Monday, October 25, 2010

King Alexander is dead; Succession acute

October 25, 1920

The AP is reporting that King Alexander of the Hellenes died at 5:20 p.m.  His death "was due to wounds which he had received in an attack on him by a pet monkey" earlier this month.  The King was "badly mutilated," according to the dispatch.

Last night, his "heart action grew weaker, his general debility became more pronounced and pulmonary systems were intense."  It was difficult for the king to breath, and it was announced earlier today that his condition was seen as hopeless.

King Alexander, second son of King Constantine and Queen Sophie, sister of Kaiser Wilhelm, succeeded to the throne on July 12, 1917, after his father left Greece on the "demand of France, Great Britain and Russia."

His older brother, Prince George, the heir apparent, was "passed over by the entente powers" because they believed he "was too much in sympathy with the pro-German policies of his parents."
Constantine was told that he must abdicate in favor of his second son, Alexander, or the Allies would recognize the Venizelos Provisional government for all of Greece.  Constantine complied in order to save the throne for his family.

King Alexander was born on August 1, 1893.  He was educated "in part at Oxford," and he was selected a King "largely by the believe that his residence there had caused him to be friendly to the English."   Before succeeding to the throne, he served as a Captain of the artillery in the Greek army, and "was said to "have an excellent military record."  He was raised without the restraints placed on his older brother, as heir to the throne.   
Although he was placed on the throne by the Allied powers,  Alexander "appeared unable to forget the pro-German sentiments" of his parents, and there were reports during the war that he clashed with Premier Venizelos "on the matters of policy and that he might be deposed."   Alexander succeeded n weathering all the political storms until he "fell into fresh trouble in the Greek court" when he married Aspasia Manos, the daughter of a Greek colonel "of an old family."

They were married in Athens by that city's Archimandrite, but the Metropolitan of Athens, who outranks the Archimandrite of the Greek Orthodox church, refused to give his consent, "which is necessary to make the marriage civilly binding."

The king declared that he was legally married to Aspasia Manos, but she was unable to withstand the gossip in Athens, she left the country and settled in Paris, where the king joined her earlier this year.
After the king returned to Athens, the popular press "advised Parliament to make the marriage regular, so that his wife might be regarded as his consort," and their children be able to enjoy all "of the prerogatives of royalties."  

 Others called for Aspasia to be granted the status of a morganatic wife.

Much has been made in the Greek press of Aspasia's Greek ancestry.

All of the questions regarding the marriage and the succession became acute when the King was bitten by his monkey, who had been fighting with his dog.

King Constantine has never abdicated, so the heir apparent remains Prince George, but the reasons for their exclusion still remain.   Prince Paul, Constantine's third son, born in Athens in 1901,  has also been suggested as Alexander's successor, but there are reports that Constantine would not agree to his becoming King.

Constantine and Sophie live in Switzerland.  They were denied permission to visit their dying son.
Some in Greece desire a republic with Venizelos as their first president.  But he has repeatedly said that the Greeks are not ready for a republic.   

 On October 14, newspapers in London and in Paris were commenting on two possible candidates for the throne.  Prince Arthur of Connaught is said to have "English backing," and Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, "who had carried on the negotiations for an Austrian separate peace" with his brother-in-law, Emperor Karl, and "who was supposed to have French backing.

According to Swiss dispatches of October 17, King Constantine was "intending to take advantage of the situation created by his son's grave illness" by returning to Greece to reclaim his throne.

No comments: