athens european royalty gathered in athens on monday for the funeral of former king constantine of greece born a prince but spurned by his country which abolished the monarchy in 1974 constantine a second cousin of britains king charles and godfather to heir prince william lived most of his life in exile after a greek referendum which rejected the monarchy in 1974 he died at the age of 82 last week in an athens hospital known as the ex or just glucksberg from the german house of glucksberg which has connections with royalty throughout europe constantine ii was the only son of king paul and queen frederica of greece and the last king of the country royals from europe including britains princess anne sister of king charles and her husband and spains king felipe and queen letizia were expected to attend the funeral at the metropolitan cathedral in central athens under tight security archbishop of greece ieronymos will lead the funeral procession expected to begin at 1000 gmt hours before the funeral mourners queued outside the chapel of agios eleftherios next to the cathedral where constantines body lies at rest but only 200 guests would be able to attend the funeral among them greek shipowners businessmen and other members of the countrys elite royals from denmark norway sweden belgium and luxembourg were also on the guest list constantine an olympics gold medalist in sailing was 27 years old and had been a king for three years in 1967 when he was forced into exile with his wife princess annemarie the youngest daughter of king frederick ix of denmark and his family he wasnt to return to greece for decades where he was deeply unpopular for his decision to swearin the colonels who seized power in april 1967 he briefly cooperated with them before staging a failed countercoup that led to his exile the military junta abolished the monarchy in 1973 in a referendum after the fall of the junta in 1974 greece rejected monarchy again after the referendum his relationship with greece was testy he was allowed to return only for a few hours in 1981 to bury his mother queen frederika at the family estate at tatoi about 20 kilometres north of athens in the 1990s constantine was stripped of his greek citizenship and the state seized tatoi and a palace on the island of corfu where britains prince philip was born constantine will be buried in tatoi where his ancestors are also laid to rest