Olga Konstantinovna of Russia
Encyclopedia
Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia , later Queen Olga of the Hellenes (18 June 1926), was the queen consort
of King George I of Greece
and briefly in 1920, Queen Regent of Greece. She is the great-grandmother of Queen Sofia of Spain
, the paternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
, and the great-grandmother of Charles, Prince of Wales
, heir apparent to the British throne.
and Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna, a former princess of Saxe-Altenburg
. She was a granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I
and first cousin
of Tsar Alexander III
. The young King George I of Greece
visited Russia in 1863 to thank her uncle Tsar Alexander II
for his support during George's election to the throne of Greece. Whilst there, George met the then twelve-year old Olga for the first time.
George visited Russia again in 1867 to meet with his sister Dagmar, who had married Tsarevitch Alexander
the year before. George and Olga fell in love and married on 27 October 1867 (Gregorian calendar
), when she was sixteen years old.
Together George and Olga had eight children:
, as well as a Russian hospital in Piraeus
.
In 1898, she insisted on continuing her engagements without a military guard even though shots had been fired at her husband and daughter.
, that many were unable to read the Bible
. The version used by the Church of Greece
included the Septuagint version of the Old Testament
and the original Greek language version of the New Testament
. Both were written in Koine Greek
while her contemporaries used either Katharevousa
or the so-called Demotic version of Modern Greek
. Katharevousa was a formal language that contained archaicised forms of modern words, was purged of "non-Greek" vocabulary from other European languages and Turkish
, and had a (simplified) archaic grammar. Modern or Demotic Greek was the version commonly spoken. Olga decided to have the Bible translated into a version which could be understood by most of her contemporary Greeks rather than those educated in Koine Greek. The translation was opposed by those who considered the translation "tantamount to a renunciation of Greece's 'sacred heritage'".
In February 1901, the translation of the New Testament from Koine into Modern Greek that she had sponsored was published without the authorisation of the Greek Holy Synod
. The price was set at one drachma, far below its actual cost, and the edition sold well. In order to mitigate opposition to the translation, both the old and new texts were included and the frontispiece specifically stated it was for "exclusive family use" rather than in church.
At the same time, another translation was completed by Alexandros Pallis
(1851–1935), a major supporter of a literary movement supporting the use of Demotic in written language. Publication of the translation started in serial form in the newspaper "Acropolis" on 9 September 1901. Almost immediately Purist theologians denounced this version as a "ridiculing of the nation's most valuable relics" while a faction of the Greek press started accusing Pallis and his Demoticist supporters of blasphemy and treason. Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople denounced this translation, adding further fuel to the opposition. Riots were started by students of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
, who had been organized by conservative professors. They requested the excommunication
of Pallis and anyone involved with the translations, including Olga and Procopios, the Archbishop of Athens who had been a favorite of Olga and had supervised the translation after her personal request.
The conflict between rioters and troops, who had been called in to maintain order, resulted in eight deaths and over sixty people wounded. By December the remaining copies of Olga's translation had been confiscated and their circulation prohibited. Anyone selling or reading the translations was threated with excommunication. The controversy was called the "Evangelika"", i.e. "the Gospels question", after the word "Evangelion", Greek
for "Gospel
", and ultimately led to the resignation of the Metropolitan bishop
, Procopius, and the fall of the government of Georgios Theotokis
.
. Paul refused on the grounds that his father Constantine
and elder brother George
were still living. The government of Eleftherios Venizelos
was defeated in a general election
and the Regent, Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis
retired on 17 November in favour of Queen Olga. She served as Regent
until her son Constantine returned to take over the throne a second time on 19 December after a plebiscite
. He had reigned before from 1913 to 1917. His new reign lasted less than two years.
After her death at Pau, Béarn
, France, she was first interred in Italy (where the Greek Royal Family
lived in exile), but on the restoration of the Greek monarchy in 1935
she was re-interred at Tatoi
on 17 November 1936.
Through her life in Greece (1867–1926) she was widely referred to as Her Majesty Queen Olga.
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
of 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...
and briefly in 1920, Queen Regent of Greece. She is the great-grandmother of Queen Sofia of Spain
Queen Sofía of Spain
Queen Sofía of Spain is the wife of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.-Early life and family:Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark was born in Psychiko, Athens, Greece on 2 November 1938, the eldest child of the King Paul of Greece and his wife, Queen Frederika , a former princess of Hanover...
, the paternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
, and the great-grandmother of Charles, Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
, heir apparent to the British throne.
Early life
She was born in Pavlovsk to Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of RussiaGrand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia
Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia was the second son of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.During the reign of his brother Alexander II, Konstantin was an admiral of the Russian fleet and reformed the Russian Navy. He was also an instrumental figure in the emancipation of the serfs...
and Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna, a former princess of Saxe-Altenburg
Saxe-Altenburg
Saxe-Altenburg was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia.-History:The duchy originated from the medieval Burgraviate of Altenburg in the Imperial Pleissnerland , a possession of the Wettin Margraves of Meissen since 1243...
