King Charles's grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, stayed in Nazi-occupied Athens in 1941 while most of the Greek...

King Charles's grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, stayed in Nazi-occupied Athens in 1941 while most of the Greek royal family fled the country. She organized soup kitchens for starving Athenians and, at enormous personal risk, sheltered Rachel Cohen and her children in her home near the royal palace. Rachel's husband, Michel Cohen, had been a close friend and adviser to King George I, and Princess Alice considered it a personal duty to protect his family from the Nazi persecution. When Gestapo officers visited her home after receiving a tip about the hidden family, she used her deafness as cover. Though she could lip-read, she gave the impression she could not understand their questions, and the officers left without discovering the Cohens. Rachel and her children survived in hiding until Athens was liberated. In 1993, Yad Vashem awarded Princess Alice the title of Righteous Among the Nations posthumously, recognizing her wartime actions. After the war, she renounced royal life entirely. In 1949 she founded the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary, an Orthodox monastic order focused on nursing and charity work in Athens. She sold her own jewelry to fund its operations and was present every day distributing food and organizing aid to the city's sick and poor. Her transformation was visible to the world in 1953, when she appeared at Queen Elizabeth II's coronation at Westminster Abbey wearing her nun's habit, a striking contrast to the ceremony's splendor. She died in 1969 at Buckingham Palace. Per her final wish, her remains were later transferred to Jerusalem, where she is buried at the Church of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives. King Charles grew up hearing stories about his grandmother and, according to several biographers, developed an early interest in Orthodoxy and Greek spiritual tradition. His repeated private visits to Mount Athos for prayer and reflection reflect that enduring connection. #GreekHistory #RighteousAmongNations #PrincessAlice