King Constantine and The Dicatorship of the Colonels, 1967-1974.

[fandesacs2003]

Dear Queen angelique
I know that this is not the correct thread. Moderators please feel free to move it to the related one, as I don't know how to reply to your question on the correct place.
Now to our subject.
Queen Federica was half loved and half hated. She did a great job, tireless and dedicated. On the other side it was considered that she was interfering to matters she should not, out of her position and rights.
Her heaviest default was to being German, for a country who suffered a lot from WWII and Nazi occupation. Full stop up to now.

Furthermore the young handsome then Crown prince and later King was extremely popular, especially after the dream fairy tale marriage he did.
Greek people are emotive and were very touched by a young men who brought them a gold Olympic medal, a beautiful virginal bride of the highest blood, and already a baby girl. They could even forgive him his mother ...

But..there was the problem. After 3 years of romantic pink reign the military putch arrived.
What did the King do? Nothing. He showed himself as if he was in agreement with them (I don't believe it if course). Ok this could be understandable, he was a hostage, without any military power.
After 6 months he tried a counter-coup, to chase them. He failed. Ok it can happen, nice gesture though.
He left the country in emergency with his family. Ok. Understandable also, he was afraid for his life and family, he could have been killed as the Romanov family.
And then he established one year in Rome and then in London. Free countries, democracies, he was safe.
And what he did then? nothing. Absolutely nothing. He could ran around the whole world and protest again the dictatorship in his country. He was the king of Greece, son-in law of the king of Denmark and affiliated with all the RF of Europe. He could go everywhere and shout and fight for his people. And he did nothing, just having kids.
Average Greek people went around the whole Europe for 7 years, being deprived from their citizenship and passport, risking their life's, most with limited resources, fighting to free their country.
And the King himself did what? Nothing...Absolutely nothing. He might have secret contacts, but for the public opinion nothing. None an interview, an article, a press conference, nothing. Silence.

And last point, July 1974, dictatorship seems to fall, Konstantinos Karamanlis returns back, in a political situation unclear and risking his life. He has been acclaimed like a God by the whole country upon his arrival, mainly because he was the first to go.
And the King what has he done? Again nothing. He trusted Karamanlis who told him that he would go first and call him after, which if course he did not. For me it was the last and fatal mistake, at this point he lost the game for ever.
Not only he was forgotten during 7 years but he also showed his people that he did not risk anything for them. Leadership skill zero.

Again mods please move to the thread about Konstantin and the Colonels, I'm unable to do it while replying to QueenAngelique.

Dear Vandesacs;

Being Greek, you know more about what happened than I do. I had been given the impression, that King Konstantin's Mother, Queen Frederica had been problematic and thus, in a roundabout way, had caused the ending of The Monarchy. What happened in 1974, I don't know, and I would be grateful if you would enlighten me. Why a reigning King bows in front of his invitees, is a mystery to Me too! Thank you for your reaction and additional insights.

Kind Regards,

 

[Queen Angelique]

Konstantin..

Dear Queen angelique I know that this is not the correct thread. Moderators please feel free to move it to the related one, as I don't know how to reply to your question on the correct place. Now to our subject. Queen Federica was half loved and half hated. She did a great job, tireless and dedicated. On the other side it was considered that she was interfering to matters she should not, out of her position and rights. Her heaviest default was to being German, for a country who suffered a lot from WWII and Nazi occupation. Full stop up to now. Furthermore the young handsome then Crown prince and later King was extremely popular, especially after the dream fairy tale marriage he did. Greek people are emotive and were very touched by a young men who brought them a gold Olympic medal, a beautiful virginal bride of the highest blood, and already a baby girl. They could even forgive him his mother ... But..there was the problem. After 3 years of romantic pink reign the military putch arrived. What did the King do? Nothing. He showed himself as if he was in agreement with them (I don't believe it if course). Ok this could be understandable, he was a hostage, without any military power. After 6 months he tried a counter-coup, to chase them. He failed. Ok it can happen, nice gesture though. He left the country in emergency with his family. Ok. Understandable also, he was afraid for his life and family, he could have been killed as the Romanov family. And then he established one year in Rome and then in London. Free countries, democracies, he was safe. And what he did then? nothing. Absolutely nothing. He could ran around the whole world and protest again the dictatorship in his country. He was the king of Greece, son-in law of the king of Denmark and affiliated with all the RF of Europe. He could go everywhere and shout and fight for his people. And he did nothing, just having kids. Average Greek people went around the whole Europe for 7 years, being deprived from their citizenship and passport, risking their life's, most with limited resources, fighting to free their country. And the King himself did what? Nothing...Absolutely nothing. He might have secret contacts, but for the public opinion nothing. None an interview, an article, a press conference, nothing. Silence. And last point, July 1974, dictatorship seems to fall, Konstantinos Karamanlis returns back, in a political situation unclear and risking his life. He has been acclaimed like a God by the whole country upon his arrival, mainly because he was the first to go. And the King what has he done? Again nothing. He trusted Karamanlis who told him that he would go first and call him after, which if course he did not. For me it was the last and fatal mistake, at this point he lost the game for ever. Not only he was forgotten during 7 years but he also showed his people that he did not risk anything for them. Leadership skill zero. Again mods please move to the thread about Konstantin and the Colonels, I'm unable to do it while replying to QueenAngelique.

