Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark was born on 11 June 1903 as the daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. She had two younger sisters, Princess Elizabeth (later Countess of Toerring-Jettenbach) and Princess Marina (later Duchess of Kent).
Olga married Prince Paul of Yugoslavia in 1923, and they went on to have three children together. Paul became Regent of Yugoslavia for the underage King Peter II from 1934 until 1941. The situation around the Second World War and the Axis Tripartite Pact would lead to Paul being removed from power. He and Olga were sent to Kenya, where they were kept under house arrest. They were not allowed to return to Europe until several years after the war had ended. Olga was widowed in 1976 and began spending more time in the United Kingdom. She had Alzheimer’s disease in her final years, and she died at the grand age of 94 in 1997.
Princess Olga of Yugoslavia by Robert Prentice is the first complete English biography of Princess Olga. The book delves deep into Olga’s life with numerous letters, quotes and insights from the people around her. You can certainly tell that the author has done his research, and he manages to bring Olga to life in a way that hasn’t been done before. I enjoyed reading about the early years of the Second World War in Yugoslavia as I wasn’t very familiar with it. The only downside to the book for me is the continued use of nicknames for the royals and even switching between their names and nicknames in the very same sentence, which sometimes made it very difficult to focus. However, overall I would highly recommend this book, and I am very glad that someone has written about Olga.
Princess Olga of Yugoslavia by Robert Prentice is available now in the UK and the US.
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