A Royal Tiara for a Greek Family Bride?

Prince Philippos, pictured above in January 2012, is a member of the former Greek royal family, as well as a member of the extended Danish royal family. He’s the son of King Constantine II, the last Greek monarch, and his Danish-born wife, Queen Anne-Marie. Philippos’s royal connections are extensive. He was born after the Greek monarchy was abolished, but his aunt, Queen Margrethe II, currently sits on the Danish throne, and his first cousin, King Felipe VI, is the current monarch in Spain. Philippos is now 35 and lives in New York, where he works for Ortelius Capital Partners, an investment group specializing in hedge funds and private equity.

Philippos is the youngest of the five children of King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie. The first three (Princess Alexia, Crown Prince Pavlos, and Prince Nikolaos) were born in the 1960s, before the Greek monarchy was abolished. Later, after the family had settled in exile in London in the 1980s, Princess Theodora and Prince Philippos (pictured above with their parents) completed the family. Philippos may not have grown up in a royal palace, but he was surrounded by royal family members from the start. At his baptism in 1986, the list of his godparents was a very royal roster: the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess of Wales, King Juan Carlos of Spain (his uncle), Princess Benedikte of Denmark (his aunt), Infanta Elena of Spain, Prince Kyril of Bulgaria, and Lady Romsey (now Countess Mountbatten of Burma).

The bride at this month’s wedding is 34-year-old Nina Flohr, a Swiss businesswoman who has been in a relationship with Prince Philippos for several years. Her father, Thomas Flohr, is the billionaire founder of the aviation company VistaJet. Her mother, Katharina Flohr, is a former luxury magazine editor who also served for several years as the creative director for Fabergé. Today, Katharina works as an executive with Santi Jewels. (All of this feels very promising for our interests!) Nina has worked in the past as a creative director for her father’s airline, and she’s also a founder of a luxury resort and environmental conservation center in Mozambique.

Philippos and Nina have made appearances at several high-profile royal events, including the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York and Jack Brooksbank in 2018, and the wedding of Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon and Countess Olympia von und zu Arco-Zinneberg in 2019 (pictured above). Philippos and Nina were engaged on the island of Ithaca in Greece in the summer of 2020, and the king’s private office officially confirmed the engagement to the press in September of that year: “Their Majesties King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie are delighted to announce the engagement of their youngest son HRH Prince Philippos to Nina Nastassja Flohr, daughter of Thomas Flohr and Katharina Flohr.”

On December 12, 2020, the couple were married in a private civil ceremony in St. Moritz in the bride’s native Switzerland. Because of pandemic restrictions, only two witnesses were able to attend the ceremony: the couple’s fathers, King Constantine and Thomas Flohr. The bride wore Chanel for the ceremony.

Now, we’ve learned that the couple’s religious wedding ceremony will be held in Athens. The wedding will be held at the city’s Metropolitan Cathedral on Saturday, October 23. Philippos will be the first member of the former royal family to marry at the cathedral since the end of the monarchy. His grandparents, King Paul and Queen Friederike, as well as his parents, King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie, were married at the cathedral. (So were his uncle and aunt, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain.)

Now the speculation begins: will Nina wear a tiara for her grand religious wedding ceremony? If tradition holds, the answer is yes. Both women who have married sons of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie have worn the same tiara at their wedding ceremony. Queen Anne-Marie loaned the Antique Corsage Tiara, a Danish royal heirloom and one of her personal jewels, to both of her daughters-in-law. Marie-Chantal Miller wore the tiara for her wedding to Crown Prince Pavlos in London in July 1995…

…and Tatiana Blatnik wore the same tiara for her wedding to Prince Nikolaos in Spetses in August 2010. I think it’s safe to say that the Antique Corsage Tiara will at least be offered to Nina to wear with her wedding gown in a few weeks!