Dear Fandesacs,

Thank You SO much for your in-depth response to My Query. You have certainly lifted the lid on much that I was not aware of. I am also sad, to be honest, to read all this. The Greek people had a right to expect their King to act decisively and leave no stone upturned to restore democracy & freedom for them, as well as The Monarchy. I can so understand how the Greek people must have felt, and hence when the junta was displaced, most would have had little appetite for the return of the Monarchy. I am also sad for Him & Queen Anne-Marie, for what might have been. One observation I would like to make: As We don't know ALL the facts, what role did the USA play in all this? There are many background stories of subterfuge & interference by The USA, ewven to the point of backing the junta. How much is veritas, I don't know. However, they might have put pressure on King Konstantin covertly to make him tow the line, or otherwise put Him under pressure. Again, I am sad for Greece to have lost their Monarchy, and in this manner too; Which appears not to shed a positive light on the Royals involved. As a Monarchist this saddens Me.

Kind & Royal Regards,

 

[fandesacs2003]

Dear QueenAngelique

Some points from what you said.

Yes, we don't know all. King Konstantin might have very valid reasons for being mute during the dictatorship, we probably will never know. He talked about many things but not for these. The point is that whatever are these reasons (maybe beyond his control) they costed him his kingdom.
People was expecting him to act. He did not. But don't forget that at these time it was a dictatorship, media censure was full. Internet did not exist, and average Greek people had not large access to foreign media's or travelling. Consequently for a large part of the population, the King was simply forgotten. By doing nothing abroad he was simply out of everything. So at 1974 a huge part of the Greek population, suddenly found in front of them in the TV an quite unknown face, calling them my dear fellows and asking them to let him come back.
There were 3 categories of people at this time towards the King:
People who wanted him/royalty,
People who hated him/royalty
And (the majority) people who simply had a very vague idea about who was he.
During the referendum he got more than 30% for his return. And this only thanks to the previous memory of people, who just remembered the period before 1967. Because he was not allowed to come back to the country and support his position. Before any election parties have the right to do their "campaign" , but for him the only one allowed was one, only one TV announcement of a few minutes. I remember, my fellow citizens bla bla, I miss my country and wants to come back. Only one. Do you expect to gain elections with one 5 minutes speech? Of course not.
These 7 years of black hole played against him, because many people were thinking: who is this guy coming back from nowhere? What does he want?
As for the US, there is no doubt that they were fully supportive to the military junta
But Europe not especially, he could have been seeking and finding help there.

Dear Fandesacs,

Thank You SO much for your in-depth response to My Query. You have certainly lifted the lid on much that I was not aware of. I am also sad, to be honest, to read all this. The Greek people had a right to expect their King to act decisively and leave no stone upturned to restore democracy & freedom for them, as well as The Monarchy. I can so understand how the Greek people must have felt, and hence when the junta was displaced, most would have had little appetite for the return of the Monarchy. I am also sad for Him & Queen Anne-Marie, for what might have been. One observation I would like to make: As We don't know ALL the facts, what role did the USA play in all this? There are many background stories of subterfuge & interference by The USA, ewven to the point of backing the junta. How much is veritas, I don't know. However, they might have put pressure on King Konstantin covertly to make him tow the line, or otherwise put Him under pressure. Again, I am sad for Greece to have lost their Monarchy, and in this manner too; Which appears not to shed a positive light on the Royals involved. As a Monarchist this saddens Me.

