170 years ago, on September 3, 1851, Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna was born in Pavlovsk, who later became the Queen of the Hellenes.

She was the granddaughter of Emperor Nicholas I and the daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich and Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna. Her brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, was a well-known poet under the pseudonym K. R. Olga was also the grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich.

Queen Olga Konstantinovna was so captivated by the poetry of Mikhail Lermontov that she created a home publication "Extracts from Lermontov's Works for Every Day of the Year," which included autographs from members of the Russian Imperial Family and some foreign dignitaries.

On October 15 (27), 1867, the wedding of King George I of the Hellenes and the Grand Duchess took place in St. Petersburg. This marriage strengthened diplomatic ties between Greece and Russia, bringing the two ruling houses closer together, which was a significant achievement of Russian diplomacy. Strengthening Russia's position in the Mediterranean was particularly important against the backdrop of the threat of military conflict with Turkey.

The Queen was actively involved in charity, founding a naval hospital in Piraeus, where the Russian fleet was based. She also opened medical courses for women and attended them herself. With the onset of World War I, she returned to Russia, where she worked in hospitals, helping the wounded. Her love for the Russian fleet, inherited from her father, she maintained throughout her life.

During the war of the Balkan countries with Turkey in 1912, King George I was assassinated by a terrorist. After his death, Olga Konstantinovna remained in Russia until the revolution, residing in the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna.

In 1920, after the death of her grandson King Alexander and before the return to the throne of her son King Constantine, she served as regent of Greece.

Olga Konstantinovna passed away in 1926. Her body was initially buried in the crypt of the Orthodox Church of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Florence, where the Greek Royal House used the premises for the burial of exiled monarchs. In 1936, after the restoration of the monarchy in Greece, her remains were reburied in Tatoi, the estate of the Greek kings near Athens.