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Caroline Makropoulos MCIL CL visits the Greek Royal Cemetery at Tatoi.

Nestled in the depths of the forest of the Tatoi Estate, at the foothills of Mount Parnitha on the north edge of Athens, lies the little-known Greek Royal Cemetery of the palaia anaktora (old palace), as it is known. Bought by the royal family at the end of the 19th century as a summer retreat, the grounds of this vast estate are now open to the public and continue to provide an attractive escape from the oppressive heat of the city. (The once fragrant pine and cypress forest was devastated by a massive fire in 2021 and sadly only a handful of trees escaped unscathed.)

One can find this relatively modern burial ground at the southern end of Ktima Tatoi, an oasis of silence and calm in contrast to the ancient sites that draw millions of visitors to Greece each year. Dating from 1880 to 2007, the 20 tombs are scattered around the Royal Chapel of the Resurrection 鈥� three within a mausoleum and the rest 鈥渦nder the sun of Greece鈥�, as King George I of the Hellenes put it.¹ As you walk among the graves, pages from the lives of the princely houses of Europe fall open at every twist and turn in the path. To read the inscriptions on the tombs is to trace the criss-crossing currents of lineages and languages throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.听

The sheer diversity of the languages and scripts on the gravestones is striking: Greek, French, English, Russian, Danish and German. This colourful linguistic tapestry is enriched by three varieties of Greek: Demotic (Modern Greek), Koine (New Testament Greek) and Katharevousa (an archaising form of Modern Greek).

While the Greek language has a long and venerable history, the Greek monarchy was a comparatively recent phenomenon that sprung into being two years after the recognition of the modern Greek state in 1830 and lasted until a referendum in 1973. Following the hasty departure of the first King Otto of Greece (a Prince and native of Bavaria) in 1862, a 17-year-old Danish Prince (Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Gl眉cksburg no less) was elected George I, King of the Hellenes. It was this king who bought Tatoi in 1872.²

The Danish heritage of the cemetery鈥檚 founder aside, the greatest source of historical and linguistic interest is the graves of the women 鈥� the daughters and brides of the House of Gl眉cksburg 鈥� six of which are particularly remarkable. Having duly decided to learn Greek, as a further nod to the culture of his subjects, King George I settled on the Christian Orthodox as a suitable consort. She was born in the Pavlovsk Palace into the House of Romanov, and alongside the Greek on her tombstone, these words in pre-Revolutionary Russian are testament to her origins:

袪芯褋褋i泄褋泻邪谐芯 懈屑锌械褉邪褌芯褉褋泻邪谐芯 写芯屑邪 胁械谢懈泻邪褟 泻薪褟卸薪邪
Grand Duchess of the Russian Imperial House

Alexandra, Princess of Greece and Denmark, was their third child and eldest daughter, and thus of mixed Danish and Russian heritage, as well being one of the first scions to be born in Greece.³ Her gravestone reads:

螒蚂螘萤螒螡螖巍螒

螔螒危螜螞螣螤螒螜危 韦螚危 螘螞螞螒螖螣危

螠螘螕螒螞螚 螖螣违螝螜危危螒 韦螚危 巍惟危危螜螒危

PRINSESSE TIL DANMARK

听

螕螘螡. 18 螒违螕螣违危韦螣违 1870

螘螡 螝螘巍螝违巍螒

螒螤. 12 危螘螤韦螘螠螔巍. 1891

螘螡 螜螞螜危螝螣螘 (螠螣危围螒)

