For those of you interested in the topic, there are two short videos:
One, on the arrival of Princess Anne-Marie and her family aboard the Danish Royal Yacht at Faliron Bay;
The second, on the wedding at the Athens Cathedral (Metropolis).
Both can be found at the site of the former Greek royal family .
Please make sure you click on the Greek language version [Ελληνικά] and then on video [Βίντεο] on the right column. When the list appears, choose the second and third of the three [the first one is on a tour of Constantine and Anne-Marie to the countryside].
The wedding video contains three violations of protocol which have great historic and symbolic significance and stirred controversy at the time:
1. Immediately after the ceremony, Queen Frederika kissed and curtsied (!) to her son. This, one may argue, is a semi-violation in that Queen Frederika was a monarch's consort but not a monarch herself, but she still was a majesty (HM). The only instance she could have done that was when he son became monarch after his swearing-in ceremony following his father's death in a gesture similar to that of Queen Mary who, upon her grand-daughter's return from Africa, paid homage to the new monarch when the latter visited her at Marlborough House. She bowed and kissed the hand of QEII saying, "Long live the Queen".
2. The second breach of protocol involves Queen Frederika kissing Anne-Marie, by then The Queen of the Hellenes and then curtsying to her.
3. Immediately upon Queen Frederika's curtsy, Anne-Marie returned the curtsy.
The latter two were incorrect in that a Queen consort does not need to bow to another Queen consort or a Queen Dowager. The royal ladies were both majesties.
The clue behind these gestures, which diplomatic observers at the time hasted to characterize as theatrical, was the unhappiness of the Hellenes with Queen Frederika. Rumours were circulating that Queen Frederika would continue to rule the country. So, she did all that in an attempt to appease the populus. Unfortunately, most newspapers interpreted it negatively.
