HRH PRINCE NIKOLAOS| HRH PRINCE NIKOLAOS |
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Prince Nikolaos was born on 1 October 1969, in Rome, in the Villa Claudia Clinic. His parents, King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie had left Athens after the Colonels' coup in 1967 and had moved to Rome. In 1973, when Prince Nikolaos was 4, the family moved to Copenhagen for 9 months. They lived in the Amalienborg Palace - Queen Anne-Marie's childhood home. Prince Nikolaos remembers running up and down long corridors 'and the days getting dark early'. Then the family moved to Chobham in Surrey for a year, before settling in Hampstead, London in 1975. Prince Nikolaos' first six years of education were undertaken at home, by professor John Kanellopoulos, with his brother Pavlos and sister Alexia. On his eleventh birthday, the Hellenic College of London was founded. It was then a boarding school, and Prince Nikolaos attended until he was 17. He says that, at the school, he 'created mischief' and was sporty - playing football and tennis. His favourite subject was physics. One of his early exposures to politics was during his time at school. The school started out as being part of the Greek educational system with teachers appointed by the State. Various situations arose as a result of differing political beliefs among the staff of the school. This caused tensions in the school, and Prince Nikolaos says that this is where he first 'lived' politics. He remembers a Maths teacher from Crete (who was much admired by his pupils), breaking down in tears in front of the class because the Greek Government no longer wished him to teach at the school. 'It was my first insight into politics', he says. Eventually, the King closed it down, and re-established it as a wholly private school, with no funding from the Greek Government. It now has 175 pupils, and is very successful. After the Hellenic College, Prince Nikolaos went to the Collingham Tutorial College in Kensington, gaining an A level in Spanish to add to his O levels, before leaving for New York in October 1987. There he took a market research post with a leading telecommunications company, Metromedia. In 1988, Prince Nikolaos began studying for a degree in International Relations, focussing on Diplomacy and Security at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He spent 5 years there -but with a sabbatical in 1990, when he joined the British Army on a Short Service Limited Commission. After 3 weeks at Sandhurst, he joined the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was posted to Germany and took part in the major military exercise 'Medicine Man'. He considered 'signing on' for a full-time commission. But then came the Gulf War, and as he was on a Short Service Limited Commission, was not allowed to go. The Prince was very disappointed, because he had wished to join his fellow officers, with whom he had trained in the month before the War, when the Regiment had been put on special alert. He values his time in the British Army where he learnt 'how the cogs of the military work together under pressure'. In 1991, Prince Nikolaos went back to complete his studies at Brown University. In 1993, with his new degree, he moved into TV production for Fox News in New York. He was an active member of a news production team for two years -gaining experience in writing, original shooting, graphics, editing and archive. 'It was great fun to be in the city I love, doing a job which allows you to have your finger on the pulse'. Prince Nikolaos returned to London in 1995, to work in finance in the City at NatWest Markets. There he worked in the foreign exchange options department. Prince Nikolaos had visited Greece twice - once for his Grandmother's (Queen Frederica) funeral in 1981 and again with his family on a 2 weeks private holiday in 1993-, before a property dispute which spanned seven years in court, between the Royal Family and the Greek government was instigated. After returning to Greece in February 2003, he has since been back numerous times, visiting the various regions of his homeland. Prince Nikolaos is currently working at his father's Private Office in London, and lives in Chelsea. He also serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the Hellenic College of London. |