Background
Aspasia was born in Athens, the daughter of Colonel Petros Manos (1871–1918) and his first wife, Maria Argyropoulos (1874–1930).
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Aspazja Manos
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Career
The Manos family descended, in part, from Phanariote Greeks living in Constantinople. Some of her ancestors had been leaders during the Greek War of Independence, some had been Hellenic leaders in Constantinople for centuries under the Ottoman Empire, and some had even been reigning princes of Danubian provinces. She belonged to one of Greece"s most aristocratic families, and was considered a suitable consort for a Greek king by some, but not by those who expected royalty to marry only royalty.
On 4 November 1919, at Tatoi, Aspasia Manos married King Alexander in a secret, civil wedding.
She never took the title of Queen, being known as Madame Manos by those aware of the marriage. Alexander lived less than a year after the wedding.
His father, King Constantine I, was restored to the Greek throne a month after Alexander"s death and returned from exile. Thereupon King Constantine issued a decree, gazetted 10 September 1922, recognizing the marriage of Alexander to Aspasia.
Aspasia and Alexander were the parents of only one child, Princess Alexandra, born five months after Alexander"s death at Tatoi (her father having died of sepsis following a monkey bite).
Alexandra would later marry Peter II, King of Yugoslavia. Like most European royal families by the 20th century, the Glücksburgs" ancestry was exclusively German. She raised him mostly in England.
Just a month before her death, Alexander married a Royal Franco-Brazilian, Princess Maria da Gloria of Orléans-Braganza.
She died in Venice on 7 August 1972, and was initially interred at the cemetery of San Michele island near Venice. Her remains were later transferred to the Royal Cemetery Plot in the park of Tatoi near Dekeleia (23 km north of Athens).
Membership
At the behest of Alexander"s mother, Queen Sophia, a law was passed in July 1922 which allowed the King to retroactively recognize marriages of members of the Royal Family, although on a non-dynastic basis. This title was customarily borne by non-reigning members of the Greek royal family, who also happened to be members of a cadet branch of the reigning dynasty of Denmark.
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Born
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Died
August 7, 1972 (aged 75) -
Nationality
Greece -
Religion
Greek Orthodox