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Paul, King of The Hellenes (
Greek Παύλος, Βασιλεύς των Ελλήνων,
December 14, 1901–March 6, 1964) was King of Greece from
1947 to
1964.
Paul was born in
Athens, the third son of
Constantine I, King of the Hellenes (
2 August 1868 -
11 January 1923) and his wife, Princess
Sophia of Prussia (
14 June 1870 -
13 January 1932). He was trained as a naval officer.
On
January 9, 1938, he married
Frederika of Hanover at Athens. They had three children:
*
Queen Sofia of Spain
*
King Constantine II of the Hellenes
*
Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark
From
1917 to
1920, Paul lived in exile with his father, Constantine I. From
1923 to
1935, and again from
1941 to
1946, he lived in exile again, this time with his brother,
George II. During most of
World War II, when Greece was under German occupation, he was with the Greek
government-in-exile in
London and
Cairo. From Cairo, he broadcast messages to the Greek people.
He returned to Greece in 1946. He succeeded to the throne in 1947, on the death of his brother,
George II, during the
Greek Civil War (between Greek
Communists and the non-communist Greek government). In 1947 he was unable to attend the wedding of his
first cousin, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to the future Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom as he was suffering from typhoid fever.
By 1949 the Civil War was effectively over, with the communist insurgents ceasing the majority of their operations, and the task of rebuilding the shattered north of the country began.
In the 1950s Greece recovered economically, and diplomatic and trade links were strengthened by Paul’s state visits abroad. He became the first Greek monarch to visit a Turkish Head of State. However, links with Britain became strained over
Cyprus, where the majority Greek population favored union with the homeland, which Britain, as the colonial power, would not endorse. Eventually, Cyprus became an independent state in 1960.
In December 1959 Prince
Maximillian of Bavaria presented the
coronation regalia of King
Otto of Greece to the King. It had been almost 100 years since they were last in Greece.
Meanwhile, republican sentiment was growing in Greece. The King attracted criticism for his frequent foreign travels, and the cost of maintaining the royal family. He responded by economising and donated his private estate at
Polidendri to the state.
In 1959 he had an operation for
cataract, and in 1963 an emergency operation for
appendicitis. In late February 1964 he underwent a further operation for stomach cancer, and died about a week later in Athens.
The Greek monarchy would only outlive him by nine years.
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