Alexandra of Yugoslavia

Due to the lack of another candidate for the throne, Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos was soon forced to accept the restoration of his enemy, King Constantine I, on 19 December 1920.

Alexander's brief reign was officially treated as a regency, which meant that his marriage, contracted without his father's permission, was technically illegal, the marriage void, and the couple's posthumous child illegitimate.

The last months of pregnancy of Aspasia are surrounded by intrigue.

In the case that she gave birth to a boy (who would be named Philip, as the father of Alexander the Great), rumours soon assured that she was determined to place him on the throne after his birth.

True or not, this possibility worried the Greek royal family, whose fears about the birth of a male child were exploited by the Venizelists to revive the succession crisis.

Alexandra (Αλεξάνδρα, Александра, born Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark; 25 March 1921 – 30 January 1993) was the last Queen of Yugoslavia as the wife of King Peter II.

The birth of a girl, on 25 March 1921, was a great relief for the dynasty, and both King Constantine I and his mother, Queen Dowager Olga, agreed to be the godparents of the newborn.

Still, neither Alexandra nor Aspasia received more official recognition: from a legal point of view, they were commoners without any rights in the royal family.

Posthumous daughter of King Alexander of Greece and his morganatic wife, Aspasia Manos, Alexandra was not part of the Greek royal family until July 1922 when, at the behest of Queen Sophia, Alexander's mother, a law was passed which retroactively recognized marriages of members of the royal family, although on a non-dynastic basis; in consequence, she obtained the style and name of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark.

Things changed from July 1922 when, after the intervention of Queen Sophia, a law was passed which retroactively recognized marriages of members of the royal family, although on a non-dynastic basis; with this legal subterfuge, the princess obtained the style of Royal Highness and the title of Princess of Greece and Denmark.

Thus, Alexandra's birth became legitimate in the eyes of Greek law, but since the marriage was recognized on a 'non-dynastic basis', her royal status was tenuous at best and she remained ineligible for the throne; however, this belated recognition made it possible for her to later make an advantageous marriage, which would not have been possible if she were nothing more than the daughter of the King's morganatic spouse.

Aspasia, however, was not mentioned in the law and remained a commoner in the eyes of protocol.

Humiliated by this difference in treatment, she begged Prince Christopher (whose commoner wife, Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds, was entitled to be known as a Princess of Greece and Denmark), to intercede on her behalf.

Moved by the arguments of his niece-in-law, he approached Queen Sophia, who eventually changed her opinion.

Under pressures from his wife, King Constantine I issued a decree, gazetted 10 September 1922 under which Aspasia received the title Princess of Greece and Denmark and the style of Royal Highness.

Despite these positive developments, the situation of Alexandra and her mother did not improve.

Indeed, Greece experiencing a series of military defeats by Turkey and a coup d'état soon forced King Constantine I to abdicate again, this time in favor of his eldest son, Crown Prince George, on 27 September 1922.

Things went from bad to worse for the country; a further coup forced the new king, his wife and his brother to leave the country on 19 December 1923.

At the same time, a serious political and military crisis, linked to the defeat of Greece by Turkey in Anatolia, led to the deposition and exile of the royal family, beginning in 1924.

Being the only members of the dynasty allowed to remain in the country by the Second Hellenic Republic, the princess and her mother later found refuge in Italy, with Dowager Queen Sophia.

After three years with her paternal grandmother, Alexandra left Florence to continue her studies in the United Kingdom, while her mother settled in Venice.

Separated from her mother, the princess fell ill, forcing Aspasia to make her leave the boarding school where she was studying.

On 25 March 1924, Alexandra's third birthday, the Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed and both Aspasia and Alexandra were then the only members of the dynasty allowed to stay in Greece.

After the restoration of her uncle, King George II, on the Hellenic throne in 1935, Alexandra stayed in her native country several times but the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War, in 1940, forced her and her mother to settle in Athens.

The invasion of Greece by the Axis powers in April–May 1941, however, led to their moving to the United Kingdom.

Again exiled, Alexandra met in London the young King Peter II of Yugoslavia, who also went into exile after the invasion of his country by the Germans.

Quickly, Alexandra and Peter II fell in love and planned to marry.

Opposition from both Peter's mother, Maria, and the Yugoslav government in exile forced the couple to delay their marriage plans until 1944, when they finally celebrated their wedding.

A year later, Alexandra gave birth to her only son, Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia.

However, the happiness of the family was short-lived: on 29 November 1945, Marshal Tito proclaimed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Alexandra, who had never set foot in her adopted country, was left without a crown.

The abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy had very serious consequences for the royal couple.

Penniless and unable to adapt to the role of citizen, Peter II turned to alcoholism and multiple affairs with other women.

Depressed by the behavior of her husband, Alexandra neglected her son and made several suicide attempts.

After the death of Peter II in 1970, Alexandra's health continued to deteriorate.

She died of cancer in 1993.

Her remains were buried in the Royal Cemetery Plot in the park of Tatoi, in Greece, before being transferred to the Royal Mausoleum of Oplenac in 2013.

Born Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark, she was brought into a difficult environment.

Five months before her birth, her father, King Alexander, died of sepsis following a monkey bite which occurred in the gardens of Tatoi.

The unexpected death of the sovereign caused a serious political crisis in Greece, at a time when public opinion was already divided by the events of the World War I and the Greco-Turkish War.

The King had concluded an unequal marriage with Aspasia Manos, and, in consequence, their offspring was not dynastic.