Alex Greenwich is a prince. He is a direct descendant of one of the oldest royal houses in Eastern Europe. After the state election, he may be a kingmaker as well
Alex Greenwich is a prince. He is a direct descendant of the House of Dadiani, which claims to be one of the most ancient royal houses in Eastern Europe. His father, Prince Victor Greenwich Dadianov, is still feted by an adoring media when he returns to his ancestral home of Georgia. Even in Sydney, friends call him “his highness”. “I’m obviously happier not being called his highness,” says the 80-year-old. “You get a bit of flack from that.
If Greenwich inherited the Dadiani instinct for intrigue and survival, he will need to draw on it over the next few months. Clover Moore, an independent in the last hung parliament, says Greenwich’s electorate is “notionally blue”, which means he faces difficult decisions. “A kingmaker means you can go either way, that’s the danger you pose,” she says. “But I’m not convinced he can go with Labor. If he didn’t , he would be exposed as someone who was beholden to the Coalition.
Prince Victor Greenwich Dadianov, an exiled prince of Georgia and the father of NSW MP Alex Greenwich.Dadianov was born during World War II, and spent his early years moving around German camps before he and his mother were granted asylum in New Zealand and given a new surname, Greenwich, by the Red Cross.
His sexuality was evident to some in his family, if not Greenwich himself. He loved Barbie dolls. “My cousin in the US is a lesbian,” he says. “There was one hilarious Christmas, when she got a doll house and I got a cricket bat. We swapped.” But he still grappled with it. An off-hand comment by then prime minister Paul Keating, that “two blokes and a cocker spaniel don’t make a family”, intensified his struggle. “That statement probably kept me in the closet more than anything else,” he says.
“My eyes rolled a bit,” says Moore, of the day Greenwich approached her. “Lots of people over the years have approached my office and wanted me to endorse them. But someone ... said, ‘he’s really good’.” They got to know each other during what Greenwich describes as his apprenticeship, when Moore taught him about grassroots campaigning; the knocking on doors and talking to people at bus stops.
Partly, that’s due to experience. Independents might be lawyers, councillors and business veterans in their civilian life, but politically, they’re wet behind the ears. They haven’t had their skin thickened, and political radar sharpened, by years of party or union membership. Parliament, with its standing orders, legislation and high-stakes negotiations, is highly complex; working out how to use those things to your advantage is harder still.
Some Labor MPs are also quiet sceptics. They think he is a small-L Liberal masquerading as an independent, although the prospect of his becoming kingmaker after the election has left them reluctant to criticise him, even anonymously. One described him as ruthless in pursuing his goals. Greenwich denies any party leanings.
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