Why should policemen guard ex king’s summer house on 24/7?

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Politics

Why should an ex king’s summer home need police guards on 24-hour basis? On the cost of taxpayers and thus in austerity times where there is lack of personnel? Oh, apparently because the man moves to Greece from UK to spend the summer months here and live his very own Greek myth.
            Five policemen guard ex king’s summer home

Five policemen are being paid to guard the summer home of Greece’s former king, Constantine, in Argolida, in the Peloponnese, according to the local police workers’ union, which has written to Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias asking for staff to be relieved of the task due to limited resources.
According to the head of the Argolida union, Giorgos Papatheofanis, a local police precinct was closed down to free the officers to guard the ex-king’s home two months ago. Officers watched the house during the night to start with, but from June 1 their shifts were extended to 24-hour watch, Papatheofanis said. (full story ekahtimerini)

Constantine, served as King of Greece from 1964 until 1967. He was forced to exile by the military junta. A people’s referendum in 1974 decided, Greeks did not want a king, a royal family or a monarchy.
He has a Danish diplomatic passport due to his wife, being a Danish princess.
He is allowed to visit and stay in Greece but has not any official title. He is a private man whose sole contribution to Greece is his appearance to life-style magazines.
He is known to the Greeks as “the ex”
PS If he thinks he needs security, he should hire some and pay them by his own means. No money? he could sell his private yacht, for example. But “Noblesse oblige” (nobility obliges) and so we don’t ask questions about Constantine’s assets.