For a man born into Greek and Dutch royalty, who was schooled in France and Germany, he was the quintessential european aristocratic neé european royal able to succesfully fashion himself into the quintessential majestic Englishman, despite the prejudices of the time and a continent ravaged by two wars. Clearly intelligent, a leader with ambition and confident in his own abilities, it must have been some sacrifice, to take on the position of consort. The continuity and stability he afforded the Royal household, is surely immeasurable. The changes he lived through, witnessed or took part-in during his lifetime are extraordinary and a testament to the adage that change is the only certainty...born shortly after the last gasps of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire he witnessed the days when the sun did not set on the British Empire and its subsequent decline; served during the second world war; watched the rise of the American Empire; the fall of the Soviet Empire and the rise of China and India as superpowers - more remarkably still, he met many of the players, who shaped these epoch making historical events.
