Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark

What fascinates me about Princess Irene is the road not taken for granted. Born in Cape Town, daughter of King Paul of Greece and sister to Queen Sofía of Spain, she had every reason to settle into royal life, yet in the 1960s she briefly built a real career as a professional pianist. I keep returning to that detail. Behind all the titles and decorations was a person who chose, however briefly, to be judged by her own hands at the keyboard. She passed in 2026, and I would rather remember the musician than the princess.

Name (English)

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark

Name (Japanese)

イリニ

Reading

いりに

Born

May 11, 1942 (age 84)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Taurus / Horse

Origin

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Occupation

pianist / aristocrat

Awards & achievements

• Order of Saints Olga and Sophia
• Order of Chula Chom Klao
• 1964 Knight of the Order of the Elephant
• Order of the Elephant

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess%20Irene%20of%20Greece%20and%20Denmark
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AA%E3%83%8B%20(%E3%82%AE%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E7%8E%8B%E5%A5%B3)
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q242298

Tags

• Western Cape
• pianist
• aristocrat

Last updated

2026-06-17

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.