Constantine II, King of Greece

INVASION AND EXILE

His Royal Highness Prince Constantine of Greece and Denmark was born on June 2, 1940 at Psychico, a suburb of Athens. His parents were Prince Paul, brother and heir to King George II, and the German born Princess, Frederika of Hanover. He was not yet a year old when his country was invaded and overrun by the armies of Germany. The Royal Family fled first to Crete but when that island was invaded they fled to England. Constantine and his sisters Sophia and Irene were sent to Capetown, South Africa where he spent the war years.

CROWN PRINCE

The Royal Family returned to Greece in 1946 after the defeat of the Axis powers. Constantine attended preparatory school and later enrolled in assorted military academies. In 1947 his uncle, King George II died, his father became King Paul and Constantine was Crown Prince.

Greece was embroiled in a civil war at the time between the nationalists of the Greek government and the Greek Communist Party. The war lasted until 1949 when it was successfully concluded by the government and led to Greece’s admission to NATO.

The handsome young prince was popular with his people. In 1960, along with his sister Sophia, he took part in the Summer Olympic Games in Rome. Competing in the Dragon Class of sailing he and his crew won a gold medal.

KING CONSTANTINE II

On March 6, 1964 King Paul died and Constantine ascended to the throne. Constantine married in September, taking as his bride the Danish princess Anne-Marie, sister of the present Queen Margrethe II.

The Aspida Scandel of 1965, which involved military officers planning to seize control of the army, strained relations between Constantine and his government when the name of the Prime Minister’s son, Andreas Papandreou, became linked to the affair. The defense minister resigned and Prime Minister Papandreou appointed himself defense minister to head off any committee being formed to investigate the scandal. Constantine refused to accept his prime minister’s tactics and appointed another man as defense minister. This was apparently not acceptable to Papandreou and he resigned as Prime Minister. Constantine had obviously expected this to happen for within moments of Papandreou’s resignation he had appointed a new government to be headed by Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas.

A constitutional crisis erupted over this ‘Royal Coup’ as the king had failed to call an election. Two years of instability in government followed. Though the elections were scheduled a group of traditional right-wing army officers could not wait and staged a coup on April 21.

REGIME OF THE COLONELS

King Constantine was at his residence in Tatoi when the leaders of the coup stormed in and encircled his home with tanks. Instead of submitting to the coup the king argued with the leaders and summarily dismissed them. He then went to the National Defense Ministry, where the leaders had gathered, and discussed the situation with his generals. He accepted the military regime under the condition that he appoint as the prime minister Constantine Kollias. The military accepted the conditions and the ‘Regime of the Colonels’ began.

Expecting assistance from the U.S., which did not materialize, Constantine launched a coup in mid-December 1967. His plans were vague and ill-conceived. While high-ranking officers supported him, many middle rank officers were pro-junta and they quickly arrested their superiors and took command of their forces. The units that had been about to advance on Thessaloniki were now turned around and sent to arrest the king in Kavala.

INTO EXILE AGAIN

Constantine, realizing that his coup had failed, promptly boarded the royal plane and fled the country with his family. On December 14 they landed in Rome and here they would remain for the duration of the junta’s rule. Papadopoulos now became Prime Minister and General George Zoitakis was appointed to fill the king’s position as regent.

Throughout the following years, attempts were made by the junta to negotiate Constantine’s return to Greece but he insisted on nothing less that the full return of democracy as his condition. The junta refused. Instead they rewrote the constitution to strip the monarchy of all its powers and establish a permanent regency until Constantine agreed to their terms. This situation remained in place until 1972 when Prime Minister Papadopoulos declared himself regent. In response the Navy, whose ranking officers were primarily Royalists, staged a coup in May. The king was not involved and the coup failed. Papadopoulos retaliated by declaring Greece a republic. He abolished the monarchy on June 1, 1974 and in July held a plebiscite that purportedly confirmed his decision.

Though the king was never formally stripped of his rank or property he was not encouraged to return to Greece. Constantine still uses the title King Constantine and is included in many of the royal functions in England where he presently resides. The King and his wife, Anne-Marie are close friends to Charles, Prince of Wales and he is godfather to Prince William. Since 2004 he has been able to travel to Greece on a Danish diplomatic passport under the name Constantine of Greece.

THE ROYAL FAMILY

Constantine and Anne-Marie had five children: Alexia was born at Corfu in July1965, Crown Prince Pavlos was born in Athens in 1967, Nikolaos was born in Rome in 1969, and Theodora and Philippos were born in London in 1983 and 1986 respectively. Seven grandchildren have resulted from those children. Obviously, should Greece ever desire a return to a monarchy they have a large and growing royal family at their disposal.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Geoffrey Hindley - The Royal Families of Europe - Lyric Books Ltd - 1979

Encyclopedia Brittanica

Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia

King Constantine II

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