. She was a granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
and first cousin
Cousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
of Tsar Alexander III
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
. The young 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...
visited Russia in 1863 to thank her uncle Tsar Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
for his support during George's election to the throne of Greece. Whilst there, George met the then twelve-year old Olga for the first time.
George visited Russia again in 1867 to meet with his sister Dagmar, who had married Tsarevitch Alexander
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
the year before. George and Olga fell in love and married on 27 October 1867 (Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
), when she was sixteen years old.
Together George and Olga had eight children:
- ConstantineConstantine I of GreeceConstantine I was King of Greece from 1913 to 1917 and from 1920 to 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army during the unsuccessful Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and led the Greek forces during the successful Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, in which Greece won Thessaloniki and doubled in...
(1868–1923), who succeeded his father as king; - GeorgePrince George of Greece and Denmarkalign=right| Prince George of Greece and Denmark was the second son of King George I of the Hellenes and Grand Duchess Olga, and is remembered chiefly for having saved the life of a future Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II...
(1869–1957), High Commissioner of CreteCreteCrete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
; - Alexandra (1870–1891), married Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of RussiaGrand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of RussiaGrand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia was the eighth child of Tsar Alexander II of Russia by his first wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna. His birth was commemorated by the naming of the city of Pavlodar in Kazakhstan...
(son of Alexander II of RussiaAlexander II of RussiaAlexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
). Mother of Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov, assassin of Grigori RasputinGrigori RasputinGrigori Yefimovich Rasputin was a Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic who is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their only son Alexei...
; - NicholasPrince Nicholas of Greece and DenmarkPrince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark , of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the fourth child and third son of George I, King of the Hellenes, and of Queen Olga. He was known as "Greek Nicky" in the family to distinguish him from his cousin Czar Nicholas II of Russia...
(1872–1938), married Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of RussiaGrand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of RussiaGrand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia 17 January 1882 – 13 March 1957, sometimes known as Helen, Helena, Helene, Ellen, Yelena, Hélène, or Eleni, was a Russian grand duchess as the daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin...
; - Marie (1876–1940), married first Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of RussiaGrand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia (1863-1919)Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia was a son of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and a first cousin of Emperor Alexander III. He was a General in the Russian army in World War I...
and second Pericles Ioannides; - Olga (7 April 1880-2 November 1880);
- AndrewPrince Andrew of Greece and DenmarkPrince Andrew of Greece and Denmark of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of Greece and Olga Constantinovna of Russia. He was a grandson of Christian IX of Denmark.He began military training at an early age, and was...
(1882–1944), father of Prince Philip, Duke of EdinburghPrince Philip, Duke of EdinburghPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
; and - ChristopherPrince Christopher of Greece and DenmarkPrince Christopher of Greece and Denmark was a member of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg Royal House.-Family background:...
(1888–1940), father of Prince Michael of Greece.
Queen
Olga was a genuinely popular Queen and was extensively involved in charity work, endowing the Evangelismos (Annunciation) Hospital, Greece's largest, in downtown AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, as well as a Russian hospital in Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
.
In 1898, she insisted on continuing her engagements without a military guard even though shots had been fired at her husband and daughter.
"Evangelika" controversy
Being an Orthodox Christian from birth, Queen Olga became aware, during visits to wounded servicemen in the Greco-Turkish War (1897)Greco-Turkish War (1897)
The Greco-Turkish War of 1897, also called the Thirty Days' War and known as the Black '97 in Greece, was a war fought between the Kingdom of Greece and Ottoman Empire. Its immediate cause was the question over the status of the Ottoman province of Crete, whose Greek majority long desired union...
, that many were unable to read the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. The version used by the Church of Greece
Church of Greece
The Church of Greece , part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
included the Septuagint version of the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
and the original Greek language version of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
. Both were written in Koine Greek
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
while her contemporaries used either Katharevousa
Katharevousa
Katharevousa , is a form of the Greek language conceived in the early 19th century as a compromise between Ancient Greek and the Modern Greek of the time, with a vocabulary largely based on ancient forms, but a much-simplified grammar. Originally, it was widely used both for literary and official...
or the so-called Demotic version of Modern Greek
Modern Greek
Modern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...
. Katharevousa was a formal language that contained archaicised forms of modern words, was purged of "non-Greek" vocabulary from other European languages and Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, and had a (simplified) archaic grammar. Modern or Demotic Greek was the version commonly spoken. Olga decided to have the Bible translated into a version which could be understood by most of her contemporary Greeks rather than those educated in Koine Greek. The translation was opposed by those who considered the translation "tantamount to a renunciation of Greece's 'sacred heritage'".
Holy Synod
In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod...
. The price was set at one drachma, far below its actual cost, and the edition sold well. In order to mitigate opposition to the translation, both the old and new texts were included and the frontispiece specifically stated it was for "exclusive family use" rather than in church.
