King George I (1845-1913) and Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia (1851-1926)

[BELTRANEJA]

Originally Posted by Vasillisos Markos

Amazing, wasn't it, that George because King a few months before his father because King of Denmark! I wondered how things might have turned out if the Afred, Duke of Edinburgh, had been selected as King of the Hellenes over Queen Victoria's objection.

If he were King of Greece, in today ,Greece would become part of Commonwealth

[maria-olivia]

Thanks a lot Beltraneja, it helps me because we have now a exhibition about the 100 years of King Albert I's reign.. On this picture he was King since one year,and 4 years later it was the war (1914-1918). Kind regards

[BELTRANEJA]

The magazine where was the photo says that King Albert from one year ago he had succeeded his uncle Leopold II

[Odette]

Originally Posted by BELTRANEJA

If he were King of Greece, in today ,Greece would become part of Commonwealth

I do not agree. Greece would have remained an independent country regardless of whether the King would still be reigning or not.
When Greece got its independence from the Ottoman Empire and became a sovereign state it was not looking to be absorbed by another country.

[BELTRANEJA]

picture of Queen Olga.http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/2583/queenolga.jpg

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by BELTRANEJA

If he were King of Greece, in today ,Greece would become part of Commonwealth

Part of which commonwealth?

[BELTRANEJA]

Commonwealth of Nations

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

Originally Posted by BELTRANEJA

Commonwealth of Nations

I do not quite understand what you mean. There is the United Nations, the NATO Alliance and the EU of which Greece is part of. What specific commonwealth of nations are you referring to?

Scrolling back, I now understand that she was referring to the British Commonwealth. And the answer, of course, is that the other powers would have never allowed such an eventuality.

[BELTRANEJA]

I speak of this

Commonwealth of Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Vasillisos Markos]

I disagree. Alfred may have been sympathetic to the views of his native country but I don't think you can make such a leap as to say that he would have controlled Greece to such a degree that it would become part of the commonwealth. I don't believe the Greeks would have stood for it.

[Warren]

There's some confusion here. Prior to World War II the term was British Empire, post 1945 it became the British Commonwealth, and later the Commonwealth of Nations.

There is no way in the world that Greece, a sovereign nation, would have become a member state of the British Empire if Prince Alfred had become King.
Using the same analagy, one could just as well claim that King Otto (born a Prince of Bavaria) would have made Greece a member state of the German Confederation.
It's absurd.

[BELTRANEJA]

I'm talking about an organization formed by states that have historical ties with England, the States are independent and sovereigns, they aim to collaborate. I thought it was called so ..... It has no sense because the King was George which belonged to the Danish royal family.

This picture of George and Olga It is very old.

http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/a...goegeyolga.jpg

[stef]

In what date is that photo? They were very young

[snowflower]

The foto was taken right after their marriage. Given that they were married when he was 22 and she 16, no wonder they look so young . I can't imagine how hard it must have been for Olga to have to leave her family and country for another unkown one AND become a Queen with all the work that comes with the crown AND become a mother just 10 months after her marriage and al this while still a TEENAGER. It's not surprising that at first Grand Duke Konstantin was strongly opposed to the marriage. I wonder how she must have felt when she first came to Greece so young, to an unfamiliar palace with no one to help her but her young husband. Well , thanks God that the marriage was more of a love match that an arranged matter.

[CarolinaLandgrave]

I have always had great admiration of Queen Olga. I wish more were written about her.

[snowflower]

I ve been lucky enough to find the results of the elections which where held in 11 December 1962 in order for the Greeks to chhose a new monarch after Otto's exile. All Greeks men over 21 voted, as well as those abroad (in the consulates)

The results:
Prince Alfred, Duke of Endimburg: 230,066
the Duke of Leuchtenberg:2,400
"an Orthodox King" : 1,917
the Tsar (no kidding): 1,841
"a King" : 1,763
" an Imperial Prince of France" : 246
Prince Napoleon: 245
a republic: 93
the Count of Flanders:17
Prince Amedeo of Italy:15
Prince William of Denmark:6
Prince Ypsilanti:6
King Otto:1

It seems that King George was on the list , although he received very few votes. What surpises me was that over a 1,000 people said that they wanted the Tsar to become their sovereign. This alone clearly shows that many Greeks of the time had little , if none, political education and knowledge since they couldn't realise that the Tsar, who was the sovereign of another country, couldn't also rule their country. It also show that the idea of an actual Greek being placed in the throne wasn't very popular, since Ypsilantis only got 6 votes....

[BELTRANEJA]

The best choice was George because he was who had more ties with other states ..
His brother and his father were Kings of Denmark, his nephew King of Norway .... Besides the relationship he had with other royal houses...
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/2036/lagranfoto.jpg
I think that ultimately prevailed in the choice of economic criteria because the normal had be a Christian Orthodox King ...

[snowflower]

King George was pretty adamant about his religion. He accepted every other term the Greek National Assembly had decided, exept converting to Orthodoxy. He said he was to remain Lutheran whatsoever. At first, the Greeks didn't like that, since they still remembered very well Otto and Amalia and their efforts to support Catholicism and Protestantism in Greece, but threy finally accepted it, on the term that he would not raise any of his children as Lutheran. Then , he went on to marry one of the most devout Grand Duchesses of Russia and that solved the problem forever.

[BELTRANEJA]

Exactly, I think that Greece had never elected a Catholic king, this is obvious .. Greece is Orthodox territory .... but then prevailed the Lutheran church and interests of an economic ...
There is a similar between King George I and Queen Sofia of Spain. The Queen Sofia hadn´t renounced her Orthodox religion ..When she married with Juan Carlos , the Pope John XXIII, granted a marriage dispensation to them, the Queen Sofia pledged that her children were educated in the Catholic Church but She would maintain her Orthodox religion

[snowflower]

Indeed, Greece would never have elected a Catholic King, although they had one , and a very devout one we must say. But that was proved to be a big thorn, since Otto brought with him many Catholic missionnaires, and people in Greece became furious.

Didn't Queen Sofia convetred to Catholicism during her honeymoon? And the Greek Orthodox Church didn't like that very much, because she " rushed" to convert and didn't at least wait a little longer....