Prince William pulls out of reading at memorial service for Charles’ second cousin King Constantine of Greece ‘for personal reasons’ – with the cancer-stricken monarch also absent

The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a reading at a memorial service for his father’s second cousin King Constantine of Greece ‘for personal reasons’. 

Queen Camilla is set to lead the service for King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle – with the cancer-stricken monarch also absent. 

The service is expected to include many of the royal family alongside several of the ruling houses of Europe including the former King of Spain.

The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family, who are attending the service, to let them know he was unable to attend.

The Mail understands that this was a last minute decision, and William was due to give a reading at the service. The Princess of Wales continues to be doing well, Kensington Palace have said.

The last King of Greece died on January 10 last year at the age of 82 after months of illness – more than 50 years after he was exiled in a military coup. 

The royal, the only son of King Paul and Queen Frederica, was nephew to the late Duke of Edinburgh and godfather to Prince William.

Prince Andrew was spotted arriving for the thanksgiving service alongside Sarah Ferguson. It is understood, the Duke of York is attending as a member of the British Royal Family and was invited by the Greek Royal Family.

His funeral was attended by Princess Anne, who was the late monarch’s second cousin, and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence. 

He became King of Greece in 1964 but was ousted from the throne when the monarchy was abolished in 1973. 

King Charles is not expected to attend his memorial in Windsor after drawing back from public life following his cancer diagnosis.

Charles’ profound sense of duty and strong work ethic has seen him continue working privately through treatment.

But the monarch was pictured carrying out royal duties for the first time last week as he carried out his first audience of the year with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Camilla’s role in the service will see her again taking the reigns as she works to take the pressure off her husband.

Members of the Royal family have rallied around the King, with Prince William returning to duties after spending time caring for his wife Princess Kate.

In a separate health scare, the Princess of Wales had been admitted to The London Clinic for planned abdominal surgery, and she will not be able to perform any royal engagements until at least Easter.

Last month the Greek royal family put on a sombre display as they attended a memorial service to mark one year since the death of King Constantine.

He died ‘of a stroke’, local media reported, following several hospital admissions in the months before. 

High-profile royals, including Constantine’s son Crown Prince Pavlos and widow Queen Anne Marie, attended a private ceremony at the former summer palace of Tatoi, just outside Athens. 

His public funeral the year before was followed by a 29km procession to Tatoi Palace, where a separate private ceremony was held, before Constantine was laid to rest with other members of the Greek royal family. 

Dressed in black, Prince Pavlos, 56, led the way as they gathered together in unity in a service that saw the family placing traditional laurel wreaths on Constantine’s tomb.

The Greek royal family now mainly live in New York, but split their time between the Big Apple, London and Greece.

Following Constantine’s death last year, members of the public queued through the night to see him lying in state.

They then also attended the private burial ceremony at Tatoi, where she offered her condolences to Constantine’s sons, Pavlos and Nikolaos.

Also present at the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral funeral service were Queen Letizia of Spain, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium.

Prince William, 41, held an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle earlier this month before attending London’s Air Ambulance charity gala dinner later that evening.

Last week he attended the BAFTA awards and met with filmmakers and stars, as well as congratulating awards winners, before giving out more awards at a second investiture today.

Former Chancellor Sir Sajid Javid was also among those to be knighted by the Prince of Wales for his services to politics and public life, while Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke and her mother were handed MBEs for setting up a brain injury charity.

However William’s father is said to be supportive of him putting his own family first, and taking time out of engagements to look after his wife and children.

It is understood he visited his father at Sandringham for a half-term holiday along with Kate and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

A source said: ‘The King adores Catherine and thinks she is doing a wonderful job. He understands that family comes first.’

Meanwhile the King was visited in London by Prince Harry, who cleared his diary to fly over from his California home in Montecito while leaving wife Meghan Markle and his two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lillibet, behind.

The Duke of Sussex, 39, flew to London on a commercial plane the day after the announcement, arriving at Clarence House in the afternoon.

He is then thought to have spent around 45 minutes with his father, seeing him for the first time since the late Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.

Harry is not believed to have seen his brother, with the rift between Charles’ sons showing few signs of ever repairing.

The prince then stayed overnight in a hotel before flying home the next morning.

Meanwhile King Charles and Queen Camilla were driven straight from their meeting with Harry to Buckingham Palace, where they took a helicopter to their Sandringham estate.

Harry is expected to return to Britain in May for a service at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Harry said he was pleased to have visited the UK to see his father.

When he acceded to the throne as Constantine II at the age of 23 in 1964, the youthful monarch, who had already achieved glory as an Olympic gold medalist in sailing, was hugely popular.

By the following year, he had squandered much of that support with his active involvement in the machinations that brought down the popularly elected Centre Union government of prime minister George Papandreou.

The episode, still widely known in Greece as the ‘apostasy’ or defection from the ruling party of several politicians, destabilised the constitutional order and led to a military coup in 1967.

Constantine eventually clashed with the military rulers and was forced into exile.

The dictatorship abolished the monarchy in 1973, while a referendum after democracy was restored in 1974 dashed any hopes Constantine had of reigning again.

Reduced in the following decades to only fleeting visits to Greece, which raised a political and media storm each time, he was able in his waning years to settle again in his home country, when opposing his presence no longer held currency as a badge of vigilant republicanism.

With minimal nostalgia for the monarchy in Greece, Constantine became a relatively uncontroversial figure from the past.

Constantine was born June 2, 1940 in Athens, to Prince Paul, younger brother to King George II and heir presumptive to the throne, and princess Federica of Hanover.

His older sister Sophia is the wife of former King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

Greek-born Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh and husband of the United Kingdom’s late Queen Elizabeth II, was an uncle.

The family, which had ruled in Greece from 1863 apart from a 12-year republican interlude between 1922-1935, was descended from Prince Christian, later Christian IX of Denmark, of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg branch of the Danish ruling family.

Before Constantine’s first birthday, the royal family was forced to flee Greece during the German invasion in the Second World War, moving to Alexandria in Egypt, South Africa and back to Alexandria.