George I of Greece
George I was King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until his assassination in 1913. Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen, and seemed destined for a career in the Royal Danish Navy. He married Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia in 1867, and became the first monarch of a new Greek dynasty. Two of his sisters, Alexandra and Dagmar, married into the British and Russian royal families.
About George I of Greece in brief
George I was King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until his assassination in 1913. Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen, and seemed destined for a career in the Royal Danish Navy. He was only 17 years old when he was elected king by the Greek National Assembly, which had deposed the unpopular Otto. His nomination was both suggested and supported by the Great Powers: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire and the Russian Empire. He married Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia in 1867, and became the first monarch of a new Greek dynasty. Two of his sisters, Alexandra and Dagmar, married into the British and Russian royal families. George’s reign of almost 50 years was characterized by territorial gains as Greece established its place in pre-World War I Europe. During the First Balkan War, after Greek troops had captured much of Greek Macedonia, George was assassinated in Thessaloniki. There were two significant differences between George’s elevation and that of his predecessor, Otto, that he was acclaimed by the foreign powers rather than the Greek people. Paradoxically, he ascended a royal throne before his father, who became King of Denmark on the same November 15, 1853. In 1853, George’s father was designated the heir presumptive to the childless King Frederick VII of Denmark, and the family became princes and princesses of Denmark. Although he was of royal blood his family was relatively obscure and lived a comparatively normal life by royal standards.
George was described as \”quiet and extremely well-behaved\”, George was \”lively and full of pranks\”. George’s siblings were Frederick, Alexandra, Dagmar, Thyra and Valdemar. George’s mother tongue was Danish, with English as a second language. He also taught French and German. He embarked on a career as a naval cadet along with his elder brother Frederick. Until his accession in Greece,. he was known as Prince William, the namesake of his grandfathers William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and Prince William of Hesse-Kassel. The Greek people had rejected Otto’s brother and designated successor Luitpold, although they still favored a monarchy rather than a republic. The Greeks nevertheless insisted on holding a plebiscite in which Prince Alfred received over 95% of the 240,000 votes. There were 93 votes for a Republic and six for a Greek. King Otto received one vote. With Prince Alfred’s exclusion, the search began for an alternative candidate. The British proposed Queen Victoria’s nephew Maximilian II of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, her brother-in-law, Prince Leiningen, her nephew George V, Nicholas II, Christian X of Denmark and Haakon VII of Norway were his nephews. Eventually, the Greeksnowed their choice to win six votes, who had received six votes.
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This page is based on the article George I of Greece published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
