Initially excluded from the royal family, Aspasia was gradually integrated after the birth of her daughter Alexandra on 25 March 1921 and was later recognized with the title of Princess Alexander of Greece and Denmark after a decree issued by her father-in-law.

As the only members of the royal family to be allowed to stay in Greece after the proclamation of the Republic on 25 March 1924, Aspasia and her daughter chose to settle in Florence, with Queen Sophia.

Aspasia was born in Tatoi, Athens on 4 September 1896 as the eldest daughter of Petros Manos, a Colonel in the Hellenic Army, and his first wife, Maria Argyropoulos (1874-1930).

1875) (daughter of Alexandros Tombazis and his wife, Princess Maria Mavrocordato), she had one half-sister, Rallou (1915–1988), a modern dancer, choreographer and a dance teacher, who was married to a prominent Greek architect Pavlos Mylonas.

Alexander's parents, especially Queen Sophia (born a Prussian princess of the House of Hohenzollern), were very attached to social conventions, making it unthinkable that their children could marry persons not belonging to European royalty.

This situation led to a rupture between the sovereign and his Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, who was convinced of the need to support the countries of the Triple Entente to link the Greek minorities of the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans to the Hellenic Kingdom.

[10] In the end, King Constantine was deposed in 1917 and replaced by his second son Prince Alexander, considered more malleable than his elder brother Diadochos George by the Triple Entente.

[18] The official visit of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, to Athens in March 1918 also confirmed the support of the United Kingdom to the marriage project.

[7] After the ceremony (which also included a civil wedding[19]), the archimandrite swore to keep silent about it, but he quickly broke his promise and confessed the whole affair to the Metropolitan Meletius III of Athens.

Although the marriage of the young couple was retroactively recognized as legal (but non-dynastic) following Alexander's death, Aspasia was never entitled to be known as "Queen of the Hellenes"; she was instead styled "Madame Manos".

[22][23] Despite his anger at the wedding, Eleftherios Venizelos permitted, initially, that Aspasia and her mother move to the Royal Palace with the condition that the marriage not be made public.

Because the King had married without his father's or the head of Orthodox Church's permission, it was technically illegal, the marriage void, and the couple's posthumous child illegitimate according to law.

Maintaining the monarchy therefore involved finding another sovereign and, as the Venizelists still opposed Constantine I and Diadochos George,[32] the government decided to offer the crown to another member of the royal family, the young Prince Paul.

Considered intriguing by part of the royal family, especially by her sister-in-law Princess Elisabeth of Romania who hated her, she was under the suspicion that she wanted to put her unborn child on the throne.

However, not all members of the royal family shared this distrust: Princess Alice of Battenberg, aunt of the deceased Alexander I, chose to spend Christmas of 1920 in the company of Aspasia.

For her part, Queen Sophia, who previously strongly opposed her son's relationship with Aspasia, approached her daughter-in-law and awaited the birth of her first grandchild.

[39][40] The birth of Alexandra on 25 March 1921 caused a great relief to the royal family: under the terms of the Salic law (which prevailed in Greece), the newborn could not claim the crown and she was unlikely to be used to undermine the dynasty.

[33][40] Still, neither the child nor her mother received more official recognition; only in July 1922, and at the behest of Queen Sophia, a law was passed which allowed the King to retroactively recognize marriages of members of the royal family, although on a non-dynastic basis.

Under pressure from his wife, King Constantine I issued a decree, gazetted 10 September 1922 under which Aspasia received the title "Princess of Greece and Denmark" and the style of Royal Highness.

[44][45] Things went from bad to worse for the country, and a failed monarchist coup d'état forced the new King George II and his family into exile in December 1923.

[52] While several members of the royal family decided to return to Greece, Aspasia chose to remain in Italy, but claimed, in the name of her daughter, her rightful share of the inheritance of Alexander I.

[50] However, after several months of victorious battles against the Italian forces, Greece was invaded by the army of Nazi Germany and the majority of the members of the royal family left the country on 22 April 1941.

[e][59][60] Shortly after the end of the war, on 17 July 1945, Queen Alexandra gave birth to her only child, Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia, in Suite 212 of Claridge's Hotel in Brook Street, London, which according to some reports was transformed for the occasion into Yugoslav territory by the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.

However, the arrival of the heir to the throne was quickly followed by the deposition of the Karađorđević dynasty and the proclamation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by Marshal Tito on 29 November 1945.

[61] This was the beginning of a long period of difficulties, marked by financial instability, the pursuit of vain political projects and the deterioration of relations between Alexandra and Peter II.

Still without sufficient financial resources and concerned about the situation of her daughter (who granted her at one point the guardianship of her grandson Crown Prince Alexander,[63]), Aspasia led a quiet life, punctuated by a few public appearances during cultural events.

[65] Demoralised by exile and financial difficulties, the former King Peter II of Yugoslavia gradually became an alcoholic and relieved his boredom by multiplying his affairs with other women.

After several years of wandering between Italy, the United States and France, Alexandra finally moved permanently to the Garden of Eden after the death of Peter II in 1970.

At the time, Greece was ruled by the Regime of the Colonels and so Alexandra chose to bury her mother in the Orthodox section of the cemetery of San Michele island near Venice.

Only after the death of Alexandra, in January 1993, were the remains of Aspasia and her daughter transferred to the Royal Cemetery Plot in the park of Tatoi near Dekeleia, at the request of Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia.