Sad news for King Charles and Prince William as family member passes away on the day of Prince Harry’s memoir release

There’s been sad news for King Charles and Prince William as they’ve lost a royal family member just days after the release of Prince Harry’s shocking memoir. 

• The Prince of Wales’ godfather King Constantine II of Greece has passed away aged 82.
• He was also King Charles’ second cousin, once removed and the final King of Greece and his death came the day Spare was published.    
• This royal news comes as we revealed Sophie Wessex's love of red wine and pilates is the secret to her “physical wellbeing” ahead of 58th birthday.  

The start of 2023 has proved to be a challenging time for the King and Prince of Wales as revelations emerged in the build-up to the release of Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, on January 10. These included allegations that the book mentioned how Prince Harry reportedly felt Prince William was “gone forever” after his marriage to Kate Middleton as well as claims that King Charles made a heartbreaking plea to his sons in 2021. 

Now it’s been reported that the same day the memoir was finally officially unveiled, King Charles and Prince William faced more personal heartbreak as King Constantine II of Greece passed away.

The 82-year-old monarch was the last King of Greece and was the son of Prince Philip’s first cousin King Paul, making him King Charles’ second cousin. He was also Prince William’s godfather and had ruled for nine years before going into exile and the abolishment of the Greek monarchy. 

According to The Guardian (opens in new tab), King Constantine died in a private hospital in Athens late on January 10, citing his doctors as the source. His widow Queen Anne-Marie is the younger sister of Queen Margrethe of Denmark and the couple have five children. During his life, King Constantine’s passion for sailing led to him securing a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics, similar to how Princess Anne was an Olympian. 

Due to illness he was reportedly unable to make the journey to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September 2022, though his son Pavlos attended in his stead. At the time Prince Pavlos described how much the late Queen was “wonderful” to him and his family.

Speaking to the BBC at the time of her passing, he said, “The Queen has always been a very kind person to my family. Always received with a smile. My parents were very well taken care of by her when we left Greece and lived in England for years after.”

King Constantine and his family are understood to have been close to the British Royal Family after living in Hampstead in London. The Royal Family have yet to share a message of condolence or reflection on social media following the recent sad news for King Charles and Prince William.

Though given his personal relationships with them both and his historical importance as the last King of Greece, they might possibly choose to do so at some point. The loss of King Constantine came late on the day Spare was published and two days after Prince Harry’s interviews with CBS’s Anderson Cooper and ITV’s Tom Bradby aired on each side of the pond. 

Insisting that he’s willing to reconcile with his family, Prince Harry told Tom that he has “hope” they will want to talk things through with him. 

"The door is always open. The ball is in their court. There’s a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they’re willing to sit down and talk about it,” he said.