Prince Michael of Greece

Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, RE (Greek: Μιχαήλ; born 7 January 1939) is a Greek prince, historian, and author. He has written several historical books and biographies of Greek and other European figures, in addition to working as a contributing writer to Architectural Digest. He is a first cousin of the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. He was born in Rome to Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (youngest son of King George I of Greece) and his second wife Princess Françoise d'Orléans of France (daughter of the Orleanist claimant to the defunct French throne, Prince Jean d'Orléans, Duke of Guise). His godparents were his two first cousins Queen Helen, Queen Mother of Romania and King George II of Greece (eldest children of his paternal uncle King Constantine I). His father died when he was a year old, leaving Michael an only child, and his mother died in 1953 when he was 14, leaving him an orphan. Although a Greek prince, like many members of his dynasty he grew up largely abroad, sometimes in exile. As Europe marched into World War II, the infant Michael's family scattered: his mother's father, the Duke of Guise, left his residence of exile in Brussels, the Manoir d'Anjou, for their property at Larache, Morocco, in March 1939 where he died on 24 August, the Manoir having become the Belgian headquarters for Germany's invading Wehrmacht. Less than six months after her father's death, Françoise was widow…