Kind & Royal Regards,

 

[stef]

I believe that her presentation is brief and unfair.The Greek historical context i esencial to explain it:
The first:
The dictatorship of the Colonels had two parts: the first (1967-1973)with dictator G.Papadopoulos who had a impressive popular support, even today, there are many Greeks who look with appreciation to the dictator. -And second, as republic, 1973-1974, had as dictator in the "darkness" the military Dimitrios Ioannidis, with him the dictatorship lost popular support.

The dictatorship in its first phase, with G. Papadopoulos as Prime Minister and leader of the dictatorship, enjoyed popular and international support.
Against that cannot do anything nobody, because the people legitimized it.

The Colonels were not "bad people who had taken power in Greece, and the people lived frightened by them" No, that reality is not true.
That the bad guys for the Greeks, then, were the communists. this is true.

King Constantine was popular, that's true, but the dictator Papadopoulos was popular too.
Why weren't the colonels(of Papadopoulos) hated by the people?
(brief exposition of the historical context of the 1960s)
Greece was a key NATO country in the Cold War, Greece had a very plural parliamentary system with muchs political parties that favored political instability, Greece had prohibited the communist party, in 1948, but in the parliament there were formations that were identified with that ideology, and they called for the legalization of the communist party, through riots, demonstrations, inside and outside Greece..... For being a key country in the Mediterranean and being in the anti-communist bloc, you can imagine, the concern that existed in the international sphere, especially in countries like the United States who were very concerned about the situation

In Greece,60s, appeared plots in the army of coup , where important politicians were involved giving veracity to those plots pro-communist . People were afraid that there would be a communist coup.

The Colonels gave a coup in 1967 in response, according to their version, to those pro-communist conspiracies.
The truth is that the fear of a communist coup existed in the Greek population. Another different issue is whether if a coup from the communist state had really taken place, but the fear existed.

However, it is believed that the main motive of the colonels is to frustrate the general elections that the King had called in December 1966 for May 1967, to solve the problem of Greek political instability, with which the King hoped to achieve a stable government in Greece.
In 1966 the King managed to bring together political parties and reach an agreement on a call for elections for May 1967. The King believed that the problem of political instability would be resolved with these elections for May of 1967. But neither the United States and (I think)nor the Greek people believed that this would solve the problem.(there was a lot of distrust in politics)

Many people saw the colonels as saviors, and they believed that colonels acted correctly giving a coup to prevent the rise of communism in Greece.

But also the colonels enjoyed the support of the United States, the CIA is the mastermind of the coup gave.

But that support of USA was not limited to the coup of 1967, also to the legitimation of the dictatorship over time , US gave a lot of money to the dictatorship.
The dictatorship made with USa´s money large investments in the roads, trains, airports, museums, .. they also gave very aids to the people for Study, to open a bussine.... People appreciated them very much .

I believe that nothing can be done against this. They were the good guys, they weren't the bad guys in the movie.

What could the king do?
The dictatorship had international support.
In January 1968(not a month had passed since the King's counter-coup) the United States recognized the Colonels as Greece's legitimate government, then countries came, like Britain (first the Prime Minister told the king that he supported him, and then recognized as a legitimate government the Colonels) and thus began a domino effect, China, France, Spain and Portugal, Italy,.. They all recognized the Colonels as greece's legitimate government.

The colonels felt powerful and bragged about popular support, held a referendum to approve their constitution, 1968, was massive participation, no one put the result to trial. The people voted and legitimated to them in power.

I try to explain that the Colonels of Papadopoulos had the support of the people, and of the international community. The United States placed them in power to give stability to this area of the Mediterranean in times of the Cold War. That international support was essential.
Colonels invited King Constantine to return to Greece on several occasions, but the King refused and demanded the restoration of democracy.

