page_title: Helen of Greece and Denmark
section_title: Life in Switzerland and death
hierarchical_section_title: Helen of Greece and Denmark / Exile and later years / Life in Switzerland and death
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Grab von Elena von Griechenland
context_page_description: Helen of Greece and Denmark, was the queen mother of Romania during the reign of her son King Michael. She was noted for her humanitarian efforts to save Romanian Jews during World War II, which led to her being awarded by the State of Israel with the honorific of Righteous Among the Nations in 1993.
  Daughter of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia, Princess Helen spent her childhood in Greece, Great Britain and Germany. The outbreak of World War I and the overthrow of her father by the Allies in 1917 permanently marked her and also separated her from her favorite brother, the young Alexander I of Greece. Exiled in Switzerland along with most members of the royal family, Helen then spent several months caring for her father, plagued by disease and depression. In 1920, the princess met Carol, Crown Prince of Romania, who quickly asked her hand in marriage. Despite the bad reputation of the prince, Helen accepted and moved to Romania, where she soon gave birth to their only son, Prince Michael, in 1921.
context_section_description: Becoming too old to live alone, Helen finally left Fiesole in 1979. She then moved to a small apartment in Lausanne, located 45 minutes from the residence of Michael I and Anne, before moving in with them at Versoix in 1981. Helen, queen mother of Romania, died one year later on 28 November 1982, aged 86. She was buried without pomp in the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery  and the funerals were celebrated by Damaskinos Papandreou, the first Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Switzerland.
  Eleven years after her death, in March 1993, the State of Israel gave Helen the title of Righteous Among the Nations in recognition for her actions during World War II towards Romanian Jews, several thousands of whom she managed to save from 1941 to 1944. The announcement was made to the royal family by Alexandru Șafran, then Chief Rabbi of Geneva.
  In January 2018, it was announced that the remains of King Carol II would be moved to the new Archdiocesan and Royal Cathedral, along with those of Queen Mother Helen. In addition, the remains of Prince Mircea would also be moved to the new cathedral. His remains are currently interred at the Bran Castle's Chapel.
  Queen Mother Helen of Romania was reburied at the New Episcopal and Royal Cathedral in Curtea de Argeș on 19 October 2019.
caption: Former grave of Helen, Queen Mother of Romania, at Bois-de-Vaux
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