Royals Converted to Other Denominations & Faiths

[Duc_et_Pair]

It also happens in Northern Europe. This picture was made in the Agnes Church in Amsterdam, a few months ago.

 

[Mbruno]

Máxima always wears a veil when attending Mass.

Máxima in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Bavo, Haarlem

Maxima in the Cathedral of the Saints Laurentius and Elisabeth, Rotterdam

Máxima in the Cathedral of the Saints Laurentius and Elisabeth, Rotterdam (another Mass)

Máxima in the Duomo di Parma

Máxima at the Village Church in Wassenaar

Isn't the Village Church in Wassenaar a Protestant church ?

I'm surprised to see Willem-Alexander with Máxima in so many Catholic masses. Is the PKN upset about that ?

 

[NotHRH]

Sisters TRH Princesses Irene and Christina of the Netherlands both converted to Catholicism prior to each of their marriages. Princess Charlene of Monaco was also a Roman Catholic convert prior to her marriage.

Queen Sofia of Spain (nee Princess of Greece and Denmark) also converted to Catholicism (from Greek Orthodox); whereas her cousins, The Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark) and the Duchess of Kent (Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark), who were also raised Greek Orthodox, converted to Anglicanism after marrying into the BRF.

Queen Frederica went from Lutheran to Greek Orthodox after her marriage to King Pavlos of Greece.

King Henry VIII was baptized Roman Catholic as an infant and died as the Head of the Church of England.

 

[NotHRH]

Isn't the Village Church in Wassenaar a Protestant church ?

I'm surprised to see Willem-Alexander with Máxima in so many Catholic masses. Is the PKN upset about that ?

Out of curiosity, why would they be?

 

[Marengo]

Isn't the Village Church in Wassenaar a Protestant church ?

I'm surprised to see Willem-Alexander with Máxima in so many Catholic masses. Is the PKN upset about that ?

Certainly not, they were mostly 'work - or family related' events. The PKN is a merger of several protestant groups that happened a few years ago. However, some orthodox protestants immidiately seperated from the PKN and set up their own shop once again (Restaured reformed church is the most well known). Others never agreed with the merger in the first place such as the Bonders (Reformed Union).

As they say: if you put two Dutchmen together they start a church, if you put three of them together they will have a schism.

At the time of the wedding of prince Maurits the political party of the orthodox protestants (that only recently allowed women to be electable) still abstained from voting but they did vote in favor of the wedding of the prince of Orange to Maxima Zorreguieta. Perhaps it helped that during the engagement interview the crown prince guarenteed that his children would be raised as protestants. 'the house of Orange will remain protestant' he literally said. And Maxima said she would look forward to study protestantism. I suppose it was hoped she would convert at a later date. She never did.

The village church of Wassenaar is indeed protestant. It is known that the family visits this church privately too, nothing is known about them attending catholic services in private.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Let us not forget that the Roman-Catholic Church and the Protestant Church are two denominations in the very same Christian Faith. It is all not that shockingly different.

I think that Queen Máxima has learned to appreciate Protestantism but remained attached to the Church of Rome. And that is her good right. The constitutional Freedom of Faith counts for all residents in the kingdom of the Netherlands. The King himself included, by the way.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

When Anna Paulovna Romanova, Grand-Duchess of Russia, married with the Protestant Prince of Orange (later King Willem II of the Netherlands) she formally converted to Protestantism.

In reality however Anna Paulovna remained faithful to her Orthodox faith. In the park of Soestdijk Palace, at the White Palace (Kneuterdijk Palace) in The Hague, at the Palace of the Prince of Orange in Brussels and at Sorghvliet House in The Hague, Orthodox chapels with iconostases were erected for her.

