1965 King Constantine II Greece Signed Royalty Decree Princess Alexia Military For Sale

For your consideration is an original Greek Royal Decree ( ) issued and personally signed by Constantine II, King of the Hellenes, dated Athens, 22 September 1965, during the constitutional crisis that marked the final years of active Greek monarchy. Printed on official state paper and measuring approximately 16.5 by 13.25 inches, the document is headed by the royal arms of Greece and the formal titulature Constantine, King of the Hellenes. The decree concerns the Royal Military Household and survives as a complete, officially countersigned act of state with the Kings large autograph signature prominently placed beneath the date.

The decree orders the release from duty of Major Dimitrios Nikolaou, Army Registration No. 32.180, who had been serving as Aide-de-Camp to Her Royal Highness the Diadochos, or heir to the Greek throne. The feminine form identifies the office as belonging to Princess Alexia of Greece, Constantine IIs first child, born on 10 July 1965 and then heir presumptive until the birth of her brother Pavlos in 1967. The decree cites the governing regulations of the Royal Military Household together with a related administrative order dated 19 July 1965, placing Nikolaous appointment and discharge within the formal military establishment attached to the infant heiress. The document does not state the reason for his release and should therefore be regarded as an administrative act rather than evidence of a political purge.

Executed In Athens on the 22nd of September 1965, the decree bears Constantine IIs sweeping autograph in brown ink and is countersigned beneath the printed title Minister of National Defence by Stavros Kostopoulos, a senior political figure and one of the central actors in the 1965 constitutional crisis. The timing is historically significant: the decree was issued only days after the formation of the government of Stephanos Stephanopoulos, during the Apostasia crisis in which relations between the Crown, Parliament, and the armed forces were at the center of Greek political life. The combination of royal signature, Defence Ministry countersignature, and Royal Household military subject gives the document unusually direct institutional relevance to the political and dynastic history of the period.

The paper survives in original administrative condition with horizontal and vertical fold lines, light overall toning, scattered handling marks, and period file punch holes, together with manuscript filing notation at the upper left and additional archival markings to the verso. The principal text, royal arms, date, signatures, and official headings remain clear and legible. As a precisely dated royal decree concerning Princess Alexia in her brief tenure as Diadochos, signed by Constantine II and countersigned by Defence Minister Stavros Kostopoulos during the 1965 constitutional crisis, the document represents a substantial surviving artifact of the closing phase of the Greek monarchy, the formal organization of the Royal Military Household, and the fraught relationship between Crown and armed forces immediately before the upheavals of 19671974.