Many people who supported King Constantine, in 1973, took away his support because they did not understand why the King did not want to be with the Colonels, the colonels were the good guys in this movie, and people did not understand the King and his position to claim democracy.
As I said at the beginning, the dictatorship was not always the same, it was moving forward and changed, and this also had consequences on popular sympathies. The dictator Papadopoulos became "enmity" with the United States, in 1973, and was overthrown in November 1973.
Greece has been republic from june of 1973 to today.
Regarding the 1967 coup. It is a very serious coup,the press and the people speak about it as an altercation downplaying its importance. The Greek army moved on the margins of higher orders of the military hierarchy, a part made it aware of a coup, but the rest of the army, did not know that it was giving a coup, believed they were avoiding a communist coup. . It was a very well planned coup, (it is said that the CIA devised it, which in my opinion is 100%) they controlled the media first, they moved the army to the capital with weapons of war. The colonels created an authentic chaos within the army and in the capital.
it was by surprise, nobody expected it, and at night. They detained to the King , the government , members of the parliament, at their homes. they had their houses surrounded with tanks.The King was transferred to the Defense Ministry and then locked up in a office. Colonels said they had avoided a communist coup d'e coup.Nobody knew what was happening, or why the army was on the street. The surprise effect was essential.
Colonels said they had avoided a communist coup d'e coup
It is very easy to say that the king's actions were incorrect, It is very easy to affirm this, when you have not lived the moment, and many years have passed since that coup, but when you put yourself in the situation of the people who suffered it and in the historical context, you realize of the difficult of the situation and that the decisions that were taken by King , it had a "good" objective, although later it will not benefit the King .
To overthrow the colonels he would have had to take on a military confrontation in the capital and that is synonymous with the dead.
The army left the capital in hours, everything returned to calm, there were no dead, chaos disappeared, why this? because the King took a decision, had its positive effects, unfortunately subsequently it could not take control of the army.
The king's decision, he did not want a confrontation in the streets of the capital or the country, he did not want deaths.
The king's decision was bad, say many irresponsible, because the King did not keep the throne. The King's decision was good because there were no deaths or confrontations in the street. This is true that later he could not gain control of the army, but his decision was not bad. If the army would have fought in the streets of the capital and the main cities of Athens it would have been terrible.
On the December 1967 coup , the King spoke to his army and his army did not obey the King. Thats the reality. They obeyed the Colonels.
The coup of december was not a mistake, I think not, because he had to seek a means of control of the army, and the only way was an uprising , but the reality is that the colonels had propped up the army well in his favor. I have always believed that the King thought that the Colonels had acted on their own initiative, not out of support from the CIA.
With regard to Karamanlis, you are right this is not the precise place, but what did Karamanlis do during the dictatorship of the Colonels?, according to his own memories, play golf in France.
In 1966 the King wrote him a letter at the request of the right-wing leader, Kanellopulos(of the Karamanlis´s party ), to invite to participate in political life, he responded in bad ways to the king, insinuating him to declare a state of exception. He had contact with the king during exile, trying to deny it to clean the image of politician is increasingly difficult for his followers, the word traitor is very ugly.
The Colonels fall for the Cyprus problem, which is very important. The Colonels hand over power, Karamanlis is named Prime Minister under the gaze of the last Greek dictator , who was replaced as Head of State on December 17, 1974, after the referendum .
The 1952 constitution must be restored, the King must return ... But the politician, who has spoken hours before by phone with the King, does not restore the constitution in its fullness, partially restores it while maintaining the state form of the Republic, later he will withdraw the passport to the King so that he cannot return r a Greece. The monarchy will not be restored in Greece, Greece continued to be a republic. and then at November he called a referendum, not the constitution that was approved in 1975, but to the monarchy that had not been restored in Greece. Without allowing the King to campaign.

 

[stef]

To summarize my comment: The King was popular, but so was the dictator Papodopoulos.
People saw the dictator as a defender of the monarchy who had prevented the rise of communists to power. People did not understand why the King did not accept the invitation of the dictator to return to Greece, and they saw him as ungrateful.

In 1973 the dictatorship constituted the Republic.
The King grants interviews at this time, where he recognizes that the colonels have invited him to return but he has refused to accept it, he demands democracy
The Greek dictatorship has several phases, it was not always the same. In its early years it enjoyed international and popular support (of course there were those who suffered from the dictatorship, the communists), but as it progressed, problems arose with the USA, and there were changes that made it go from popular to unpopular.
It is not fair to defend the dictatorship as unwanted in Greece, because that was not the case. This had a high degree of acceptance that later declined, especially in 1973.
In 1974 there is a problem that we have not talked about and it is Cyprus, this is very decisive in the end of the dictatorship and also in the decisions of Karamanlis.

