Frederica of Hanover
Queen consort of Greece as the wife of King Paul; daughter of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick (1887-1953)
Frederica of Hanover (German: Friederike Luise; Greek: Φρειδερίκη Λουΐζα, romanized: Phreideríkē Louḯza; 18 April 1917 – 6 February 1981) was Queen of Greece from 1 April 1947 until 6 March 1964 as the wife of King Paul and Queen Mother of Greece from 6 March 1964, when her son Constantine II became King, until 8 December 1974, when the monarchy was officially abolished after a referendum.
Granddaughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II and daughter of Duke Ernest Augustus of Brunswick, Frederica was born a few months before the fall of the German Empire. Her family overthrown, she grew up between Austria and Weimar Germany, where her father owned large properties. As a teenager, she joined the Hitler Youth in 1933, before leaving to complete her studies for the next two years in the United Kingdom and then Italy. In Florence, she was received by Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark, at whose house she met the Crown Prince of Greece, Paul. The two fell in love and married two years after the restoration of the monarchy in Greece. In the years that followed, she gave birth to three children, Sophia in 1938, Constantine in 1940 and Irene in 1942.
During the Second World War, Greece was occupied by the Axis powers. The Greek royal family left the country and Frederica and her children settled first in South Africa and from 1943 in Egypt.
The changing political situation in Greece, with the rise of the EAM and the KKE, challenged the institution of the monarchy.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Frederica of Hanover” is queen consort of Greece as the wife of King Paul; daughter of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick (1887-1953). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Frederica, Hanover and Queen, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “queen consort of Greece as the wife of King Paul; daughter of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick (1887-1953)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q61351. VIAF identifies the subject as 3264993. The Library of Congress control number is n88003887. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1917, 1981, 1947 and 1964.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Frederica of Hanover”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Frederica of Hanover primary sources, Frederica of Hanover archive and Frederica research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Frederica of Hanover”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Frederica of Hanover” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.