History of the Kingdom of Greece: Conclusion

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Abolished Monarchy, Constitutional Monarchy, House of Glucksburg, House of Wittelsbach, King Constantine II of the Hellenes, Kingdom of Greece, Kingdom of the Hellenes, Plebiscite, Restoration

I began this series back on January 19th after the death of Constantine II the last King of the Hellenes. I knew the Greek Kingdom had a tumultuous history and I wanted to a survey of the reign of each King. I knew the monarchy was unstable so it was fascinating to see just how unstable the monarchy was.

Here is a list of each monarch and how each reign ended.

Otto – deposed
George I – assassinated
Constantine I (first reign) – deposed
Alexander – died tragically young
Constantine I (second reign) – abdicated
George II (first reign) – deposed

A referendum on becoming a republic was held in Greece on April 13, 1924. It followed the catastrophic outcome of the Asia Minor Campaign. On March 1924 the Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed by Parliament.

On November 3, 1935, almost 98% of the reported votes supported restoration of the monarchy with a rigged plebiscite.

George II (second reign) – fled German invasion

German Occupation; George II led government in exile

George II (third reign) – died on throne
Paul – died on throne
Constantine II – exiled and deposed

Junta – overthrown, democracy restored
Monarchy abolished

It is difficult to conceive that the Greek monarchy will ever be restored. Most Greeks consider both the reign of the sole King from the House of Wittelsbach and the reigns of the Kings from the House of Glücksburg as foreign rulers and non-Greek aliens imposed on them by foreign powers. This is an accurate view. With it’s perception of being a foreign dynasty the monarchy never established the firm cultural roots within the Greek nation.

As I reviewed the reigns of each King, one issue of the Greek monarchy is readily apparent; none of the kings of the Hellenes ever behaved as a constitutional monarch and held too much political power and influence. Personally, I believe that the role of the monarch as a symbol of national unity they need to remain politically neutral. One of main reasons most of the surviving European monarchies are still with us is due to the ability of it’s monarchs to remain neutral and to be above partisan politics. The Greek monarchy is a prime example of what happens when that political neutrality is not adhered to.

One of the sad issues with the failure of the Greek monarchy, especially with the collapse of the reign of King Constantine II, is that he was a good, kindly family man who loved Greece and desired a peaceful reign with all Greek citizens living peacefully amongst one another. This makes his record as a monarch was an unfortunate one. .

I believe that King Constantine II did have good intentions. He desired to keep his throne and to avoid Greece becoming a military dictatorship. Sadly, his actions when he acted unconstitutionally did destabilize the country, helping pave the way for the Colonel’s Coup which he then legitimated. However good a man King Constantine II may have been (and I believe he was a good man), he is forever associated by Greeks with not only the mistakes he made but also with a dark time in their history to which no one wants to return.

I am not only an historian, I am also a Monarchist. I firmly believe in and support the principals and concepts of a Constitutional Monarchy. My desire and dream, no matter how unrealistic, is to see the restoration of all deposed and extinct monarchies.

However, the Greek monarchy is an exception. History has shown that a monarchy and the Nation of Greece, are incompatible. I believe Greece is best served by being a Republic.

History of the Kingdom of Greece: Part XI. Restoration of King George II

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Elisabeth of Romania, Exile, Ferdinand of Romania, General Georgios Kondylis, King Alexander of Yugoslavia, king George II of the Hellenes, Plebiscite, Restoration

From the Emperor’s Desk: for some reason I am unable to post with pictures. I am looking into it and hopefully pictures will be back soon!

First exile

Exiled in Romania since December 1923, the former Greek King and his wife settled in Bucharest, where King Ferdinand and Queen Marie of Romania put at their disposal a wing of the Cotroceni palace for some time. After several weeks, however, the couple moved and established their residence in a more modest villa on Victory Avenue.

Regular guests of the Romanian sovereigns, George and Elizabeth took part in the ceremonies which punctuated the life of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family. Despite the kindness with which his mother-in-law treated him, the ex-King of the Hellenes felt idle in Bucharest and struggled to hide the boredom he felt from the splendors of the Romanian court.

Tried by the humiliations of exile, financial difficulties and the absence of descendants, relations between George and Elisabeth deteriorated. After having first assuaged her weariness in too rich food and gambling, the ex-queen of the Hellenes then carried on extra-marital affairs with various married men.