听

螣 螤螜危韦螘违惟螡 螘螜危 螘螠螘

螝螒螡 螒螤螣螛螒螡螚 螙螚危螘韦螒螜

听

ALEXANDRA

PRINCESS OF GREECE

GRAND DUCHESS OF RUSSIA

PRINCESS OF DENMARK

B. 18 AUGUST 1870

IN CORFU

D. 12 SEPTEMBER 1891

IN ILISKOE [sic] (MOSCOW)⁴

HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE

听

Alongside Modern Greek (螠蔚纬维位畏 螖慰蠉魏喂蟽蟽伪 蟿畏蟼 巍蠅蟽委伪蟼), we find Katharevousa (尾伪蟽喂位蠈蟺伪喂蟼 蟿畏蟼 螘位位维未慰蟼; lit. 鈥榢ing-child of Greece鈥�⁵), Koine (蠈 蟺喂蟽蟿蔚蠀蠅谓 蔚喂蟼 蔚渭蔚 魏伪谓 伪蟺慰胃伪谓畏 味畏蟽蔚蟿伪喂) and Danish (Prinsesse til Danmark; lit. 鈥楶rincess to Denmark鈥�). The preposition 鈥榯o鈥� is only used in this context for members of the Danish royal family in line of succession.

Alexandra鈥檚 eldest brother, Crown Prince Constantine, chose a granddaughter of Queen Victoria for his wife. Princess Sophia of Prussia was the daughter of Victoria, Princess Royal, and the German Emperor Frederick III, and therefore both a descendant of the House of Hanover and a member of the House of Hohenzollern. Born in the in , , and raised a Protestant, Sophia married Constantine in 1889, later converting to Greek Orthodoxy. The words on her gravestone are a mixture of Modern Greek and Koine, as well as Katharevousa, German and Danish:

危螣桅螜螒

螔螒危螜螞螜危危螒 韦惟螡 螘螞螞螚螡惟螡

PRINSESSE TIL DANMARK

PRINZESSIN VON PREUSSEN

螕螘螡: 螘螡 螤螣韦危螖螒螠 14 螜螣违螡. 1870

螒螤. 螘螡 桅巍螒螡螕桅螣违巍韦螚 13 螜螒螡 1932

听

螒螜 螤巍螣危螘违围螒螜 危螣违 螝螒螜 螒螜 螘螞螘违螠螣危违螡螒螜

危螣违 螒螡螘螔螚危螒螡 螘螜危 螠螡螚螠螣危违螡螣螡

螘螠螤巍螣危螛螘螡 韦螣违 螛螘螣违

听

SOPHIA

QUEEN OF THE HELLENES (Modern Greek)

PRINCESS OF DENMARK (Danish)

PRINCESS OF PRUSSIA (German)

B[orn] IN POTSDAM 14 JUNE 1870

D[ied] IN FRANKFURT 13 JANUARY 1932

THY PRAYERS AND THINE ALMS ARE COME UP FOR A MEMORIAL BEFORE GOD (Koine)

听

The German title Prinzessin reflects her status at birth as daughter of a reigning monarch, while the Kkatharevousa words 蔚谓 and 伪蟺苇胃伪谓蔚谓 are used instead of the Modern Greek 蟽蟿畏谓 and 蟺苇胃伪谓蔚.⁶ Surprisingly, despite her maternal English heritage, Queen Sophia鈥檚 gravestone contains no English; the languages of her father and husband are what defines her identity.听

English does, however, feature on the tombstone of her youngest daughter, Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark. Named Aikaterini in Greek, she was known as Lady Katherine Brandram after marrying a British Army officer and lived in Belgravia and Marlow in the UK. At her death in 2007 she was the last remaining great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, yet hers is the most recent tombstone to be found at Tatoi.

Two of the sons of King George I and Queen Olga married French princesses. Prince Christopher, the youngest son, chose as his wife Fran莽oise d鈥橭rl茅ans, a descendant of the 鈥楥itizen-King鈥櫶齩f France, . Her gravestone reads:

桅巍螒螕螝螜危螝螚, 螤巍螜螕螝螚螤螜危危螒 韦螚危 螘螞螞螒螖螣危
PRINCESSE TIL DANMARK
PRINCESSE DE FRANCE

Frangiski, Princess of Hellas
Princess of Denmark
Princess of France

Marie Bonaparte,⁷ great-grandniece of Emperor听, became Princess George of Greece and Denmark upon her marriage. She is interred alongside her husband with an inscription in French, Greek and Danish. Instead of a biblical excerpt, one stumbles across lines from a poem by the Parnassian poet Leconte de Lisle:

MARIE, 螤巍螜螕螝螚螤螜危危螒 螕螘惟巍螕螜螣违 韦螚危 螘螞螞螒螖螣危
PRINCESSE BONAPARTE
PRINSESSE TIL DANMARK
Et toi, divine mort, o霉 tout rentre et s鈥檈fface,
Accueille tes enfants dans ton sein 茅toil茅听;
Affranchis-nous du temps, du nombre et de l鈥檈space,
Et rends-nous le repos que la vie a troubl茅.

