Mon Repos, Corfu
Encyclopedia
Mon Repos is a villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...

 on the island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 of Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. It lies south of Corfu City in the forest of Palaiopolis.

The villa was built as a summer residence for the English Commissioner
Commissioner
Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ....

 Thomas Maitland
Thomas Maitland
Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Maitland, GCB, GCH was a British soldier and colonial governor. He also served as a Member of Parliament for Haddington from 1790–96, 1802–06 and 1812–13. He was made a Privy Councillor on 23 November 1803...

, and his Greek spouse, Corfiot Nina Palatianou, in 1828-1831, although they had to vacate the villa soon afterwards when Maitland was sent to serve in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The villa was rarely used as a residence for the British governors. In 1833, it housed a school of fine arts, while in 1834, the park was opened to the public. Empress Elisabeth of Austria stayed in the palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...

 in 1863. Here she fell in love with the island, where she later built the Achilleion
Achilleion
Achilleion may refer to:*Achilleion , a palace in Corfu, Greece.*Achilleion , a neolithic site in Thessaly, Greece.*Achilleion , a Greek polis in the Troad, Turkey....

 Palace. After the union with Greece in 1864, the palace was granted to King George I of Greece
George I of Greece
George I was King of Greece from 1863 to 1913. Originally a Danish prince, George was only 17 years old when he was elected king by the Greek National Assembly, which had deposed the former king Otto. His nomination was both suggested and supported by the Great Powers...

 as a summer residence. He named the villa Mon Repos. The royal family used it as a summer residence up to the end of monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

 in 1967. The palace became derelict, but was restored in the 1990s. The villa and its gardens are the property of the Corfu municipality, now being used as an archeological museum.

Several royal births have taken place at the palace including those of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke of Edinburgh is a British royal title, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family only four times times since its creation in 1726...

 on 10 June 1921, and Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark
Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark
Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark , born 10 July 1965, is the elder daughter and eldest child of former King Constantine II of Greece and former Queen Anna-Marie .-Early life:Princess Alexia was born at Mon Repos, Corfu, Ionian Islands,...

 on 10 July 1965.

Court rulings

The villa was confiscated under controversial circumstances some years after the declaration of the Hellenic Republic. Its confiscation, and the confiscation of other property of the deposed and exiled King, Constantine II
Constantine II of Greece
|align=right|Constantine II was King of Greece from 1964 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1973, the sixth and last monarch of the Greek Royal Family....

, without any compensation, led to a court case in the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...

. The king's argument centered on the claim that the property in question was acquired by his predecessors by legal means and was therefore subject to regular personal inheritance. The Greek
Politics of Greece
The Politics of Greece takes place in a large parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Greece is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Hellenic Parliament...

 state argued that the property was either used by the royal family by virtue of its sovereign status or obtained by taking advantage of that status, and therefore, once the monarchy was abolished, the property should revert to public ownership automatically. The Court struck a midway course in reaching its verdict and ordered the Hellenic Republic
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

to pay the exiled king compensation, of a small fraction of less than 1% of its worth, while allowing the Greek state to retain ownership of the property.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK