(2 of 8)
Many a soberer American has expressed a like opinion. "Very seldom in my career," said General George Marshall after meeting Frederika, "have I come upon such lutidity and strength of character, covered with a unique charm that makes them irresistible." U.S. General James A. Van Fleet, who led the Greeks in Europe's first military victory over Communism, vows that Frederika "has everything, right down the line—charm, intelligence, beauty, ability, and a great love for her adopted people." An American sergeant who owned a red M-G exa'ctly like the one which Frederika herself drives through Athens, took to waving companionably when the two cars passed. He was crestfallen and suddenly stiff with formality when he learned that his friendly fellow motorist was the Queen. "Relax, sergeant," said Frederika amiably, "and let's get back to our old waving basis."
But for Victoria. This easy informality and Frederika's gift for bowling over generals, sergeants and congressmen alike has proved a major asset to a ruling house whose royal motto is: "My power is in the love of the people." But Greece's Queen is no royal flibbertigibbet. Born to the purple as well as being married to it, she takes what she calls "this King business" with deadly seriousness, and exploits every ounce of her charm and wit to strengthen its power.
"Did you ever stop to think," Frederika once asked Winston Churchill, "that if your Queen Victoria had died before she reached the throne, my father would now be King of England?" Because Victoria did survive, the Duke of Cumberland, Victoria's uncle and Frederika's great-great-grandfather, had to be satisfied with the Kingdom of Hanover, and that was lost forever in 1866 when his son took the losing side in a war with the King of Prussia. The feud was not patched up until years later when the Hanoverian prince, Ernst August. Duke of Brunswick, married the daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The third child (and first daughter) of that marriage was Frederika Louise Thyra Victoria Margarita Sophia Olga Cecilia Isabella Christa, Princess of Hanover, Great Britain and Ireland, Duchess of Brunswick and Liineburg, and present Queen of Greece. She was born on April 18, 1917 in the Hanoverian fortress of Blankenburg, in a united Prussian Germany about to go down to defeat.
Princess Fried Egg. Princess Frederika was raised—mostly in Austria—in the stern, proud tradition of Germany's Junker nobility. It was unthinkable, she told schoolmates later in life, that she would ever be permitted to marry beneath her own exalted station.
A bright, alert, gay and affectionate tomboy, she was educated at home by her strict mother and an English governess. Frederika was 17 before she was sent off to school, first in England, then in Florence. The Italian school was typical of many which catered especially to wealthy American girls. Its proprietor. Miss Edith May, was hesitant when the Duke of Brunswick sought to enter his daughter. Her school, she said, was not for princesses: it was a democratic institution where all girls would be treated alike, make their own beds and call each other by their first names.