Style His Majesty Abolition 1 June 1973 | Formation 27 May 1832 Residence New Royal Palace | |
 | ||
First monarch Otto I
(as King of Greece) Last monarch Constantine II
(as King of the Hellenes) | ||
This is a list of kings of the modern state of Greece. The Kingdom of Greece was ruled by the House of Wittelsbach between 1832 and 1862 and by the House of Glücksburg from 1862 to 1924, temporarily abolished during the Second Hellenic Republic, and from 1935 to 1973, when it was permantly abolished and replaced by the Republic of Greece.
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Only the first king, Otto I, was actually styled King of Greece (Greek: Βασιλεύς τῆς Ἑλλάδος). His successor, George I, was styled King of the Hellenes (Βασιλεύς τῶν Ἑλλήνων), as were all other modern monarchs.
A republic was briefly established from 1924 to 1935. The restored monarchy was abolished following a referendum in 1973 conducted under the auspices of the then-ruling military regime. Its finding was 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, France and Russia) resulted in the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece 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 there would be a personal union of the crowns of Greece and Bavaria.
House of 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, Great Britain, rallied around the idea that Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, could become the next King. British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston 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, 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 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, son of Prince Christian of Denmark, was elected by the National Assembly to become King George I of the Hellenes.