Proceedings initiated against mayor who addressed ex-royal family member as ‘prince’
The Decentralized Administration of the Peloponnese, which supervises regional and municipal governance in the region, has initiated procedures to investigate an incident where a local mayor publicly addressed a son of Greece’s last king as “prince.”
On Monday, at an event marking the liberation of Mani from the Ottomans, the mayor of eastern Mani, Petros Andreakos, addressed Pavlos De Grece, the eldest son of former king Constantine who was deposed in a referendum in 1974, as “prince.”
“As we are among Greeks only, each of us has the right to believe whatever we want. However, I personally believe that titles do not die and that they follow a person throughout his life. So, I welcome Prince Pavlos,” Andreakos said.
Speaking to Real FM after the incident, Deputy Interior Minister Vasilis Spanakis said the secretary-general of the decentralized authority had initiated the process.
Spanakis said that the Constitution does not recognize titles of nobility and distinctions, adding that “all local government, all citizens, have the obligation to implement the Constitution and the laws” of the country.
Asked about the possibility of imposing sanctions, Spanakis replied that “the appropriate procedures will be implemented.”
Last December, ten members of the former royal family regained Greek citizenship by formally acknowledging the country’s republican system of government and adopting a new surname, De Grece, which is French for “of Greece.”
Kathimerini
