[8][9] [1] King George was a strict and demanding father, but contrary to the general approach of the time, he believed in happy rambunctious children.

[1] Maria and her siblings were mischievous, playing pranks, even taking "bike rides" through the long corridors of the Royal palace, sometimes led by the King himself.

In addition, she was taught court etiquette, Orthodox religion, drawing, painting, music, dancing and learned to play the piano.

[20] At Fredensborg Palace on the island of Zealand, Maria and her siblings met their Russian and British cousins in large family gatherings.

[4] The popular desire to unite all Greeks within a single territory (Megali Idea) led to a revolt in Crete against the Turkish rule.

[22] They were forced to give up Crete to international administration, and agree to minor territorial concessions in favor of the Turks and to a monetary indemnity.

[5] She just turned twenty years old when, in April 1896, during the Olympics games held in Athens, King Alexander I of Serbia (last representative of the Obrenović dynasty) proposed to her.

[27] Since her childhood, Princess Maria of Greece had visited Russia many times with her mother, who remained very attached to her native country.

[30] Her mother, Queen Olga of Greece, was a Russian Grand Duchess by birth, a first cousin of Tsar Alexander III of Russia.

[39] Grand Duke George Mikhailovich had an injury in one leg in his youth, which curtailed the active military career he would have wanted; he occupied his time as director of the Alexander III museum where he moved his large numismatic collection.

[43] Shortly after Xenia's birth, Grand Duchess Maria's father in law became paralyzed by a stroke and moved permanently to the south of France to recover.

[39] It was there, in a piece of land Grand Duke George had bought in the 1890s near Ai-Todor, on a high cliff above the sea, that the couple decided to build their residence.

[50] The two-story house, overlooking the Black sea with a red-tiled roof and dotted with chimneys, was decorated by the Grand Duchess with English furniture, silverware, textiles, and wallpaper all imported from England.

[53] For seven years the Grand Duke and his wife led a quiet life in Crimea, returning to St Petersburg in the winter for the social season at the Imperial capital.

Princess Nina, the eldest was described by Baroness Agnes von Stoeckl [fr] as "dark, calm and indolent" while Xenia, the youngest was "blond, vivacious and full of life".

[64][65] Instead, the Grand Duchess decided to extend her stay in the United Kingdom with her daughters and later used the dangers involved in a trip back during wartime in not attempting a return to Russia.

[66] Determine to help with the war of the Triple Entente against the Central Powers, Grand Duchess Maria founded a small military hospital N 2 in Harrogate.

[64] During the war years, Grand Duchess Maria lived with her daughters in Harrogate until July 1916 when they moved to a large mansion in Grosvenor Square in London.

Very close to the British Royal Family, she went to Marlborough House almost every evening to dine and play cards with Queen Alexandra.

Grand Duchess Maria also regularly visited her cousin, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom, her close friend since childhood.

[70] The outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917 disrupted the daily life of Grand Duchess Maria and her daughters, who ceased to receive income from St.

It was though the financial support of her future sister-in-law, the wealthy American Nancy Leeds, that the Grand Duchess was able to maintain her finances afloat.

[74] Greece entered the war on the side of the allies while the Greek royal family left for exile in Switzerland with the sole exception of King Alexander.

While on a visit to Paris, Princess Maria met her nephew Alexander who Venizelos kept isolated from the Greek Royal family.

[76] Princess Maria and her two daughters then joined King Constantine and the Greek Royal family in Italy, where the small group boarded a ship of the Hellenic Navy towards Corfu.

She was much loved by the royal family, even winning the affection of the wife of the Diadochos George, Princess Elizabeth of Romania, whose relationship with the rest of her in-laws was difficult.

That they never were able to see him again, as Grand Duke George Mikhailovich had been killed during the Russian Revolution, only increased their resentment and they disapproved of their mother's relationship with Ioannidis.

The couple followed a relatively simple existence, and Princess Maria divided her time between gardening and the writing of her memoirs, published years later by her grandchildren.

[84] Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna died in her native Athens during the Greco-Italian War (28 October 1940 – 30 April 1941) Her daughter Xenia lived for years in Long Island and was for a time married to millionaire William Leeds, son of Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds and the stepson of Maria's brother Prince Christopher.

Anderson fraudulently claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the youngest daughter of her cousin, Emperor Nicholas II, and was forced to leave Xenia's house at the demand of William Leeds.