- Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark said he once used a fake name so he could work as a production assistant at Fox News without being recognized.
- However, the prince's secret was discovered a year and a half into his post, when photos of his brother's royal wedding made front-page news across the world.
- Nikolaos — now a photographer and environmental activist — was born into the Greek royal family shortly before the monarchy was abolished in 1974.
- HRH spoke to Insider about what it was like to keep his identity secret throughout his career, as well as his return to Greece after being exiled from the country for most of his life.
- Meet other royals from around the world by reading more of Insider's Royally Told profiles.
What would you do if you found out your coworker was secretly a royal?
That's what happened at Fox News back in 1995, when staff discovered one of their production assistants was actually an exiled Greek prince who had been working under a pseudonym.
Prince Nikolaos managed to keep his secret for a year and a half — until photos of him as best man at his brother's wedding surfaced across the world.
Prince Nikolaos spoke to Insider about what it was like to go from being the product of an abolished monarchy to a regular citizen in just a few years.
"It was fascinating, and absolutely fantastic," Nikolaos told Insider of his experience at Fox News in New York, where he worked after he graduated college, from 1993 until 1995.
"I learned a lot, it was one of my favorite jobs. The worst paid job I've ever had in my life, but a very rewarding one.
"When I first started working there nobody knew; I was under a pseudonym. Nobody knew, apart from the director of course. It was great, I was treated just like anybody else."
HRH said adopting a fake name helped him to "learn properly, and not be given any preferential treatment.
"And I can assure you I wasn't," he said.
Even when photos of Nikolaos at his brother Crown Prince Pavlos' royal wedding in 1995 got back to the newsroom, the prince refused to let his newly-discovered status overshadow his professional career.
"I had an ally in the producer, because they wanted to do a story on me and she stood up for me and said, 'no way.'
"I'm very indebted to her and grateful," he said.
"I think everyone else appreciated that I was keeping it low key. When they found out, they had formed their opinion of me, good or bad, one way or the other, but it wasn't influenced by my background. Which is how it should be."
Prince Nikolaos has mastered the art of blending in
Of course, Nikolaos was better acquainted with the art of blending in than most other royals.
Born in Rome in 1969 to King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie and having grown up in London, Nikolaos wasn't allowed to set foot in his family's home country for most of his life.
The royal family had been banished from Greece before he was born, and the monarchy was officially abolished in 1974, just a few years later.
"All I can tell you is, everybody's life experiences shape their life," Nikolaos said when asked how his royal background has influenced the person he is today.
"So one experience or another … I'm sure it has, but I couldn't pinpoint it as having been a direct correlation of being born into this family.
"Just like your life has been shaped by your experiences being born into the family that you were, so has mine. That's what makes this world a wonderful and varied place, because we all have different experiences," he said.
But there's no denying that, just like his time at Fox News, Nikolaos' life experiences could never be just regular.
Take his college experience, for example. The prince moved from London to the US in 1988 so he could study International Relations at Brown University. And even though he made a point not to reveal who he was to the other students, there was one very obvious clue on his dorm room door.
"Outside my door, when I was a freshman it had my name, which was 'Nikolaos of Greece'," he explained.
"My roommate was called Stanley. And when I came to my room one night, I saw that he scratched out his last name and he put, 'of New York.'"
But still, Nikolaos insisted his experience was "just like anybody else's."
"And you know, when you go to university you are with your peers. If they find out, it might be interesting for a little bit but then you get over it and get on with life," he said.
These days, Prince Nikolaos is a renowned photographer and environmental activist
Nikolaos was finally able to move to Greece with his wife, Princess Tatiana, in 2013 — and the country which he could now call home started influencing his professional career.
"When I finally got the opportunity to move here with my wife, I was excited. I won't lie, I was a little bit apprehensive as I had built up this idea and image in my mind of what it would be like," he said.
"Of course, you never know what to expect and what's going to turn out. But I am happy to report that I have no regrets, and I'm very happy that I did make this move because it's shaped a new chapter in my life, which includes photography."
That same year, he started pursuing photography — something that was once just a hobby — in a professional capacity. He had his first exhibition in 2015, and since then he has allowed the Greek landscape and his environmental activism to shape his work.
The prince's upcoming exhibition — described as "love letters to the country that has always been in his heart and thoughts" — will open at the National Hellenic Museum in Chicago on June 2, and will be displayed throughout August.
"For the Chicago exhibition, it felt like almost a natural transition to focus entirely on the water. Water is very much a central theme in Greek geography and Greek history," he said.
"The water is a very important part, and the sea is a very important part of our life. Not only in Greece, but in the world and we need to protect it. Something that's very important that I try to draw attention to.
"Not so much a political aspect of environmentalism, but the actual importance of what the sea means to our humanity. Because without it, we wouldn't be able to survive."
The message behind the prince's photography goes hand in hand with his charity work. The prince works with volunteer group Axion Hellas, an organization that aims to support vulnerable groups living in remote and inaccessible areas of Greek islands.
And whether cleaning up local beaches or educating local communities about the environment, Nikolaos joins each mission in person — and spends his downtime taking photographs.
"I talk about it in any opportunity I get, as you may have noticed. I really believe that it may be a small drop in the ocean — pun intended — but all these organizations come together and we open the eyes of locals on how to look after their own environment, it can only help," he said.
Throughout our interview, Nikolaos made a point to describe his life experiences as "just like anybody else's." But there's no denying that being exiled from your home is something most people will never experience.
From Rome to London to the US, and then finally his home country, Nikolaos' life — and career — appears to have come full circle.
After all, the prince went from using a fake name in the US, to returning to Greece as "HRH" — and adding his own little "drop in the ocean" along the way.
Read more of the Royally Told series:
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