Spyros Stavros Niarchos (alternately: Spiros) was born in 1955, second son of the Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 shipping

Shipping

Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...

 magnate

Magnate

Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...

 Stavros Niarchos

Stavros Niarchos

Stavros Spyros Niarchos was a Greek shipping tycoon, sometimes known as "The Golden Greek." In 1952, Stavros Niarchos built the first supertankers capable of transporting large quantities of oil, and subsequently earned millions of dollars as global demand for his ships increased.- Early life :He...

 and Eugenia Livanos

Eugenia Livanos

Eugenia Livanos was the third wife of Stavros Niarchos.She was the daughter of shipping magnate Stavros G. Livanos and his wife Arietta Zafirakis. Her sister was Athina Livanos, the wife successively of Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos. In 1947 she married Stavros Niarchos...

. He is a grandson of another Greek shipping giant, his mother's father, Stavros G. Livanos

Stavros G. Livanos

Stavros George Livanos was a native of Chios. He was the founder of the Livanos shipping empire and was a rival as well as father-in-law to both Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos.- Early life :...

.

In 1987, while skiing in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, he met nineteen-year-old Daphne Guinness

Daphne Guinness

The Honourable Daphne Diana Joan Suzannah Guinness is an artist of Irish, English, and French descent and an heiress of the Guinness family...

 and they soon married. The marriage ultimately ended in divorce, with Guinness receiving a GBP 20 million settlement in 1999. The couple have three children:

• Nicolas Stavros Niarchos (born 1989)
• Alexis "Lex" Niarchos (born 1991)
• Ines Niarchos (born 1995)

In January 1999, Niarchos was a witness at the wedding of his best friend, Ernst August V, Prince of Hanover

Ernst August V, Prince of Hanover

Ernst August, Prince of Hanover , is the third husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco, heiress presumptive to the throne of Monaco...

.

He is also the godfather of Crown Prince Pavlos'

Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece

Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, is the eldest son and heir apparent of Constantine II, who was King of Greece from 1964 to 1973....

 youngest son, Prince Aristides Stavros.

With his brother, Philip

Philippe Niarchos

Philip Niarchos was born in 1954, the eldest son of the Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos and Eugenia Livanos , herself the elder daughter of Stavros Niarchos' rival Stavros G...

, Niarchos is Co-President and Member of the Board of Directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation

Stavros Niarchos Foundation

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation was established in 1996 to honor Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos.- Mission :The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is an international philanthropic organization, making grants in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and medicine, and social welfare...

 and he jointly inherited their father's astonishing private art collection.

Genealogy