Her Will had a clausule about her chapel: “Article 8 dispositions relatives à ma chapelle et à ma sépulture. Il a toujours été d’usage qu’il a eu une Eglise du rit Greco-Russe près de la tombe des Grandes-Duchesses de Russie mortes et ensevelies à l’étranger. C’est donc dans la chapelle qui restera après moi dans les Pays-Bas, que je désire que soient conservés les vases sacrés et autres objecs destinés au culte divin, de même que les chasubles, sans en pouvoir jamais rien distraire, ni considérer comme objets d’héritage.” (Summarized: "It has always been the practice that there is a chapel in the Greek-Russian rite close to the graves of Grand-Duchesses of Russia living in foreign countries. The sacred vessels and other objects of divine worship, like the chasubles should remain together as objects of the heritage").

Today's Russian-Orthodox Church in The Hague has been built with the capital of Anna Paulovna's legacy. The objects of her chapels are still in use there. And Anna herself? She got a public Protestant funeral (and a private Orthodox ceremony) and has been interred in the Protestant New Church in Delft.

Queen Anna's travel set, now in use by the Orthodox Church in The Hague.

Queen Anna's field chapel, for travelling, a gift from her brother Tsar Alexander I

A reconstruction of Queen Anna's field chapel with her original attributes

 

[Lee-Z]

Let us not forget that the Roman-Catholic Church and the Protestant Church are two denominations in the very same Christian Faith. It is all not that shockingly different.

I think that Queen Máxima has learned to appreciate Protestantism but remained attached to the Church of Rome. And that is her good right. The constitutional Freedom of Faith counts for all residents in the kingdom of the Netherlands. The King himself included, by the way.

Maybe...but i'm pretty sure if the king would convert to Roman-Catholicism that would not go down well with some of the other christian denominations...

 

[NotHRH]

Maybe...but i'm pretty sure if the king would convert to Roman-Catholicism that would not go down well with some of the other christian denominations...

I do not believe King WA will ever become Roman Catholic - he is now almost 50 years old. Yes, it's possible, but not probable. But if that would occur, why would other it not go down well with other Christian denominations? His wife is Catholic, as are 2 maternal aunts, 7 maternal 1st cousins and their families. Religion should be a personal matter. As long as a monarch, president, prime minister, or any person for that matter, is not pushing their religion down others' throats, or involved in clandestine activities promoting chaos upon others, who cares what religion another chooses?

 

[Lee-Z]

I do not believe King WA will ever become Roman Catholic - he is now almost 50 years old. Yes, it's possible, but not probable. But if that would occur, why would other it not go down well with other Christian denominations? His wife is Catholic, as are 2 maternal aunts, 7 maternal 1st cousins and their families. Religion should be a personal matter. As long as a monarch, president, prime minister, or any person for that matter, is not pushing their religion down others' throats, or involved in clandestine activities promoting chaos upon others, who cares what religion another chooses?

I don't think it works that way for a monarch, especially not in a country that has an official state-religion.

The NL doesn't have that and I indeed don't for a minute believe that the king will convert, but only 1 generation ago the fact that second-in-line Princess Irene converted to Catholicism resulted in a big shock for a lot of dutch people, see for instance this article:
Prinses Irene trouwde zonder familie - NPO Geschiedenis
translation

The fact that when king WA said he was proud of his wife for staying a catholic made headlines in the entire dutch press; en there already were comments of the Protestant church that he was "too little God minded"
Protestantse kerk ziet 'te weinig God bij koning' | NU - Het laatste nieuws het eerst op NU.nl
translated

lead me to my initial comment that if the monarch would convert there would be people who weren't happy about it...

 

[Countessmeout]

Irene had to give up her place in succession. She caused a huge problem when she announced her engagement and converted, with parliament threatening to disband at one point. Her mother and father did everything they could to stop the wedding. It wasn't simply Hugo was catholic, but he was a known or suspected Franco supporter.

Christina also renounced her rights. There was fear though attitutdes were changing, that her marriage and conversion would create issues like her sister's. Her wedding was in the Netherlands and thousands showed up in the streets after the wedding. So attitudes certainly have changed.

