Embed from Getty Images

Today marks the 55th Anniversary of the Death of King Paul of Greece, who died on this day in 1964. The third son of King Constantine I of Greece and Princess Sophia of Prussia, he was the brother of King George II and King Alexander of Greece, Queen Helen of Romania, the Duchess of Aosta (a short-lived Queen of Croatia), and Lady Katherine Brandram, the cousin of  the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Margarita of Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Princess Cecile, Grand Duchess of Hesse), Princess Theodora, Margravine of Baden, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, Princess Paul of Yugoslavia, Princess Sophie of Greece and Hanover, Princess Eugenie of Greece, and Prince Michael of Greece, and was also the uncle of the King Michael of Romania, Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia, and the Duke of Aosta. Prince Paul trained as an army officer at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and later at the Hellenic Military Academy in Kypseli and spent much of the period between 1917 and 1935 in exile, when he returned to Greece as the Crown Prince. In 1938, he married Princess Frederica of Hanover, and the couple had three children:  Queen Sofia of Spain, King Constantine II of Greece, and Princess Irene of Greece. After living in exile in South Africa and Egypt during WWII, he succeeded his brother as the King of Greece in 1947. His reign was marked by the Greek Civil War, and the economic recovery of Greece after the Second World War. However, there was a rising republican sentiment, and his interference in politics was a point of criticism. King Paul suddenly died after an operation for stomach cancer, and was succeeded by his only son, King Constantine, who was forced into exile three years later and deposed in 1973.