Baptized "Theodora" in honor of the Byzantine empress, but nicknamed "Dolla" by her family, the princess was raised within a united household, together with her elder sister Margarita (1905–1981), and younger sisters Cecilie (1911–1937), and Sophie (1914–2001).
With their mother, Theodora and her sisters communicated in English, but they also used French, German, and Greek in the presence of their relatives and governesses.
The princesses were formally educated in English and Greek.
Theodora's early childhood was affected by the instability that the Kingdom of Greece experienced at the start of the twentieth century.
1906
Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark (Θεοδώρα; 30 May 1906 – 16 October 1969) was by birth a Greek and Danish princess as well as Margravine of Baden through her marriage to Berthold, pretender to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Baden.
The second of five children of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Theodora spent a happy childhood between Athens and Corfu.
The second daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Theodora was born at Tatoi Palace, near Athens, on 30 May 1906.
At the time of her birth, her father was traveling to Spain, where he represented the Greek royal family on the occasion of the marriage of King Alfonso XIII of Spain to Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, a cousin of her mother Alice.
1907
Tired of attacks from the press and the opposition, Andrew and Alice found refuge in travel and spent most of the period between 1907 and 1908 outside the borders of their country.
With their daughters, they stayed in the United Kingdom, Germany, Malta and Russia, where they reunited with their many relatives including Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, Alexandra Feodorovna, and Prince and Princess Louis of Battenberg (Alice's parents).
At this time, Theodora was introduced to her young maternal uncle and aunt, Louis and Louise, to whom she and her sister Margarita later became very close.
1909
In 1909, the Goudi coup occurred, a military putsch organized against the government of King George I of Greece, Theodora's grandfather.
Shortly after this event, Prince Andrew and his brothers were forced to resign from the army.
Concerned about the political situation of their country, Andrew and Alice once again found refuge abroad and stayed in the United Kingdom, France and Hesse.
After considering a life in exile for a while, the couple returned to live in Greece, where their third daughter was born.
At that time, Theodora was described by her maternal grandmother as a funny and imaginative little girl, but also very scatterbrained.
1912
In her youth, however, she witnessed the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), followed by the First World War (1914–1918) and the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).
Between 1912 and 1913, Greece engaged in the Balkan Wars, which put the country in opposition to the Ottoman Empire and to Bulgaria.
Called to join the army again, Prince Andrew served under Crown Prince Constantine, while Princess Alice worked as a nurse for wounded soldiers.
Too young to follow their parents, Theodora and her sisters spent the duration of the conflict in Athens, with the exception of a brief stay in Thessaloniki in December 1912.
1913
Greece came out of the Balkan Wars with an expanded territory, but the conflict also led to the assassination of George I in March 1913.
The death of the King of the Hellenes caused significant changes in the life of Theodora and her relatives.
In his will, the sovereign bequeathed the Corfiote palace of Mon Repos to Andrew.
After years of living in close proximity to the monarch, in the palaces of Athens and Tatoi, Andrew and his family therefore finally had their own residence.
When peace returned, Andrew, Alice and their daughters left Greece in August 1913.
After a visit to Germany, they stayed in the United Kingdom, with Theodora's maternal grandparents.
For little princesses, this trip was an opportunity to visit St Paul's Cathedral and London Zoo with their parents.
1917
For the young princess and her relatives, these conflicts had dramatic consequences and led to their exile in Switzerland (between 1917 and 1920), then in France and the United Kingdom (from 1922 to 1936).
During their exile, Theodora and her family depended on the generosity of their foreign relatives, in particular Marie Bonaparte (who offered them accommodation in Saint-Cloud) and Lady Louis Mountbatten (who supported them financially).
1920
At the end of the 1920s, Theodora's mother was struck by a mental health crisis which led to her confinement in a Swiss psychiatric hospital.
1931
Shortly after, in 1931, Theodora married Berthold, Margrave of Baden, son of Chancellor of the German Reich Prince Maximilian.
The couple then moved to Salem Castle, where Berthold ran a school with teacher Kurt Hahn.
1932
The princess gave birth to three children there: Margarita (1932–2013), Maximilian (1933–2022) and Ludwig (born 1937).
Opposed to Nazism, Theodora and her husband kept their distance from the Nazi regime; however, this did not prevent Berthold from enlisting in the Wehrmacht at the start of the Second World War.
Affected by the conflict, which divided her family into two factions, Theodora became involved in the German Red Cross and other charitable organizations.
The defeat of Germany and its occupation by the Allies brought new upheavals in the life of Theodora and Berthold.
1947
Though not held by the Soviets, responsible for the death of several of their cousins, the couple was ostracized by the British royal family at the time of the marriage of Prince Philip, Theodora's only brother, to Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (later Queen Elizabeth II) in 1947.
1953
Over the years, the couple was nevertheless reintegrated into the life of the European elite, as illustrated by their invitation and presence at the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 and at the wedding of Juan Carlos, Prince of Asturias, and Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark in 1962.
1969
Theodora died of heart problems six years after her husband, in 1969.