MARIE, PRINCESS GEORGE OF GREECE
PRINCESS BONAPARTE
PRINCESS OF DENMARK

Tatoi was originally an intimate family cemetery on what was once a privately-owned estate, and the multilingual and multi-scriptal epitaphs were not designed for public display.⁸ The inscriptions are a reflection of the status and intertwining lineages of those buried there, and they hint at the unique stories and histories of their lives. Yet there is one unifying thread: Greek. What stands out in particular is the Greek word for king (尾峋跋冡繍位蔚蠉蟼 in Ancient Greek) and its derivatives: 尾伪蟽委位喂蟽蟽伪 (鈥榪ueen鈥�, unchanged from Ancient Greek), 尾伪蟽喂位蔚蠉蟼 (鈥榢ing鈥�, Katharevousa), 尾伪蟽喂位蠈蟺伪喂蟼 (鈥榩rince鈥�/鈥榩rincess鈥�, Katharevousa; lit. 鈥榢ing-child鈥�) and 尾伪蟽喂位慰蟺慰蠉位伪 (鈥榩rincess鈥�, literary Modern Greek from the language of fairy tales).听

This is, indeed, a unique resting place for the descendants of the Grand Duchy of Russia and the Royal houses of Denmark, England, Hanover, Prussia, Orleans and Greece. To wend one's way through the cool glades at Tatoi is to take a journey back in time through layers of history and layers of language.听

Caroline Makropoulos is a Greek-English translator who specialises in Christian Orthodox thought and culture. She read Modern Greek and Russian at the Queen's College, Oxford and lives in Athens, where she works at the British Embassy.

Notes
1 In response to a proposal by Anastasios Metaxas to build a crypt under the chapel.
2 He was also given the Mon Repos villa on Corfu 鈥� the birthplace of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
3 Originally buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg, the remains of Princess Alexandra were transferred to Greece in 1939. A marble tombstone still lies over her empty grave in Russia.听
4 Ilyinskoye was the Romanovs' estate near Moscow.
5 Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, was rendered in the Katharevousa translation of 1858 by Ioannis Pervanoglou: 螒渭位苇蟿慰蟼, 螔伪蟽喂位蠈蟺伪喂蟼 蟿畏蟼 螖伪谓委伪蟼. The word vasiliopais (鈥榩rince鈥�, 鈥榩rincess鈥�) denotes the child of a king; 蟺蟻喂纬魏委蟺喂蟽蟽伪 (Latin roots) can also be used for the wife of a prince.
6 According to Peter Mackridge (Language and National Identity in Greece, 1766-1976; OUP 2009), 鈥淚n a speech he gave at the inaugural meeting of the [Greek Language] Society in January 1905, [the poet Kostis] Palamas made a striking comparison between the demotic and katharevousa versions of the phrase 鈥榤y father died鈥�: while the demotic version (螤苇胃伪谓蔚 慰 蟺伪蟿苇蟻伪蟼 渭慰蠀) takes root in one鈥檚 heart, in one鈥檚 very being, he argued, the katharevousa version (峒埾�苇胃伪谓蔚谓 峤� 峒愇坚礁蟼 蟺伪蟿萎蟻) is like a piece of clothing that can be discarded. The demotic version 鈥榟as grown organically as the green branch of our natural linguistic tree鈥�, while the katharevousa version is 鈥榯he dead branch鈥� which has been nailed to the linguistic trunk by willpower alone鈥�.鈥�
7 Marie Bonaparte was a psychoanalyst and author who counted Sigmund Freud as a friend and used her wealth and connections to help him escape Nazi Germany.
8 Contrast the multilingual epitaphs (in Castilian, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew) on the grave of Fernando II of Castile-Le蠈n in Seville Cathedral, which were designed for a very public audience.