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Queen Camilla will lead the Royal Family at a service of thanksgiving for one of King Charles’s close friends.
09:22, Tue, Feb 27, 2024 | UPDATED: 10:31, Tue, Feb 27, 2024
King Charles is undergoing cancer treatment (Image: Getty)
King Charles is set to miss the service of thanksgiving at St George’s Chapel for his close friend and second cousin, the late King Constantine of Greece, as he undergoes cancer treatment.
Queen Camilla will instead lead members of the Royal Family at the service, which is will take place on February 27 in the nave of the 15th-century chapel.
The British royals will be joined by the late king’s widow Queen Anne-Marie, their eldest son, Crown Prince Pavlos and other members of the Greek royal family.
Constantine II was a first cousin once removed and sailing partner of the late Duke of Edinburgh and died at the age of 82 in January last year in an Athens hospital.
Charles had a close friendship with Constantine, choosing him as a godfather for his son Prince Wiliam.
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King Constantine of Greece dies last year (Image: Getty)
The former king was also godfather to the daughter of Prince and Princess of Michael of Kent, Lady Gabriella Kingston.
Constantine acceded to the throne at the age of 23 in 1964 and was initially hugely popular.
By the following year he had squandered much of that support with his active involvement in the machinations that brought down the popularly elected Centre Union government of prime minister George Papandreou.
The episode, still widely known in Greece as the “apostasy” or defection from the ruling party of several politicians, destabilised the constitutional order and led to a military coup in 1967.
Constantine eventually clashed with the military rulers and was forced into exile.
The dictatorship abolished the monarchy in 1973 and a referendum after democracy was restored in 1974 dashed any hopes Constantine had of reigning again.
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Charles was unable to attend Constantine’s funeral in Athens last year because of commitments which included meeting the president of Cyprus. The Princess Royal represented him at the service.
Meanwhile, the King has reportedly sought spiritual advice from his friend Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of the Greek Orthodox Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos.
Abbot Ephraim is said to have told Greek media outlets: “Yes, he has been in contact since the diagnosis and I believe he’ll overcome it. Charles has a spiritual sophistication, a spiritual life.”
The monarch was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer earlier this month and is not carrying out public duties while he has treatment.
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