Unlike the UK and other countries, religion is not a requirement of succession. There is no law saying the heir has to be of a certain faith. But the Dutch royals have been protestant for hundreds of years, and it would be quite shocking if the king or his eldest daughter when she became queen, converted.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

The King of the Netherlands is "attached" to the Protestant tradition, but he has publicly and officially seen in far more catholic places than all his predecessors. King Willem II of the Netherlands had an attachment for the Southern Netherlands and one of his best friends was a priest from Tilburg, Johannes Zwijsen, who would become Bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc). The presence of the Abbey of Koningshoeven (the King's Farms) which is build on domains owned by King Willem II - therefore the name - is a still a living link to the King's goodwill towards the Catholics in and around Tilburg (see picture).

 

[Lee-Z]

I stand by my opinion

 

[NotHRH]

I stand by my opinion

Good for you, and I stand by mine; we obviously don't agree. King WA is not the king of my country, but he is the king of a country with over 50% of its population identifying as atheists. Only around 10% of Dutch Christians identfy as Protestant (mostly belonging to the "Dutch Reformed") and almost 25% identify as Roman Catholic. Long ago, in the very distant past, the Holy See used to interfere with politics and policies of numerous countries and would attempt to sway opinions in its favor; that is not the situation at this point in history. Irene and Carlos Hugo were married many years ago; the Netherlands now has a Catholic Queen consort, and times are very different than even 50 years ago.

 

[tamta]

the catholic church and the (greek) orthodox church "accept" each other, so I think there is officially little converting to do.

There is NOTHING further from the truth. In fact Eastern Christianity is in essence much more different than both versions of western Christianity, and thus whenever a non-Orthodox (and especially Catholic) royal reigned in Orthodox countries there were serious problems in their legitimacy and acceptance.
King Otto of Greece (Bavarian-born) is I think the uttermost example. In nearly 30 revolts during his reign, his conversion was always among the popular demands -which he persistently resisted, being a Wittelsbach. He was ousted ultimately.

 

[NotHRH]

There is NOTHING further from the truth. In fact Eastern Christianity is in essence much more different than both versions of western Christianity, and thus whenever a non-Orthodox (and especially Catholic) royal reigned in Orthodox countries there were serious problems in their legitimacy and acceptance.
King Otto of Greece (Bavarian-born) is I think the uttermost example. In nearly 30 revolts during his reign, his conversion was always among the popular demands -which he persistently resisted, being a Wittelsbach. He was ousted ultimately.

Your described scenario is from a few centuries ago. Within the past 10 years or so, HRH Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark, who lives in Lanzarote, the Canary Islands, Spain, was able to baptize her 3 daughters into the Greece Orthodox faith in her local Catholic church. Permission was received from the Holy See as well as the appropriate powers - that - be of the Greek Orthodox faith. Her son was baptized there also, but he was baptized Roman Catholic, his father's faith. The Catholic Church will accept the sacraments/rites of Eastern Orthodox churches and perform them on behalf these churches, especially in areas where there are few to no Eastern Orthodox churches. People and official church doctrine of most religions, especially in the western world, have had much progression and continue to move forward. Do they disagree - yes, but they will hopefully continue to progress and continue to move forward, especially with atheism and Islam knocking on Christianity's door.

 

[Lee-Z]

Good for you, and I stand by mine; we obviously don't agree. King WA is not the king of my country, but he is the king of a country with over 50% of its population identifying as atheists. Only around 10% of Dutch Christians identfy as Protestant (mostly belonging to the "Dutch Reformed") and almost 25% identify as Roman Catholic. Long ago, in the very distant past, the Holy See used to interfere with politics and policies of numerous countries and would attempt to sway opinions in its favor; that is not the situation at this point in history. Irene and Carlos Hugo were married many years ago; the Netherlands now has a Catholic Queen consort, and times are very different than even 50 years ago.

Would you read my opinion differently if i were among the mentioned 25% (which happens to be the case) ?

