royal family secretly fled from their palace, surrounded by a loyalist mob that refused to see them go. In the days that followed, Constantine I, Queen Sophia and five of their children left Greece from the port of Oropos and took the road to exile.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 108–110. This was the last time that Helen saw her favorite brother. In fact, on their return to power, the Venizelists prohibited any contact between King Alexander I and the rest of the royal family.Van der Kiste 1994, p. 113 and 117.