At the Athens Registry Office, Pavlos, eldest son of former King Constantine, is set to apply for Greek citizenship, revoked following the 1974 referendum, as revealed today by the Dark Room column of protothema.gr.

The procedure to do this is provided by the institutional framework of the Venizelos law from 1994 which includes a declaration in which anyone or anyone applying must:

1. declare respect and loyalty to the Constitution
2. recognize the Presidential Parliamentary Republic as the constitution and thus accept the result of the 1974 referendum
3. To choose a surname

Asked about the issue, the Minister of State, Makis Voridis, initially said “What I can say is that there will be no additional legislation. There is an institutional framework, the Venizelos law. There is nothing that prevents them from doing it. This has always been there, it’s not new. There is the Venizelos law, since we are not changing the framework, if somebody wants to activate it, it is there.”

Asked what will happen to the last name that Paul must choose, Voridis noted that “they have the option to choose, by law the last name is an element of personality. The only issue with this particular family is that there are two “royal” families which do not have a surname, the others do. E.g. in England, the royal family has a surname. This one doesn’t. Therefore, since we are talking about naturalisation there is an issue of identification. Pavlos of Constantine and Anne-Marie I imagine there is another one. In other Constitutions titles of nobility are recognized. Here by the Constitution, we have a prohibition of titles of nobility. So the reception of the surname is an element of one’s identity.”

Under the Venizelos law, in fact, some regional members of the Glyxburg family have received Greek citizenship in the past.

It should be noted that, according to reports, Pavlos’ mother, Anna-Maria, does not intend to proceed with the same application.

It is clarified, finally, that if Pavlos applies and is granted Greek citizenship, then any members of his family who are alive and want the same must also apply.