Exiled Greek King to visit Cyprus for sailing conference

THE EXILED former king of Greece is due to visit Cyprus in May, the government confirmed yesterday.

Speaking after yesterday’s meeting of the National Council, government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said that King Constantine would be making the trip for a conference of the International Sailing Federation, of which he is president. The visit was not in any way official, Papapetrou said.

While the government will not be represented on Constantine’s arrival to the island, the state will officially welcome the King of Norway and Great Britain’s Princess Ann, also expected to attend the conference.

The Federation, of which Constantine has been president since 1994, will be holding the conference to discuss issues such as its activities in this year’s Sydney Olympics and the 2004 Games in Athens.

Media sources claim the former king intervened to ensure the conference was held in Cyprus, rather than in Denmark or in Turkey, which also showed interest in hosting the event.

Organised by the Cyprus Sailing Federation, the four-day conference begins in Limassol on May 3 and will include participants from 103 countries.

The occasion will be Constantine’s second visit to the island in the last 23 years. His last visit lasted only a few hours and took place so that he could attend the funeral of Archbishop Makarios.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.