At the same time, another translation was completed by Alexandros Pallis
Alexandros Pallis
Alexandros Pallis was a Greek educational and language reformer who translated the New Testament into Modern Greek. The publication, in the Acropolis newspaper, caused riots in Athens in 1901 in which 8 people died...
(1851–1935), a major supporter of a literary movement supporting the use of Demotic in written language. Publication of the translation started in serial form in the newspaper "Acropolis" on 9 September 1901. Almost immediately Purist theologians denounced this version as a "ridiculing of the nation's most valuable relics" while a faction of the Greek press started accusing Pallis and his Demoticist supporters of blasphemy and treason. Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople denounced this translation, adding further fuel to the opposition. Riots were started by students of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Southeast Europe and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece,...
, who had been organized by conservative professors. They requested the excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
of Pallis and anyone involved with the translations, including Olga and Procopios, the Archbishop of Athens who had been a favorite of Olga and had supervised the translation after her personal request.
The conflict between rioters and troops, who had been called in to maintain order, resulted in eight deaths and over sixty people wounded. By December the remaining copies of Olga's translation had been confiscated and their circulation prohibited. Anyone selling or reading the translations was threated with excommunication. The controversy was called the "Evangelika"", i.e. "the Gospels question", after the word "Evangelion", Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
for "Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
", and ultimately led to the resignation of the Metropolitan bishop
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
, Procopius, and the fall of the government of Georgios Theotokis
Georgios Theotokis
Georgios Theotokis was a Greek politician and four times Prime Minister of Greece. He represented the New Party or Neoteristikon Komma .- Biography :...
.
Regency
After her grandson, Alexander I died on 25 October 1920 of a monkey bite, the Greek government offered the throne to his brother, PaulPaul of Greece
Paul reigned as King of Greece from 1947 to 1964.-Family and early life:Paul was born in Athens, the third son of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia. He was trained as a naval officer....
. Paul refused on the grounds that his father Constantine
Constantine I of Greece
Constantine I was King of Greece from 1913 to 1917 and from 1920 to 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army during the unsuccessful Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and led the Greek forces during the successful Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, in which Greece won Thessaloniki and doubled in...
and elder brother George
George II of Greece
George II reigned as King of Greece from 1922 to 1924 and from 1935 to 1947.-Early life, first period of kingship and exile:George was born at the royal villa at Tatoi, near Athens, the eldest son of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia...
were still living. The government of Eleftherios Venizelos
Eleftherios Venizelos
Eleftherios Venizelos was an eminent Greek revolutionary, a prominent and illustrious statesman as well as a charismatic leader in the early 20th century. Elected several times as Prime Minister of Greece and served from 1910 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1932...
was defeated in a general election
Greek legislative election, 1920
The legislative elections of 1920 were probably the most crucial elections in the modern history of Greece, influencing not only the few years afterwards, including Greece's defeat by Kemal Atatürk's reformed Turkish army in 1922, but setting the stage for Greece's political landscape for most of...
and the Regent, Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis
Pavlos Kountouriotis
Pavlos Kountouriotis was a Greek admiral and naval hero during the Balkan Wars and the first and third President of the Second Hellenic Republic.-Family Background:The Kountouriotes was a prominent Arvanite family from the island of Hydra...
retired on 17 November in favour of Queen Olga. She served as Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
until her son Constantine returned to take over the throne a second time on 19 December after a plebiscite
Greek plebiscite, 1920
The Greek plebiscite of 22 November 1920 was held on the issue of the return of exiled King Constantine I following the death of his son, King Alexander. The plebiscite ensured and affirmed the dominance of the anti-Venizelist camp in the country...
. He had reigned before from 1913 to 1917. His new reign lasted less than two years.
After her death at Pau, Béarn
Béarn
Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...
, France, she was first interred in Italy (where the Greek Royal Family
Greek Royal Family
The Greek Royal Family was a branch of the House of Glücksburg that reigned in Greece from 1863 to 1924 and again from 1935 to 1973. Its first monarch was George I. He and his successors styled themselves "Kings of the Hellenes"...
lived in exile), but on the restoration of the Greek monarchy in 1935
Greek plebiscite, 1935
The Greek plebiscite of 1935 was held to decide whether the monarchy should be restored.In 1935, prime minister Georgios Kondylis, a former pro-Venizelos military officer, became the most powerful political figure in Greece. He compelled Panagis Tsaldaris to resign as prime minister and took over...
she was re-interred at Tatoi
Tatoi
Tatoi, located 5 km north of Athens's suburbs, and 27 km from the Athenian Acropolis was the summer palace and 10,000 acre estate of the former Greek Royal Family, and the site of George II of the Hellenes's birth...
on 17 November 1936.
Titles
- Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia (1851–1867)
- Her Majesty The Queen of the Hellenes (1867–1913)
- Her Majesty Queen Olga of Greece (1913–1926)
- Her Majesty The Queen Regent (1920)
Through her life in Greece (1867–1926) she was widely referred to as Her Majesty Queen Olga.