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Pope John Paul II stated that the Catholic and the Ortodox Churches each were a lung of the same body. The Pope has met Patriarchs from the Orthodox Churches and both have commited themselves to wards an unity, both have regretted the Great Schism which drove the once united Church apart. Changes go fast and with an unbelievabe pace.

 

[Mbruno]

I do not believe King WA will ever become Roman Catholic - he is now almost 50 years old. Yes, it's possible, but not probable. But if that would occur, why would other it not go down well with other Christian denominations? His wife is Catholic, as are 2 maternal aunts, 7 maternal 1st cousins and their families. Religion should be a personal matter. As long as a monarch, president, prime minister, or any person for that matter, is not pushing their religion down others' throats, or involved in clandestine activities promoting chaos upon others, who cares what religion another chooses?

The problem is that his family has been historically associated with the defense of the Protestant faith for over 400 years. If W-A or Amalia converted to Catholicism, that would come as a shock to many people.

 

[Mbruno]

The King of the Netherlands is "attached" to the Protestant tradition, but he has publicly and officially seen in far more catholic places than all his predecessors. King Willem II of the Netherlands had an attachment for the Southern Netherlands and one of his best friends was a priest from Tilburg, Johannes Zwijsen, who would become Bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc). The presence of the Abbey of Koningshoeven (the King's Farms) which is build on domains owned by King Willem II - therefore the name - is a still a living link to the King's goodwill towards the Catholics in and around Tilburg (see picture).

Apparently, the Belgian Catholics didn't find that enough as they decided to dump Willem I and bar the House of Orange from ever ascending the Belgian throne. Curiously, they picked a Protestant (Lutheran) King to replace him , Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, but demanded that Leopold's children were raísed as Catholics.

 

[Marengo]

I am quite sure the king will never convert and I am almost sure that neither will the princess of Orange. You are right, it would come as a shock to many. The orthodox protestants can be considered the core supporters of the RF, for whom the old triumphate 'God, The Netherlands and Orange' still means something. It must pain some of them that the royal family has different views on religion. Only recently some objected to the RF having too many public engagements on sundays. The criticism on Queen Maxima being too flamboyant also came from one of their newspapers. Nothing new I suppose, in the 30-ties they also complained that CPss Juliana and her husband used their yacht on sundays.

Although the house of Orange has been seen as a champion of protestantism in Europe for centuries, this image is not the complete story. They often sided with the stricter protestants for political reasons (stadholder Maurits, stadholder-King Willem III and king Willem III for example). Also one could argue that William the Silent actually wanted peaceful coexistance of catholicism and protestantism, a sort of ecumenism avant-la-lettre. It took him a very long time to convert to calvinism, only in 1573 after years of warfare. As an aside: the other initial leaders of the Dutch revolt - Ct. Lamoral van Egmond, Prince of Gavere and Ct. Filips van Hoorne- remained catholic until their heads were cut of by the Spanish in 1568.

Another example is Grand Duchess Sophie of Weimar (daughter of Willem II) who financed the establishement of several catholic churches on her estates in present-day Poland. However, when she was curious and wanted to see how a church turned out, she stayed in her carriage in front of the church door and sent one of her ladies-in-waiting inside to inspect the building. She explained: 'a member of the house of Orange does not enter a catholic church'.

Queen Wilhelmina -always regarded as a prototype of old fashioned, staunch Dutch calvinist- was attracted to the ecumenic thought towards the later part of her life (as was her daughter Juliana). Both Wilhelmina as her husband Hendrik were interesed to some sort of esotheric christianity, as the Queen explains in her autobiography. Prince Hendrik even believed in reincarnation. They had a lot of contacts in the theosofic movements and they esp. admired the Indian christian missionary Sundar Singh. I suppose with Wilhelmina these modern thoughts went hand-in-hand with the old ones. In her biography she still relates about The Netherlands as the new Israel: God's chosen people on earth.

