Mon Repos is a

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

on the

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. It lies south of

Corfu City Corfu (, also ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, ; grc, Κόρκυρα, Kórkyra, ; ; la, Corcyra; sq, Korfuzi) is a city and a former municipality on the island of Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government refo ...

in the forest of Palaeopolis. Since 2001, it has housed the Museum of Palaiopolis—Mon Repos.

History

The villa was built as a summer residence for the British Lord High Commissioner of the

United States of the Ionian Islands The United States of the Ionian Islands ( el, Ἡνωμένον Κράτος τῶν Ἰονίων Νήσων, Inoménon-Krátos ton Ioníon Níson, United State of the Ionian Islands; it, Stati Uniti delle Isole Ionie) was a Greek state and am ...

Frederick Adam General Sir Frederick Adam (17 June 178117 August 1853) was a Scottish major-general at the Battle of Waterloo, in command of the 3rd (Light) Brigade. He was the fourth son of William Adam of Blair Adam and his wife Eleanora, the daughter of C ...

, and his second wife (a Corfiot), Diamantina 'Nina' Palatino, in 1828–1831, although they had to vacate the villa soon afterwards in 1832 when Adam was sent to serve in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The villa was rarely used as a residence for later British governors. In 1833, it housed a school of fine arts, while in 1834, the park was opened to the public.

Empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Elisabeth of Austria stayed there in 1863. Here she fell in love with the island, where she later built the Achilleion Palace. After the union with Greece in 1864, the villa was granted to King George I of the Hellenes as a summer residence; he renamed it "Mon Repos" (French for "My Rest"). The royal family used it as a summer residence up until King Constantine II fled the country in 1967. The villa subsequently became derelict, but was restored in the 1990s. Several royal births have taken place at the villa, including those of

Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark ( el, Σοφία, translit=Sofía; 26 June 1914 – 24 November 2001) was by birth a Greek and Danish princess, as well as Princess of Hesse-Kassel and Princess of Hanover through her successive marriages ...

on 26 June 1914, It was the birthplace of

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...

(the husband of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

), and

Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark ( el, Αλεξία; born 10 July 1965) is a Greek princess and educator. She is the eldest child of Constantine II and Anne-Marie of Denmark, who were King and Queen of Greece from 1964 until the abolition ...

. Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. "

Burke's Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Bri ...

Royal Families of the World: ''Volume I Europe & Latin America'', 1977, pp. 67, 316, 327–328. Philip was born on the dining room table.

Confiscation

The villa was confiscated under controversial circumstances some years after the declaration of the Hellenic Republic in 1974. Its confiscation, and the confiscation of other property of the deposed and exiled

King Constantine II Constantine II ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Βʹ, ''Konstantínos II''; 2 June 1940) reigned as the last King of Greece, from 6 March 1964 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy on 1 June 1973. Constantine is the only son of King Paul an ...

, without any compensation, led to a court case in the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

. The King's argument centred on the claim that the property in question was acquired by his predecessors legally and was therefore subject to regular personal inheritance. The Greek state argued that because the property was either used by the royal family by virtue of its sovereign status or obtained by taking advantage of that status, once the monarchy was abolished, the property reverted to public ownership automatically. The Court ordered the Hellenic Republic to pay the exiled king compensation of less than 1% of its worth and allowed the Greek state to retain ownership of the property.

References

Sources

External links

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Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism – Archaeological Museum of Palaeopolis
{{authority control 19th-century architecture in Greece Archaeological museums in Greece Architecture of Corfu Buildings and structures in Corfu (city) Museums in Corfu Neoclassical architecture in Greece