Princess Frederica of Hanover (Friederike Luise Thyra Victoria Margarita Sophia Olga Cecilia Isabella Christa: 18 April 1917 - 6 February 1981) was Queen consort of the Hellenes as the wife of King Paul of Greece.
Born Princess Frederica of Hanover, on 18 April 1917, she was the only daughter of Ernest Augustus, then reigning Duke of Brunswick, and his wife Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia.
Prince Paul of Greece proposed to her during the summer of 1936, while he was in Berlin attending the 1936 Summer Olympics. Paul was a son of King Constantine I and Frederica's grand-aunt Sophia. They married in Athens on 9 January 1938.
Ten months after their marriage, their first child, the future Queen Sofia of Spain, was born on 2 November 1938. On 2 June 1940, Frederica gave birth to the future King Constantine II. Frederica's last child, Princess Irene, was born on 11 May 1942 in South Africa while the family was in exile. The South African leader, General Jan Smuts, served as her godfather.
On 1 April 1947, George II died and Frederica's husband ascended the throne as Paul I, with Frederica as queen consort. Queen Frederica was constantly attacked for her German ancestry. She was notorious for her numerous arbitrary and unconstitutional interventions in Greek politics.
On 14 May 1962 her eldest daughter Sofia married Prince Juan Carlos of Spain, (later King Juan Carlos I of Spain) in Athens. On 6 March 1964, King Paul died of cancer. When her son, the new King, married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark later that year on 18 September, Queen Frederica stepped back from the majority of her public duties in favor of her daughter-in-law.
In 1973, the Greek monarchy was abolished. Frederica died on 6 February 1981 in exile in Madrid during ophthalmic surgery.
3 май 2017