Although Queen Beatrix is described in the biography of Jutta Chorus as 'a calvinist to the core', this must relate mostly to the cultural part of it. The preachers that are used by her and the RF are among the most liberal ones we have. At the funeral of Prince Claus it was even mentioned that the prince struggled with believing in God. Carel ter Linden -until his retirement the unofficial court preacher,- even claims that he (the preacher) does not believe in life after death or in a supra-natural being.

As for the Belgians: the revolution and independance from the Dutch was initiated by liberals mostly: lawyers, students, journalists and such. The catholic church played a secundary part as it allied itself with the liberals against WillemI. But it was mainly the liberal middle class that wanted an end to Willem I's semi-authocratic regime. Hence the religion of Leopold didn't matter that much I suppose, a link to England was more important at least. And the earthly powers of the catholic church in Belgium would -and did- surely grow due to the overthrow of Willem I, despite (or perhaps even because) of the fact that his usurpator was a lutheran.

For the catholic church the situation was already a big improvement as Willem I wanted to cut their powers and even thought about creating one national Dutch church where both the Dutch protestant and catholic churches were supposed to be merged and all ties to Rome were to be cut. His idea never became concrete and I suppose it would have been impossible to implement in the 19th century.

 

[Mbruno]

Good for you, and I stand by mine; we obviously don't agree. King WA is not the king of my country, but he is the king of a country with over 50% of its population identifying as atheists. Only around 10% of Dutch Christians identfy as Protestant (mostly belonging to the "Dutch Reformed") and almost 25% identify as Roman Catholic. Long ago, in the very distant past, the Holy See used to interfere with politics and policies of numerous countries and would attempt to sway opinions in its favor; that is not the situation at this point in history. Irene and Carlos Hugo were married many years ago; the Netherlands now has a Catholic Queen consort, and times are very different than even 50 years ago.

Actually, according to official statistics, about 16 % identify as either PKN or Dutch Reformed; another 5 % can be classified as "other Christian" , and about 25% are Catholic. Back when Princess Irene got married, probably about 40 % or so of the population was Dutch Reformed.

It is also incorrect to say that 50 % of the Dutch population self-identifies as "atheist". Slightly under 50 % claim to be "non-religious", which includes both atheists, agnostics, or people who believe in the existence of some kind of "deity", but are not followers of any organized religion.

 

[Mbruno]

Your described scenario is from a few centuries ago. Within the past 10 years or so, HRH Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark, who lives in Lanzarote, the Canary Islands, Spain, was able to baptize her 3 daughters into the Greece Orthodox faith in her local Catholic church. Permission was received from the Holy See as well as the appropriate powers - that - be of the Greek Orthodox faith. Her son was baptized there also, but he was baptized Roman Catholic, his father's faith. The Catholic Church will accept the sacraments/rites of Eastern Orthodox churches and perform them on behalf these churches, especially in areas where there are few to no Eastern Orthodox churches. People and official church doctrine of most religions, especially in the western world, have had much progression and continue to move forward. Do they disagree - yes, but they will hopefully continue to progress and continue to move forward, especially with atheism and Islam knocking on Christianity's door.

I don't know about all sacraments/rites, but the Catholic church recognizes the validity not only of Orthodox baptisms, but also of Anglican, Lutheran, or even Presbyterian/Reformed baptsms. People who were baptized in any of the aforementioned churches are not (and in fact must not be) baptized again if they convert to Catholicism.

 

[NotHRH]

I am quite sure the king will never convert and I am almost sure that neither will the princess of Orange. You are right, it would come as a shock to many. The orthodox protestants can be considered the core supporters of the RF, for whom the old triumphate 'God, The Netherlands and Orange' still means something. It must pain some of them that the royal family has different views on religion. Only recently some objected to the RF having too many public engagements on sundays. The criticism on Queen Maxima being too flamboyant also came from one of their newspapers. Nothing new I suppose, in the 30-ties they also complained that CPss Juliana and her husband used their yacht on sundays.

