The real reason former Greek royal family still called by royal titles

The passing of Queen Elizabeth II reignited debate in many parts of the Commonwealth about the role and function of the monarchy in the 21st century with countries like Australia considering in becoming a Republic, as Greece did when it abolished the monarchy more than 40 years ago.

With the debate came strong reactions to formal Royals such as those of Greece, who are still being referred to by their, albeit, defunct titles, as in the case of Pavlos, who the BBC called Crown Prince of Greece during an interview about the late British monarch.

“Come on, BBC. Greece long abolished it’s monarchy, so please respect that,” wrote Twitter user Damian Mac Con Uladh, @damomac, before adding, “my Greeks sons just asked ‘who is that guy? Greece doesn’t have kings and princes.'”

However, as Shannon Power for Newsweek explains, the “general rule of etiquette is to refer to a royal by their titles, even if they have been deposed and their country does not recognise them or their hereditary appellations.”

“Another convention is for a royal to keep the titles they held when deposed until they die, without the usual succession applying. For example, a king will retain that title, but his children will not inherit it upon his death. So, a crown prince will remain so, even in the event of his parents’ death.

“The Greek royal family has a rather unique position in the world of defunct monarchies.

“While they live in exile in London and are very close to the British royal family, they are also descended from the Danish throne, since Greece’s King George I was the son of King Christian IX of Denmark.

“Even more than a century after King George’s death, Greek royal family members hold the title of Prince or Princess of Denmark because of their link to King Christian IX. They even had succession rights to the Danish throne until 1953.”