Paul I of Greece . King of the Hellenes ( 1947 – 1964 ). He spent most of his life in exile for the Greek alliance with Germany during the First World War . He was a member of the Greek army in World War II , as was his wife.
Summary
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- 1 Biographical synthesis
- 1 Foreign policy
- 2 Titles
- 2 Death
- 3 Sources
Biographical synthesis
Marriage
He was born on 14 December as as 1901 in Tatoi , Athens , Greece . He was the youngest son of Constantine I of Greece . Between 1917 and 1920 , he lived in exile with his family, after his father had to abdicate because of his pro-German sympathies.
He returns to exile in 1923 . His father died in Italy at the end of 1923 , and his older brother, George II , was called to reign in 1935 , after a monarchical military coup ended the republic.
He held the position of Major of the Greek Army in World War II and political advisor to the monarch, his brother George II.
Married in 1938 to his cousin, Princess Federica Luisa de Brunswick , he had three children: Sofía ( 1938 ) who became Queen of Spain through her marriage to Juan Carlos I ; Constantine ( 1940 ), the last King of Greece, and Princess Irene ( 1942 ).
Together with the king and his entire family, he fled after the German occupation and took refuge in Crete ( 1941 ), then went to Cairo and later to South Africa , from where he collaborated with the exiled government in London .
He returned to Greece in 1946 , and occupied the throne in April of 1947 , to the death of his brother Jorge II . In 1963 he was involved in a dispute with Prime Minister Konstandínos Karamanlís , which ended with his resignation as head of government.
His daughter Sofía married in 1962 with the one who would be King of Spain , Juan Carlos de Borbón .
Foreign policy
Diplomatic and economic relations abroad were reinforced by the frequent visits of the royal family abroad; Paul I was the first Greek monarch to visit a Turkish head of state. However, relations with the United Kingdom deteriorated due to the Cyprus issue , which finally achieved its independence in 1960 .
At the same time, Republican sentiments were on the rise in the country. Paul I was criticized on several occasions for meddling in political matters and breaking the rules of the constitutional monarchy. His wife was accused of belonging to the women’s section of the Hitler Youth in the 1930s, that is, when she was under twenty years old and membership was mandatory.
Titles
- Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
- Necklace of the Order of Isabel la Católica.
- Member of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Death
I died on 6 of March of 1964 a few weeks after having been operated for a cancer of the stomach and was succeeded by his son Constantine II