Her Majesty Queen Frederica, Beloved of the Greek People — Her Noble Services to the Countryside and Its Children

After the civil war: Greece, so very rich in her intellectual heritage and ancient history, is poor in natural wealth and scant in public resources, and so her royal family has on the whole been of limited fortune compared with the kings of the world..

Perhaps it is this very trait that has kept Their Majesties the King and Queen of Greece far from material surfeit, and hence from arrogance and wantonness... for the wealth of kings is most often a road to corruption. Thus King Paul and Queen Frederica have become known for their modesty, their closeness to the people, and their sincere and loving concern for its interests.

These lofty qualities showed themselves in Her Majesty Queen Frederica in a special way in 1947, shortly after the civil war in the northern provinces of Greece, which ended in those days in a grievous national catastrophe that separated thousands of children from their parents and cast them out, flock upon flock, in a state of misery, famine, and nakedness... Her Majesty awoke to this danger, answered the mothers' appeals, and resolved to save the young of the Greek countryside from the consequences of homelessness and deprivation.

The first thing Her Majesty Queen Frederica strove for was the protection of the orphans and the homeless by sheltering them in modern colonies built especially to meet their needs, and to guide them and teach them the handicrafts and free trades that suit the life of the countryside. Thus fifty-two colonies were established for 23,000 children. But this huge number shrank in 1950, as the need for it passed and most of the children returned to a settled life in their villages and with their families.

At this stage Her Majesty's efforts turned to the building of permanent centers for rural youth; the project came under the patronage of Their Majesties together, financed from their private treasury.

Under the broad program drawn up for this purpose, 196 rural youth centers out of 240 were founded during the following ten years.

Most of these centers stand in remote villages on the frontiers; their aim is to raise the standard of living, not only among the young, but among the farmers and the inhabitants generally.

In these centers the young find instruction, handicrafts, and trades, besides means of recreation and amusement. 394 villages, of those that suffered material and moral damage during the civil wars, have benefited from these services.

The rural centers for girls take special care to foster the traditional handicrafts, such as carpet-weaving and the arts of embroidery and needlework — their aim being to endow the girls with an honorable trade that shields them from want and grants them material independence, so that they are not burdens upon their families.

...exerted by the Queen
...the Greek people,
...love in the hearts
of the mothers
...their children,
...that of the...
...between the jaws of
Greek life

...the Queen spread
...the people and learned
...and come to understand