On 1 April 1947, George II died and Frederica's husband ascended the throne as Paul I, with Frederica as
queen consort. A
Communist insurgency in Northern Greece led to the
Greek Civil War. The King and Queen toured Northern Greece under tight security to appeal for loyalty in the summer of 1947. Queen Frederica was constantly attacked for her German ancestry. Left-wing politicians in Greece repeatedly used the fact that the
Kaiser was her grandfather, and that she had brothers who were members of the SS, as propaganda against her. She was also criticized variously as "very Prussian" and "was a Nazi". In fact, Frederica held the title
Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, granted
ad personam to the children of the then-Duke of Brunswick by
George V's letters patent of 1914, which remained unrevoked. , while visiting the
USS Providence (CL-82), at Athens, circa May 1947 During the civil war, Queen Frederica set up the Queen's Camps or Child Cities (translation of: Παιδο(υ)πόλεις /
Paidopoleis or
Paidupoleis), a network of 53 camps around Greece where she would rescue children of members of the
Democratic Army and former partisans. , 1953 The
Greek Civil War ended in August 1949. The King and Queen took this opportunity to strengthen the monarchy, and paid official visits to Marshal
Josip Broz Tito in
Belgrade, Presidents
Luigi Einaudi of
Italy in
Rome,
Theodor Heuss of
West Germany, and
Bechara El Khoury of
Lebanon, Emperor
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, Governor-General
Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari of
India, King
George VI of the United Kingdom, and the United States as guest of President
Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, at home in Greece and abroad in the United Kingdom, Queen Frederica was targeted by the opposition, because as a girl she had belonged to the
Bund Deutscher Mädel (
League of German Girls), a branch of the
Hitler Youth group for young women; her supporters argued that evading membership in the group would be difficult under the existing political climate in
Nazi Germany at the time. Unlike her meek husband, in post-War Greece Frederica was one of the most hated public figures. This was due to a string of reasons that included her political interference, her intemperate character, her German ethnicity, and the fact she became identified in the public consciousness with all that was reactionary. She was notorious for her numerous arbitrary and unconstitutional interventions in Greek politics and clashes with democratically elected governments. She actively politicked against the election of
Alexander Papagos. At home in Greece and abroad in the United Kingdom, she was targeted by the opposition. In 1963 while visiting London, rioting by Greek leftists demonstrating against the situation with the political prisoners of the
Greek Civil War, forced her to temporarily seek refuge in a stranger's house. Her political interference was harshly criticized and was a significant factor in the strengthening of republican sentiments. Frederica's 16 November 1953 appearance in
Life as America's guest was taken on one of the many state visits she paid around the world. Also that year she appeared on the cover of
Time. On 14 May 1962, her eldest daughter Sofía married Prince
Juan Carlos of Spain (later King Juan Carlos I of Spain) in Athens. ==Queen dowager==