Although the house of Orange has been seen as a champion of protestantism in Europe for centuries, this image is not the complete story. They often sided with the stricter protestants for political reasons (stadholder Maurits, stadholder-King Willem III and king Willem III for example). Also one could argue that William the Silent actually wanted peaceful coexistance of catholicism and protestantism, a sort of ecumenism avant-la-lettre. It took him a very long time to convert to calvinism, only in 1573 after years of warfare. As an aside: the other initial leaders of the Dutch revolt - Ct. Lamoral van Egmond, Prince of Gavere and Ct. Filips van Hoorne- remained catholic until their heads were cut of by the Spanish in 1568.

Another example is Grand Duchess Sophie of Weimar (daughter of Willem II) who financed the establishement of several catholic churches on her estates in present-day Poland. However, when she was curious and wanted to see how a church turned out, she stayed in her carriage in front of the church door and sent one of her ladies-in-waiting inside to inspect the building. She explained: 'a member of the house of Orange does not enter a catholic church'.

Queen Wilhelmina -always regarded as a prototype of old fashioned, staunch Dutch calvinist- was attracted to the ecumenic thought towards the later part of her life (as was her daughter Juliana). Both Wilhelmina as her husband Hendrik were interesed to some sort of esotheric christianity, as the Queen explains in her autobiography. Prince Hendrik even believed in reincarnation. They had a lot of contacts in the theosofic movements and they esp. admired the Indian christian missionary Sundar Singh. I suppose with Wilhelmina these modern thoughts went hand-in-hand with the old ones. In her biography she still relates about The Netherlands as the new Israel: God's chosen people on earth.

Although Queen Beatrix is described in the biography of Jutta Chorus as 'a calvinist to the core', this must relate mostly to the cultural part of it. The preachers that are used by her and the RF are among the most liberal ones we have. At the funeral of Prince Claus it was even mentioned that the prince struggled with believing in God. Carel ter Linden -until his retirement the unofficial court preacher,- even claims that he (the preacher) does not believe in life after death or in a supra-natural being.

As for the Belgians: the revolution and independance from the Dutch was initiated by liberals mostly: lawyers, students, journalists and such. The catholic church played a secundary part as it allied itself with the liberals against WillemI. But it was mainly the liberal middle class that wanted an end to Willem I's semi-authocratic regime. Hence the religion of Leopold didn't matter that much I suppose, a link to England was more important at least. And the earthly powers of the catholic church in Belgium would -and did- surely grow due to the overthrow of Willem I, despite (or perhaps even because) of the fact that his usurpator was a lutheran.

For the catholic church the situation was already a big improvement as Willem I wanted to cut their powers and even thought about creating one national Dutch church where both the Dutch protestant and catholic churches were supposed to be merged and all ties to Rome were to be cut. His idea never became concrete and I suppose it would have been impossible to implement in the 19th century.

Amazes me people actually have a problem with a Dutch monarch becoming Catholic. The Queen consort is Catholic, many in the extended DRF are also Catholic. WA will never officially become Catholic, but my doubts concern the Princess of Orange. She may one day convert to her mother's and many of her extended families' religion. If there is no state religion in the Netherlands, and more christians there are Catholic, why would that be a problem?

 

[carlota]

i doubt amalia would become catholic officially, but if she chooses to follow catholic beliefs or traditions, she may do so privately without any issues. both religions being christian, i doubt the difference between them is so large that someone not knowing her, or those of us following royalty, would ever notice.

 

[NotHRH]

i doubt amalia would become catholic officially, but if she chooses to follow catholic beliefs or traditions, she may do so privately without any issues. both religions being christian, i doubt the difference between them is so large that someone not knowing her, or those of us following royalty, would ever notice.

