"What does the future hold for Prince Paul of Greece? Our correspondent from Athens investigates in the April issue of2023."

Meeting his mother, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Athens on January16, Prince Pavlos was greeted by thousands of excited fans standing behind barriers outside.

She turned around, with a furrowed brow, holding back tears, deeply touched, placed her hand on her heart and thanked them before continuing on her way inside to attend her husband's funeral. Konstantin II, the last king of the Greeks, had passed away six days ago at the age of 82 after a stroke.

All his splendor, Archbishop Hieronymus II of Athens performed a ceremony accompanied by12 metropolitans of the Holy Synod and envoys from the patriarchates of Constantinople and Alexandria.

Together they sang "He who became king," which breaks a taboo in modern Greek society, as Constantine really ruled over us for only three years before being overthrown.

And then Paul spoke his epitaph, and the world's media exploded. "My father," he said, "this is not the end."

Suddenly, the anchor interrupted our broadcast: he had received an urgent text message. "I have exclusive news," he said right on air. - "Pavel is returning to Greece to settle permanently in Athens."

He turned to me. "I'm not so sure," I replied reluctantly.

But that was it. The rumor spread like wildfire, first on news sites, then on other TV stations, and then as headlines the next day.

Nine days later - after the Trisagion was performed in accordance with Orthodox tradition - the family broke the silence. "The rumors are completely false. This is a vulnerable time for the queen and her family and they will spend more time together during their stay in Athens, but that's it." Restoration of the monarchy in Greece has been ruled out.

With the exception of a few powerful shipping dynasties such as Niarchos, Vardinogiannis, Nomikos, Goulandris, Livanos, Chandris and Lemos, who continue to support and socialize with the royal family - and most of them do so abroad - the local elite keep their distance from them.

Admittedly, the power of this institution was evident in both the TV ratings during the funeral and the media frenzy that lasted two weeks until Prince Paul boarded the plane to return to New York.

But it was only a media obsession: a recent poll showed that 31.2 percent of Greeks expressed sympathy for the king, while 45.2 percent did not.