PETER, His Royal Highness, Prince of Greece and Denmark. Paris 3.12.1908 — London 15.10.1980. Greek Anthropologist. Son of Georg, Admiral of Greece and Denmark (1869–1957) and younger brother of King Constantin I of Greece, and Marie Bonaparte (1882–1962). Himself Royal Admiral of Greece. Grew up in France (he never lived in Greece, but visited the country in the 1930s). In 1932-34 served in Danish army. Dr.juris 1934 Paris, then studied anthropology in London (under Br. Malinowski). In 1937-39 in India. After brief stay in France and Italy he joined Greek army and when the Nazis invaded Greece escaped to Cairo, where he tried to reorganize the remnants of Greek army. Married 1939 in Madras Irene de Montléon (née Ovtchinnikova, 1904–1990) and lost his right to succession (but never accepted this), no children.
After the WW living in Denmark and the U.S.A. In 1949 to India, where he conducted renewed fieldwork among Todas. Then research among Tibetan refugees in Kalimpong, collecting both cultural and physical data and learning Tibetan. Now he also became interested in polyandry. He was strongly anti-Chinese and in 1956 the government asked him to leave the country. In 1957 settled in London, Ph.D. there 1959 with the dissertation on polyandry. In the 1960s unsuccesfully campaigned for his right to inherit the Greek throne. Lived in London, Paris and Copenhagen, eventually separated from his wife. He remained active for the sake of Tibetans until his death. Hon. dr.juris 1959 Thessaliniki, hon. dr. of anthropology 1960 Copenhagen.
Publications: “The ‘Rin-Ḥbyuṅ’. Introduction to an unpublished Tibetan iconographical work”, JASB 3:9 Letters, 1943, 1-27, 7 pl. (Dhāraṇīs with illustrations); “Peculiar Sleeping Postures of the Tibetans”, Man 53, 1953, 145.
– Possible Sumerian Survivals In Toda Ritual. 16+25 p. Bull. of Madras Museum 6:1. Madras 1951; “The Todas: Some Additions and Corrections to W. H. R. Rivers’s Book, as Observed in the Field”, Man 55, 1955, 89-93.
– The Aristocracy of Central Tibet. A provisional list of the names of the noble Houses of Ü-Tsang. 43 p. Kalimpong 1954.
– “Polyandry and the Kinship Group”, Man 55, 1955, 179-181
– “The P‘a-spun of Leh Tehsil, Eastern Kashmir, India”, E&W 7, 1956, 138-146, 5 pl.; “Attrition of the Teeth Among Tibetans”, Man 57, 1957, 177-179.
– A Study of Polyandry. 606 p. 48 pl. the Hague 1963.
– With others: Anthropological Researches from the 3rd Danish Expedition to Central Asia. 76 p. Copenhagen 1966.
– The Science of Anthropology: A Series of Lectures. 87 p. the Hague 1968 (held in Athens, here transl. from Greek).
– “Tibetan Oracles”, J. F. Fisher (ed.), Himalayan anthropology: the Indo-Tibetan interface. B. 1978, 287-298; further works and articles.
Sources: *P. Pedersen, Out of India: Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark and the Greek royal family. Copenhagen 2004-05; Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der europäischen Staaten; Wikipedia (as Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark) with photo, more in French version.
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