ATHENS — Greece’s final king earlier than the monarchy was abolished, Constantine II, died on Tuesday in Athens, aged 82.

Constantine had been taken to a personal hospital within the Greek capital final week after experiencing respiration issues and had been handled in an intensive care unit.

A descendant of Denmark’s royal Glücksburg household, Constantine was a second cousin of Britain’s King Charles III and a godfather to William, prince of Wales.

He acceded the throne on the age of 23 in 1964, simply after successful an Olympic gold medal in crusing. However he quickly turned unpopular, as he clashed with the elected authorities of George Papandreou. The federal government fell in 1965 throughout a political disaster generally known as Apostasia or the “royal coup,” and Constantine then appointed successive governments with little standard help. This era of political instability finally led to the institution of a navy junta in 1967.

Constantine swore within the colonels of the junta and took a photograph with them. However afterward, he supported the overthrow of the junta, which failed, prompting him to go away Greece.

For a few years, he and his spouse Anne-Marie lived in Hampstead Backyard Suburb, London.

His title as king was formally abolished in a 1974 referendum after the autumn of the junta, when Greek voters confirmed the abolition of the monarchy and the institution of the Third Hellenic Republic.

Constantine traveled with a Danish passport as a Danish prince. He misplaced his Greek nationality in 1994 after refusing to just accept a passport with the final title of Glücksburg, arguing his title was “Constantine of Greece.”

Till his dying moments, Constantine continued to name himself the “king of Greece” and his kids “princes” and “princesses,” regardless of the actual fact Greece doesn’t acknowledge titles of the Aristocracy.