Denmark and greece share royal family...why and why has this been happening for decades?!!!!?

Question

Why are denmark and greece connected...they share thesame royal family..why?!?

is this a good thing for greece?im not good at these stuff so explain thanks!

p.s-explain in simple english lol

Answer 1

First things first: Greece tossed out the monarchy many years ago.King Constantine was on vacation and Greece decided they didn't want a monarchy anymore;Constantine couldn't return home and had to ask Queen Elizabeth II for help.

The story of how they came to the throne is simple.No one else wanted the job. Queen Alexandra,then Princess of Wales(this is during Victorian rule),explained it this way. Her brother, Willi,was approached by Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell one evening. They asked him if he wanted to be King of Greece. Willi,then 18 years old, thought they were joking and said there was nothing that he'd like more.The English Foreign Office consulted privately with the King of Denmark(Willi's grandfather),and before anything  official was said to Willi or his parents, he was formally nominated King and his consent was made known to Europe.Willi was made King George I of Greece in a haphazard fashion.

Answer 2

Just to add to what was already well answered, the Norwegian royal family is also related to the Danish and Greek royal family.  The first king of Norway (when it broke from Sweeden just over 100 years ago) was the second son of the King of Denmark.

As such, all are related to the British royals and are cousins to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, whose father was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark.

Answer 3

---During the Crimean War (1853-56), the King of Greece, Otto I, allowed British and French forces to occupy the port of Piraeus to prevent Greece from aligning itself with Prussia.  

---Consequently, the Greek Army overthrew Otto I in 1862 and offered the now vacant Greek throne to Prince William of the Danish Glucksburg Dynasty.    Prince William of Denmark was crowned King George of Greece in 1863.

---The descendants of King George/Prince William would rule Greece intermittently until 1974 went the constitutional monarchy was overthrown.

---The current Greek King in exile, Constantine II, and his wife, Queen Anne Marie, as well as their unmarried children, live in London.  They can with the approval of the Danish government and Crown represent Denmark.