She took advantage of a visit to her sick sister, in Belgrade, to flirt with her own brother-in-law, Alexander, the King of Yugoslavia. Later, she began an affair with her husband’s banker, a Greek named Alexandros Scavani, whom she made her chamberlain to cover up the scandal.

In the United Kingdom

Restoration of monarchy and the Metaxas regime

After the abolition of the monarchy, in 1924, the anti-Venizelist leaders, except for Metaxas, refused to recognise the new regime. This “regime issue”, that arose just after the proclamation of the Republic, haunted Greek politics for more than a decade and eventually led to the restoration of monarchy.

Was the referendum to restore the Greek Monarchy in 1935 rigged?

In October 1935 General Georgios Kondylis, a former Venizelist who had suddenly decided to throw in his lot with the monarchist forces, overthrew the government and appointed himself prime minister. He then arranged a plebiscite both to approve his government and to bring an end to the republic.

In 1935, Prime Minister Georgios Kondylis, a former pro-Venizelos military officer, became the most powerful political figure in Greece. He compelled Panagis Tsaldaris to resign as Prime Minister and took over the government, suspending many constitutional provisions in the process. Kondylis, who had now joined the Conservatives, decided to hold a referendum in order to re-establish the monarchy, despite the fact that he used to be a supporter of the anti-monarchist wing of Greek politics.

Conduct

Observers of the time expressed serious doubts about the vote’s legitimacy. Besides the implausibly high “yes” vote, the vote was held in far-from-secret circumstances. Voters dropped a blue piece of paper into the ballot box if they supported the king’s return, or a red paper to retain the republic. Anyone who cast a red ballot risked being beaten up.

On November 3, 1935, almost 98% of the reported votes supported restoration of the monarchy. The balloting was not secret, and participation was compulsory.

George, who had been living at Brown’s Hotel in London, returned to Greek soil on November 25. Almost immediately he and Kondylis disagreed over the terms of a general amnesty the King wanted to declare, and George appointed an interim prime minister, Konstantinos Demertzis.

New elections were held in January, which resulted in a hung parliament with the Communists (who were naturally anti-monarchist) holding the balance of power. A series of unexpected deaths amongst the better-known politicians (including Kondylis and Demertzis), as well as the uncertain political situation, led to the rise to power of politician and veteran army officer Ioannis Metaxas.

History of the Kingdom of Greece: Part IX, Second Reign and Abdication of King Constantine I

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Anatolia, Balkan War of 1913, Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir, King Alexander of the Hellenes, King Constantine I of the Hellenes, king George II of the Hellenes, Plebiscite, Prime Minister Venizelos, princess Sophie of Prussia, World War I

As mentioned in my last entry, King Alexander died on October 25, 1920, after a freak accident: he was strolling with his dogs in the royal menagerie, when they attacked a monkey. Rushing to save the poor animal, the king was bitten by the monkey and what seemed like a minor injury turned to sepsis. He died a few days later. The following month Prime Minister Venizelos suffered a surprising defeat in a general election.

Greece had at this point been at war for eight continuous years: World War I had come and gone, but yet no sign of an enduring peace was near, as the country was already at war against the Kemalist forces in Asia Minor. Young men had been fighting and dying for years, lands lay fallow for lack of hands to cultivate them, and the country, morally exhausted, was at the brink of economic and political unravelling.

Constantine I, King of the Hellenes

The pro-royalist parties had promised peace and prosperity under the victorious Field Marshal of the Balkan Wars, he who knew of the soldier’s plight because he had fought next to him and shared his ration.

Following a plebiscite in which nearly 99% of votes were cast in favor of the return of the King, Constantine returned as king on December 19, 1920. This caused great dissatisfaction not only to the newly liberated populations in Asia Minor, but also to the British and even more the French, who opposed the return of Constantine.

The new government decided to continue the war. The inherited, ongoing campaign began with initial successes in western Anatolia against the Turks. The Greeks initially met with disorganized opposition.

In March 1921, despite his health problems, Constantine was landed in Anatolia to boost the Army’s morale and command personally the Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir.

However, an ill-conceived plan to capture Kemal’s new capital of Ankara, located deep in barren Anatolia, where there was no significant Greek population, succeeded only in its initial stages. The overextended and ill-supplied Greek Army was routed and driven from Anatolia back to the coast in August 1922.

Constantine with his family, ca. 1910. Top left: the king holding the toddler Princess Irene. Top right: the future George II. Left: Queen Sophia. Center: Princess Helen. Right: the future Alexander I. Front: the future Paul I. Princess Katherine not yet born.