I was thinking pretty much the same and maybe even WA is doing just that

 

[norenxaq]

catholic, protestant, even orthodox are different types of christianity. thus those people are changing denominations, not religions

as for the khazars, the conversion was not universal. they also accepted other religions and did not force their populace to become jewish when their khagan did

 

[Mbruno]

i doubt amalia would become catholic officially, but if she chooses to follow catholic beliefs or traditions, she may do so privately without any issues. both religions being christian, i doubt the difference between them is so large that someone not knowing her, or those of us following royalty, would ever notice.

Amalia is currently attending a Protestant school. Presumably the main reason her parents chose that school is its academic strength, but I wouldn't be surprised if reliigion also played a part in the decision. Protestants may be a minority in the Netherlands today, but the country's elite is still mostly Protestant and, through its association with the royal family, the Protestant Church still has an informal "semiofficial" role, at least as the Church of choice for public ceremonies like royal weddings, christening and funerals.

 

[tamta]

Your described scenario is from a few centuries ago. Within the past 10 years or so, HRH Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark, who lives in Lanzarote, the Canary Islands, Spain, was able to baptize her 3 daughters into the Greece Orthodox faith in her local Catholic church. Permission was received from the Holy See as well as the appropriate powers - that - be of the Greek Orthodox faith. Her son was baptized there also, but he was baptized Roman Catholic, his father's faith. The Catholic Church will accept the sacraments/rites of Eastern Orthodox churches and perform them on behalf these churches, especially in areas where there are few to no Eastern Orthodox churches. People and official church doctrine of most religions, especially in the western world, have had much progression and continue to move forward. Do they disagree - yes, but they will hopefully continue to progress and continue to move forward, especially with atheism and Islam knocking on Christianity's door.

1) King Otto is not an example taken from "a few centuries ago". He was the first monarch of modern Greece, which, we should not forget, was founded only in the 19th century, and reigned until 1862. Not yesterday, but still proper modern era history, clearly.
The reason why his example is important is because it set such a precedent in Greek affairs, that forced the next king and dynasty to institutionalize the 'Orthodoxy of the throne', -a provision which has survived the country's passing on to republican constitution; as confessing the Orthodox creed remains a constitutional requirement for the now-elected leader of the Greek state.

2) It is a very frequent custom especially in diaspora that Orthodox services are carried in temples of other denominations. Yet this is only practical facilitation (and usually there is a kind of rent for the use of the space), and has nothing to do with common worship. In fact the Orthodox priest can not hold a mass in an altar consecrated by an other church -should he use their space for the service, he carries with him, instead, the 'antiminsion', the vestment that can function as the equivalent to an Orthodox altar for services outside the premises of an Orthodox church.

In the case of Princess Alexia, it's the first time I hear that her son was christened Catholic. It is certainly kept private; and in any case, we talk about a junior royal -in no meaningful place in the line of succession, or with any prospects of any public role in Greece. And it increasingly seems that the latter is also the case for his mother. As a permanent resident of Spain -and with spanish as the main language in her household-, she makes her own private choices in those matters.

3) Yes, the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council (I think) does accept the sacraments of other denominations -including the Orthodox. Yet, this is not BY ANY MEANS true in the Orthodox Church. There has been no decision of any autonomous Orthodox church that accepts such principle, and, for whoever knows the Orthodox, there will never be. I live in an Orthodox country and am aware how far Orthodox mentality is from accepting such a principle or practice.

 

[NotHRH]

Amalia is currently attending a Protestant school. Presumably the main reason her parents chose that school is its academic strength, but I wouldn't be surprised with religion also played a part in the decision. Protestants may be a minority in the Netherlands today, but the country's elite is still mostly Protestant and, through its association with the royal family, the Protestant Church still has an informal "semiofficial" role, at least as the Church of choice for public ceremonies like royal weddings, christening and funerals.

Even so, I know she us being exposed to Catholicism anyway. Maybe she attends midnight mass in Argentina while on holiday there with her mother's family for Christmas. It basically a "sin" to photograph the DRF doing things that invade their privacy, so who knows? She and her sisters can always convert if they so choose when they are older. ??