the cruise of the kings (11. 787)

Disembarking this day in 1954 from Marseilles with a retinue of over one hundred royal dignitaries from twenty five current and former reigning families aboard the Agamemnon, the ten-day excursion through the Mediterranean was conceived and organised by Frederica of Hanover, queen consort of Greece, with the aim of not only promoting tourism in the region and economy recovery after World War II and the country’s civil war but also, as the granddaughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II (see previously), to repair family ties among Europe’s royals after decades of conflict and turmoil. Ports of call included Naples, the Ionian islands, Corfu, Heraklion, Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes and Athens with guests including Simeon II of Bulgaria, Prince Axel of Denmark, Duke Franz von Bayern, Prince Otto of Hesse-Kassel, Duke Peter of Schleswig-Holstein, Prince Antoine of the Two Sicilies, Umberto II of Italy, Charlotte Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, the royal families of the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden along with Prince Dimitri Romanov of Russia and Infanta Pilar, duchess of Badajoz. Protocols were abolished aboard the cruise ship and at any stop so guests might be freed from royal order of precedence and could mingle amongst themselves and with locals, and though there were designs on solidifying love connections (reality tv-style), only two engagements resulting from onboard encounters—Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Sophia of Greece and Prince Juan Carlos of Spain. A second cruise was planned for two years later be had to be cancelled due to the Suez Crisis and the invasion of the Sinai peninsula.