Following an army revolt by Venizelist officers, considering him as key responsible for the military defeat, King Constantine abdicated the throne again on September 27, 1922 and was succeeded by his eldest son, as King George II of the Hellenes.

Second exile and death

Constantine spent the last four months of his life in exile in Italy and died at 1:30 am on January 11, 1923 at Palermo, Sicily of heart failure. His wife, Sophie of Prussia, was never allowed back to Greece and was later interred beside her husband in the Russian Church in Florence.

After his restoration on the Greek throne, George II organized the repatriation of the remains of members of his family who died in exile. An important religious ceremony that brought together, for six days in November 1936, all members of the royal family still alive. Constantine’s body was buried at the royal burial ground at Tatoi Palace, where he remains.

Election of the King of the Hellenes.

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Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Christian IX, Christian IX of Denmark, Election, Ernest II Duke of Save-Coburg-Gotha, George I of Greece, King George I of the Hellenes, Kingdom of Greece, Kingdom of the Hellenes, Ludwig I of Bavaria, Otto of Greece, Plebiscite, Queen Victoria

On this date in History: March 30, 1863. Prince Wilhelm of Denmark was elected as King of the Hellenes (Greece).

George I (born Prince Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg; 24 December 24, 1845 – March 18, 1913) was King of the Hellenes (Greece) from 1863 until his assassination in 1913.

George was born at the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade, right next to the Amalienborg Palace complex in Copenhagen. He was the second son of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (Christian IX of Denmark) and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel. Although his full name was Prince Christian Wilhelm Ferdinand Adolf Georg of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, until his accession in Greece, he was known as Prince Wilhelm the namesake of his paternal and maternal grandfathers, Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel.

Although he was of royal blood, his family was relatively obscure and lived a comparatively normal life by royal standards. In 1853, however, George’s father was designated the heir presumptive to the childless King Frederik VII of Denmark, and the family became princes and princesses of Denmark. George’s siblings were Frederik (who succeeded their father as King of Denmark), Alexandra (who became wife of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and the mother of King George V), Dagmar (who, as Empress Maria Feodorovna, was consort of Emperor Alexander III of Russiaand the mother of Emperor Nicholas II), Thyra (who married Prince Ernest Augustus, 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale) and Valdemar.

King of the Hellenes

Following the overthrow of the Bavarian-born King Otto of Greece (son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen) in October 1862, the Greek people had rejected Otto’s brother and designated successor Leopold, although they still favored a monarchy rather than a republic. Many Greeks, seeking closer ties to the pre-eminent world power, Great Britain, rallied around Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. British prime minister Lord Palmerston believed that the Greeks were “panting for increase in territory”, hoping for a gift of the Ionian Islands, which were then a British protectorate.

The London Conference of 1832, however, prohibited any of the Great Powers’ ruling families from accepting the crown, and in any event, Queen Victoria was adamantly opposed to the idea. The Greeks nevertheless insisted on holding a plebiscite in which Prince Alfred received over 95% of the 240,000 votes. There were 93 votes for a Republic and 6 for a Greek.King Otto received one vote. Prince Alfred was also the designated heir to his uncle, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha should the Duke remain childless.

With Prince Alfred’s exclusion, the search began for an alternative candidate. The French favored Henri d’Orléans, duc d’Aumale, while the British proposed Queen Victoria’s brother-in-law Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, her nephew Prince Leiningen, and Archduke Maximilian of Austria, among others. Eventually, the Greeks and Great Powers winnowed their choice to Prince William of Denmark, who had received 6 votes in the plebiscite.

Aged only 17, he was elected King of the Hellenes on March 30, 1863 by the Greek National Assembly under the regnal name of George I. Paradoxically, he ascended a royal throne before his father, who became King Christian IX of Denmark on November 15 of the same year. There were two significant differences between George’s elevation and that of his predecessor, Otto. First, he was acclaimed unanimously by the Greek Assembly, rather than imposed on the people by foreign powers. Second, he was proclaimed “King of the Hellenes” instead of “King of Greece”, which had been Otto’s style.

His ceremonial enthronement in Copenhagen on 6 June was attended by a delegation of Greeks led by First Admiral and Prime Minister Constantine Kanaris. Frederick VII awarded George the Order of the Elephant, and it was announced that the British government would cede the Ionian Islands to Greece in honor of the new monarch.

King George I is the paternal grandfather of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, husband of HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.