Marie-Chantal Miller, the 'Greek' princess with a colossal fortune and multiple assets
Do you know Marie-Chantal Miller? Princess of Greece, heiress of an American billionaire and one of the greatest British fortunes, this woman is not lacking in assets.
Marie-Chantal is the daughter of Robert Warren Miller (on the right in the photo), an American businessman who made his fortune in the 1960s in the flourishing duty-free sector. A member of the American elite, Miller descended from passengers of the Mayflower, the famous ship that transported English religious dissidents to America in the 17th century.
On the side of her mother, María Clara Pesantes Becerra (on the right in the photo with her daughter and granddaughter), Marie-Chantal Miller has Ecuadorian origins. Her roots destined her to a cosmopolitan life.
Marie-Chantal was long known as one of the three 'Miller sisters.' The eldest was Pia (on the left in the photo), born in 1966. She was married to one of the heirs of Jean Paul Getty, one of the wealthiest Americans of the 20th century, but only for a while. Her sister Alexandra (on the right in the photo), born in 1972, married Prince Alexander of Fürstenberg in 1995, whom she would also divorce. The three daughters received a substantial dowry from their father, so they would be well off with or without a husband.
Despite her origin as a commoner, Marie-Chantal Miller was long nicknamed the 'Princess of New York' because she attended all the social events and fashion shows in the American metropolis, dreaming of being royalty and having the wedding of a princess...
In 1993, during a soiree in New Orleans, the young woman met Pavlos, the Crown Prince of Greece. He was the eldest son of the former King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne Marie of Denmark. It was love at first sight and Pavlos, or Paul, proposed to Marie-Chantal in 1994.
Expelled during the establishment of the colonels' dictatorship in 1967, and continuedly so after the foundation of the Greek republic in 1974, the Greek royal family lived in exile. As a result, Marie-Chantal's husband Pavlos had grown up between Rome, London, and the United States.
The wedding did not take place on Greek soil but in the English capital. On July 1, 1995, the couple married in the presence of important crowned heads of the continent: the King and Queen of Spain, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Queen Elizabeth II with the Queen Mother and Prince Charles, and many more.
The marriage caused a scandal in Greece, however, because deputies from the right-wing New Democracy party attended it. King Constantine had shown an ambiguous attitude a few months earlier by appearing along with the military. The broadcast of the ceremony by a Greek television channel strongly emphasized the anger of the Athens government.
Yet, this political turmoil hardly affected Marie-Chantal. While her faith was Catholic before her marriage, she converted to Orthodox Christianity under the influence of her husband.
The couple have five children, almost all of them born in the United States. All children bear the surname 'of Greece.' Their daughter, Princess Maria-Olympia, was born in 1996, and they have four sons born between 1998 and 2008. The education of the children is done in English because their mother does not speak Greek perfectly.
The new Princess of Greece managed the 'Marie-Cha Collection' in New York, a collection of Renaissance works of art that belongs to her father. Subsequently, the couple organized their life between London and New York, due to Pavlos' career in finance.
While she largely devoted herself to her family life, Marie-Chantal created the children's clothing brand Marie-Chantal LLC, which quickly flourished. Several boutiques bearing its name have been opened in London, New York, Paris, and of course, in Athens!
Marie-Chantal has also written a book on etiquette: 'Manners Begin at Breakfast: Modern Etiquette for Families,' which aims to teach families basic table manners, social media, fashion dos and don’ts, and party conversation.
The restoration of the monarchy is not on the agenda in Greece, but other than that, Marie-Chantal Miller lives like a queen. If crowned, she would be one of the wealthiest monarchs in Europe. Her wealth was valued at £2.2 billion (around $2.5 billion) in 2020, making her the 12th richest woman in the UK.
The wife of the Crown Prince of Greece is ahead in the richest celebrities' ranking of people like JK Rowling, Rihanna, and Victoria Beckham. A mother of five children, endowed with a considerable fortune and frequenting the international jet-set, Marie-Chantal Miller appears to be a fulfilled woman.