 

[fandesacs2003]

@stef
Being Greek living this period I strongly disagree to many points.
Dictature had not popular support in Greece. It was an criminal government taken by the weapons and not by elections, so basically it is not accepted, it wa illegal. It is true that some people thought they would be protected from the communists but this wrong impression did not last, they understood their mistake.
Furthermore how can you measure this popular support? No free elections, no Press or expression freedom, many newspapers obliged to close because they did not follow the instructions. People arrested, obliged to leave the country in order not to be killed, and deprived of their political rights and nationality. People of all political orientation. A dictature is not a democracy, full stop.
And the point that, still now there are Greeks positive to the dictatorship, is not valid either. First of all they are very few.
And also they are still worldwide people supporting Nazis, but it does not grant Nazisme a huge popular support.
It was I dictatorship, without freedom, arresting people and torturing them.
High degree of acceptance! Certainly not. Absolutely not. Very few people accepted the dictatorship, most of the country population did not. And of all political orientation. People had not freedom of expression, and it was enough that your neighbor did not like you and if accusing you to be against the government, to be in risk to be jailed.
All over Europe, they were many manifestations against the junta, so where is the international support.
Unfortunately, many people did not forgive to the King that je accepted this government and it was him who after the coup accepted their oaths as Prime Minister and other ministers.

Both period, Colonels and Ioannides were dark and criminal, as every dictatorship.
The falling reason and moment was not Cyprus invasion, falling started with the rebellion inside Law school and after in Polytechnio November 1973, it was during the Colonels, Ioannides came after.

USA grant them support this is true. Europe not. Nevertheless don't expect from neighbors to clean your house. If this was true, countries like North Korea would not exist.
Now for the King. I think his decision to leave was correct.
1. for his own life. It is said that when he left with his family piloting the plane and was trying to get out of the country, Papadopoulos gave the order to shoot the plane down, the military plane was already on flight to chase them and finally the Colonels changed up their mind, hopefully. A second assassination like for the Romanov was just avoided. Reminder: Q. Federica, K Konstantin, Q Anne-Marie, Pr Irini, babies Alexia+Pavlos, plus staff, were in this plane.
2. to avoid a civil war, I understand him. Memories of Greek civil war after WWII were still strong.

But in July 1974 he should jump the first flying engine he could find, and return back to his country. He would be accepted like God. Like Karamanlis did. But no, he preferred let someone else prepare the field. You are the King, it is your country, your people, you just go. Otherwise you lose for ever. And unfortunately this happened.
I agree that Karamanlis fooled him. But he should never have trusted Karamanlis. Firstly because Karamanlis was already their ennemy (well known how Karamanlis left Greece) and mainly because when you are a leader you should lead, don't let the others do the job for you.
I feel really sorry for him, I think he does not worth what happened, he tried.
And I feel more sorry because most of the governments after they treated them like a common criminal. He did not worth this either. Whatever he did he tried hardly.

 

[stef]

1974: You say the Colonels fall and the King could return to Greece, and the people who loved him were going to proclaim him King. Real life is not like that.

First of all, the Colonels give a coup in Cyprus, they try to assassinate the Cypriot leader Makarios, he flees .... Turkey invades the island, the Greek army tries to avoid it, this is a catastrophe for Greece. July 23, 1974. the chaos in Cyprus , the Colonels meet and decide to hand over power to the politicians.
Phaedon Gizikis calls E. Averoff and others politicians , to process this situation, there cannot be a vacuum of power due to what is happening in Cyprus (the army is in Cyprus).These politicians call Karamanlis to return to Greece, as Prime Minister. Gizikis who is the dictator, Head of State, remains in office, until December 17, 1974. All this under the current legislation of the colonels. It is not changed.

In france, Karamanlis talks to the king(the King is in London) he explain the situation. Once he would be appointed with the rules of the regime of Colonels, Prime Minister, and would assumes powers, he would reestablish Greek democracy, which is included in the constitutional text of 1952, which is a monarchy. When the 1952 constitution would came into force, Greece would be a monarchy. The King would be called. The King had promised to open the constitutional reform, on December 13, 1967, and this was the King's commitment. The conversation ends, Karamanlis tells the king that when Athens arrives, he will call him on the phone .
All this under the current legislation of the colonels
All under the rule of law.
Karamanlis arrives at Athens, under the rules of the dictatorship, he swears the position of Prime Minister before the Head of State, who is the dictator, P. Gizikis. Later, he repeals the rules of the dictatorship, re-establishes the 1952 constitution, except, the Head of State and the political form of the Greek State. The article in the constitution that says that Greece is a monarchy does not come into force, and therefore the monarchy is not restored. Greece is a Republic.And he proceeds to withdraw the passport from the king and his family.

