Former residence of the Greek royal family goes up for sale

In 1947, once exiled Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark quietly moved into a 10,000 square foot, six-bedroom townhouse, now up for sale for £39.5 million with Beauchamp Estates.

Born a few weeks after her paternal grandfather, King George I, was assassinated in Thessaloniki, Katherine faced an unsettled childhood between Greece, Switzerland, Sicily and Florence before being educated near Broadstairs in Kent.

The Grade II listed six-bedroom townhouse with connecting mews house is in one of London's most exclusive postcodes - Eaton Square in Belgravia.

But the square is also nicknamed Red Square due to Russia's most potent oligarchs owning properties there - including Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and Gazprom chief Andrey Goncharenko.

The rare property is now on the market with Beauchamp Estates and is expected to create a bidding war.

The property was also originally the London residence of the Greek Royal family. 

In 1947, it became the home of HRH Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark and her husband, Major Richard Brandram MC, an officer in the British Army. 

Katherine had first met her husband whilst they were both aboard the RMS Ascania, which was travelling to England.

Educated in England at boarding school Broadstairs, Princess Katherine was the daughter of HM King Constantine I of Greece and his wife Princess Sophie of Prussia.

Her cousin was HRH Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, and her second cousin was Philip's wife, the late Queen Elizabeth. 

Katherine's links with the British royal family were strong.

Both she and the then-future Queen Elizabeth were royal bridesmaids at the wedding of Princess Marina of Greece and Prince George, Duke of Kent, in 1934. 

In August 1947, when Princess Katherine and her husband settled in England, King George VI granted the princess a British title, Lady Katherine Brandram, with precedence as the daughter of a Royal Duke.

The princess was a guest at Queen Elizabeth II's wedding in 1947 and continued to occasionally attend royal events, including the wedding of Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece in the summer of 1995 in St Sophia's Cathedral in London.