Greek Royals
MICHAEL LLEWELLYN SMITH writes:
There have been six Greek kings, and two were duds. The first, Prince Otto of Bavaria, who ascended the throne in 1832 at the age of seventeen, was a little autocrat with no insight into the Greeks' desire for political freedom after their struggle for independence. He was thrown out; but even then, in 1862, the Greeks had to turn to the Powers who had chosen him for a new king. There was an understanding that the new king must not be a member of the Royal House of either Britain, France or Russia, the protecting powers. Despite this, in the referendum of 1862 Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's second son, was chosen by an overwhelming majority- 230,016 out of some 240,000 votes. After this embarrassing vote of confidence Britain was morally obliged to find a substitute; and the choice fell on William George, son of Prince Christian of Denmark, who ascended the throne in 1863 as George I, founder of the present dynasty. In a reign of fifty years, cut short by his assassination in Salonika in 1913, George made the monarchy respectable by sticking to his con- stitutional role, even when he disagreed with his Prime Minister, that 'damnably clever lawyer from Crete,' Venizelos.
Indeed, a lot of subsequent troubles might have been avoided if George's eldest son, Constantine, had followed in his father's footsteps. But Con- stantine had received his military education in Germany, and was under the spell of his brother- in-law, the Kaiser. He went behind the back of Venizelos to communicate with the Kaiser, thus directly opposing the declared policy of the Greek Government, and the interests of Greece, since support of Germany meant tacit support of Greece's greatest enemy, Turkey. Constantine was deposed in 1917. It was his attitude, and to a lesser extent the fact that George 11 consented to rule throughout the dictatorship of Metaxas, that hardened the republicanism of liberal& King Paul, who died last Friday, steered a moderate course. After the plebiscite of Septem- ber, 1946, when 69 per cent of the voters favoured a monarchy, moderate republicans like Papan- dreou accepted the decision gracefully. It was only recently, after the October, 1961, elections, in which Karamanlis's ERE unnecessarily used violence and intimidation to increase its majority, that the Left and Centre began to put pressure on the monarchy in an attempt to obtain fresh elections. That was part of the political game. The situation is quite different now that Papan- dreou is Prime Minister with a substantial majority— the last thing he wants is an 'issue' which will split the country down the middle and sabotage his programme of social reform— and for the time being one can expect anti- royalism to be discreetly buried, except by the Communists.
The English like their 'royals' to be regally decked out, aloof, expensive. The Greeks want their kings to represent the Greek people in some national struggle. At first it was the Great Idea; Greater Greece. George I was called King of the Hellenes because millions of his subjects lived outside the frontiers of Greece, in Egypt and Asia Minor. Constantine I was so christened because he was to recover Constantinople. But after 1922 there was no such struggle with which the monarchy could be identified until the Civil War of 1946; and it is no accident that Paul was most popular during and immediately after the Civil War.
The only national struggle today is for a solu- tion in Cyprus. Yet Constantine is most unlikely to inflame anti-British or anti-Turkish feelings in the hope of some cheap popularity. He will probably tread warily, and listen to his advisers. He is lucky in coming to the throne at a time when Papandreou is in power; for Papandreou is the elder statesman of Greek politics, a survivor from the good old days of Venizelism; and as a former republican (and still no doubt a republi- can at heart) he should be able to teach the young king how to conciliate the liberal centre. Gossip now is about Frederika's new role. She will probably cease to be a force in politics--after all, Constantine will soon be married. If he behaves tactfully and adheres to his proper role, the monarchy is in little danger. A testing point will come when he goes to 'parliament for his salary; for if there is one thing the Greeks dislike it is overpaying their royal family; witness the fuss over Sophia's dowry. The king Greece needs is one who would spearhead a different sort of national struggle, to improve living standards and education, to achieve social welfare. A progres- sive king? Perhaps that is too much to expect from one who was brought up in the best tradi- tions of European royalty and educated at an' English-type public school.
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