Your hypothesis.
July 23 the king catches a plane appears in Greece, and when he set foot in Greece, it turns out that Greece is a republic, he does not have a public office in Greece, and is not even Chief of the armies. Where is he going? He is not the head of state,by got off a plane, he has not magically become head of state.
But there is also something worse, the war in Cyprus continues, it did not stop, the worst of this conflict was in August.
King Constantine has never supported that coup in Cyprus, but also, Makarios and he spoke in exile, Makarios visited to King in Rome, and Makarios invited him to go live in Cyprus, even in 1977, Makarios wrote in his will that the King Constantine had to be at his funeral. Constantine would never have tried to go assassinate Makarios.

In the interviews given in Greece, on the web you has one, what does the King say? He is aware that the Colonels have made him unpopular in Greece, he is aware that he is not popular in 1974. He knew that in order to defend himself From this blurb that the colonels made him, the monarchy in Greece would have to be restored, and he would be Head of State, then the constitutional reform would be opened and then there would be a referendum, where he could have defended himself from that unpopularity .

 

[stef]

A dictatorship can to have the sympathies of the people. Franco in Spain is an example.
I have told you about the 1968 referendum, for the Colonels this referendum was a means of boasting of the support they had.


The Colonels would not have held that referendum if they knew that the people were not going to respond. This is stupid because Greece was a dictatorship, but they did it because they knew they did not have the majority rejection of the people.
Franco in Spain was a dictator, who was not despised neither by the majority of the people nor by the international community.

The 1968 referendum was the first of the referendums held by the junta of colonels. It was announced on August 2, 1968 (Government Gazette AD 170) and was held on Sunday, September 29 of the same year. The electorate was asked to approve with a "Yes" or "No" new constitution which had been made public earlier.

You say, since there are no elections, there is no popular support. if the people had rejected to them, then no country internationally would have recognized them as the legitimate government of Greece.
Harold Wilson British Prime Minister. He supported King Constantine against the dictatorship, but later, when he saw that the dictatorship did not receive the rejection of the population, he saw stability in the dictatorship as in Spain with the dictator, Franco. So he supported the colonels as a legitimate government.

The altercations at the University of Athens, were promoted by the communists, and effectively dismissed the dictator, Papadopoulos, but it did not end the dictatorship, it served for the military radical Dimitrios Ioannidis, to become the new leader of the dictatorship.

 

[fandesacs2003]

@stef
First of all there is no reason to relate the while 7 years of dictature, I know the events.
I believe that if King Konstantine have tried to come back immediately, he would have been very well accepted by the people. I never talked about a fairy tale solution, but for a much better outcome. Maybe he had regain his throne maybe not. But in any case better than what happened. He could have make his campaign for the election being in Greece, and finally, if lost , at least he was in his country, and not being exiled for the next 20 years, or more and treated like a rubbish.

As for the referendums made by the junta it is historically known that they were fake, so no-one ever believed that the dictatorship had the approval of the people, except of course those who took profit of it, this category always exist in any case.

Only US was positive to this regime, and not because they thought Colonels have the approval of the population, just because their interest at these times were satisfied.
All the other Europe countries did not grant any special support to junta, but of course they did not care to fight against them.
King Konstantine of course never approved Cyprus invasion, and if he was reigning King and this moment he would have do his utmost to stop it.
As for the Spanish dictatorship, I let our Spanish friends to answer, they know better.
Any dictatorship, since it is called dictatorship, it is not a democracy, and this is valid for right/conservative orientations and also for left/communist one.
Greece is a democracy, royal or presidential, people have to be free to vote and chose their authorities, not to have them imposed.
King Konstantine, with his immaturity and his mistakes, I strongly believe that he has a democratic mind and he would have been a fairy honest King. Unfortunately he paid the price of the toxic period when he arrived to the throne.
Late Konstantinos Mitsotakis said once that if King Pavlos had lived 10 years more the junta might have never happened. Unfortunately this it another big IF of the history.

 

[Blog Real]

King Constantine of Greece faces his Colonels – archive, 1967

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/26/king-constantine-of-greece-faces-his-colonels-1967

 

[WreathOfLaurels]

Interesting article from kathemerini about a supposed assassination plot against Karamanlis that the King was supposed to be involved in.

https://www.ekathimerini.com/in-depth/1164775/when-the-ex-king-plotted-to-eliminate-karamanlis/amp/