Queen Anne-Marie's 80th Birthday Marked With a Greenland First
A new photograph of Queen Anne-Marie, former Queen of the Hellenes, taken during her first-ever visit to Greenland, has been released by the Danish Royal Family to mark her 80th birthday. The image, published on the Danish monarchy's official website, captures a milestone the queen celebrated on 30 April 2026 — a birthday gift that sent her to a part of the Danish realm she had never set foot in.
The trip was a present from her two older sisters: Queen Margrethe II, who abdicated the Danish throne in January 2024, and Princess Benedikte. Queen Anne-Marie and her youngest daughter, Princess Theodora, travelled to Nuuk and Ilulissat — the capital and one of the most photographed towns in Greenland, known for its iceberg-filled fjord. It was the queen's first time in the country, which remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Queen Anne-Marie's life has crossed three monarchies and several exiles. Born on 30 April 1946, she is the youngest child of King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark. Her father ascended to the Danish throne less than a year after her birth. In 1964, at the age of 18, she renounced her Danish titles and rights of succession to marry King Constantine II of Greece, who reigned from 1964 to 1974.
The Greek throne did not hold for long. A military coup seized power in Athens on 21 April 1967, forestalling an election Constantine had been planning for May. His attempted countercoup in December that year failed, and he was forced to flee the country. The royal couple lived abroad, primarily in London, for decades. They were eventually allowed to return to Greece, and in 2013 they took up permanent residence there. King Constantine II died in Athens in January 2023, following complications from a stroke.
Their youngest daughter, Princess Theodora, born on 9 June 1983, accompanied her mother to Greenland. Theodora is an actress with a long-running role on the American soap "The Bold and the Beautiful." She married American attorney Matthew Kumar in Athens in September 2024. Three months later, in December 2024, Theodora acquired Greek citizenship along with four of her siblings, taking the name Theodora de Grèce. Queen Anne-Marie did not apply for Greek citizenship alongside her children.
The birthday photograph and Greenland visit place a family story back in a Danish frame. The queen whose married life unfolded in Greece, in exile, and finally in Athens again returned to the kingdom where she was born — and went somewhere within it she had never been.
Queen Anne-Marie's official form of address is "Queen Anne-Marie, former Queen of the Hellenes," reflecting a title held through marriage rather than birthright. The Greenland image, though, was issued by the Danish Royal House, the institution that raised her before she left it for a throne that would not last.
