The

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...

was ruled by the

House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...

from 1832 to 1862 and by the

House of Glücksburg The House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, also known by its short name as the House of Glücksburg, is the senior surviving branch of the German House of Oldenburg, one of Europe's oldest royal houses. Oldenburg house members hav ...

from 1863 to 1924 and, after being temporarily abolished in favor of the

Second Hellenic Republic The Second Hellenic Republic is a modern Historiography, historiographical term used to refer to the Greece, Greek state during a period of republican governance between 1924 and 1935. To its contemporaries it was known officially as the Hellenic ...

, again from 1935 to 1973, when it was once more abolished and replaced by the Third Hellenic Republic. Only the first King, Otto, was actually styled ''

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of Greece'' (). His successor, George I, was styled ''King of the Hellenes'' (), as were all other modern Greek monarchs. The Greek monarchy was definitively abolished weeks before the referendum in 1973 conducted under the auspices of the then-ruling military regime, which confirmed the abolishment. It was re-confirmed by a second referendum in 1974, after the restoration of democratic rule.

House of Wittelsbach

The London Conference of 1832 was an international conference convened to establish a stable government in Greece. Negotiations between the three Great Powers (

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

) resulted in the establishment of the

under a Bavarian Prince. The decisions were ratified in the Treaty of Constantinople later that year. The convention offered the throne to the Bavarian Prince, Otto. They also established the line of succession which would pass the crown to Otto's descendants, or his younger brothers should he have no issue. It was also decided that in no case would there be a

personal union A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...

of the crowns of Greece and

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

In October 1862, King Otto was deposed in a popular revolt, but while the Greek people rejected Otto, they did not seem averse to the concept of monarchy '' per se''. Many Greeks, seeking closer ties to the pre-eminent world power, the

, rallied around the idea that Prince Alfred, the second son of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and Prince Albert, could become the next king. British Foreign Secretary

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865), known as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman and politician who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1855 to 1858 and from 1859 to 1865. A m ...

believed that the Greeks were "panting for increase in territory", hoping that the election of Alfred as king would also result in the incorporation of the

Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a archipelago, group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanē ...

, which were then a British protectorate, into an enlarged Greek state. The London Conference of 1832, however, had prohibited any of the Great Powers' ruling families from accepting the crown of Greece, and in any event, Queen Victoria was adamantly opposed to the idea. Nevertheless, the Greeks insisted on holding a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on the issue of the head of state in November 1862. It was the first referendum ever held in Greece. Prince Alfred turned down the kingship and Prince William of Denmark, the second son of Prince Christian of Denmark (the Danish heir-presumptive), was elected by the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

to become King George I of the Hellenes. The monarchy was abolished in 1924 and replaced by the

Second Hellenic Republic

The

Hellenic Republic Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

was proclaimed on 25 March 1924, in the aftermath of Greece's defeat by

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in the Asia Minor Campaign, which was widely blamed on the royalist government. During its brief existence, the Second Republic proved unstable. Greek society continued to be divided, as it was since the National Schism, between the pro-Republican Venizelists and the monarchists represented by the People's Party, who refused to acknowledge even the legitimacy of the Republic. The cleavage in society extended to cultural and social issues such as differences over the use of

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

to architectural styles. To this polarization was added the destabilizing involvement of the military in politics which resulted in several coups and attempted coups. The economy was in ruins following a decade of warfare and was unable to support the 1.5 million refugees from the population exchange with Turkey. Despite the efforts of the reformist government of Eleftherios Venizelos in 1928–1932, the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

had a disastrous impact on Greece's economy. The electoral victory of the People's Party in 1933, and two failed Venizelist coups, paved the way to the restoration of the reign of King George II.

House of Glücksburg (restored)

In 1935,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

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. The monarchy was again abolished in 1973 and replaced by a republic. After the fall of the Greek junta in July 1974, the government held another referendum in December 1974 with the result being (again) to confirm the abolition of the monarchy and to establish the Third Hellenic Republic.

Timeline of kings of Greece

ImageSize = width:1250 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:30 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1832 till:1973 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1832 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:10 start:1832 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(1,1,1) id:eon value:blue id:w value:rgb(0.44,0.77,0.93) id:rg value:rgb(0.92,0.57,0.74) id:g value:rgb(1,0.87,0.4) id:rp value:rgb(0.9,0.6,0.3) Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = bar:Otto_I bar:George_I bar:Constantine_I bar:Alexander_I bar:George_II bar:Paul bar:Constantine_II bar:eon PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(0,-5) bar:eon color:eon from: start till: 1862 color:w text:

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...

from: 1862 till: 1863 color:rg text:Regency from: 1863 till: 1924 color:g text: Glücksburg from: 1924 till: 1935 color:rp text:

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

from: 1935 till: end color:g text: Glücksburg width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till bar:Otto_I from: start till: 1862 color:w text:" Otto" bar:George_I from: 1863 till: 1913 color:g text:" George I" bar:Constantine_I from: 1913 till: 1917 color:g from: 1920 till: 1922 color:g text:"

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

" bar:Alexander_I from: 1917 till: 1920 color:g text:"

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

" bar:George_II from: 1922 till: 1924 color:g from: 1935 till: 1947 color:g text:" George II" bar:Paul from: 1947 till: 1964 color:g text:" Paul" bar:Constantine_II from: 1964 till: end color:g text:" Constantine II" barset:skip

Notes

References

{{Heads of state of Greece Kings of Greece

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Kings Heads of state of Greece