The Kings Of The Hellenes

[Josefine]

who was the Danish prince who at the age of 19 became King of Greece?

I found it
King Christian IX's son Prince William was elected as King of Greece and took the name King George I of Greece - more facts here

[laskaris]

HM KING KONSTANTINE OF GREECE

[laskaris]

Originally posted by Josefine@Dec 31st, 2003 - 7:36 am
I found it
King Christian IX son prince william Was elected as king of Greece , he took the name King George I of Greece more facts here

I disagree with the link in some points:

a}If King Georgios A,remained a protestand to the end of His life,then why did He changed His name from William to Georgios at 17,and buried according the Orthodox tradition at his 60's??

b}When the Greek commitee saw the "Royal Lad" they immediatelly saw their future King in His face!!He belonged to the line of Byzantine royals that spreaded all over the world after the fall of Constantinople

c}He bought TATOI land and residence with His OWN money that He brought from Denmark,and turned it into a Advsnced Prototype of Agricultural Cultivation,so the farming economy of His young Kingdom to adopt these methods{wich he was giving freely to farmers}so the population didn't starve.

e}His Young kingdom was actually a Protectorate of the three supepowers of that time!England,France and Russia...Politicians were loyal to one of the three,(otherwise they wouldn't be politicians)On the top of all that,land owners, berglars and groupists were destroying the counties of the small poor kingdom!!
He managed not only to resolve these problems,but to grow His Kingdom 2 times as much during his Reign......


Aside all these,if all historians will agree that he has lived as a Dane in His personal life in all His life then May God bless Denmark and her children!!!!!

[Fireweaver]

can't answe 2 or 3, but as to why he would change his name..
he got a country out of the deal :)
and a lot of people can say they've changed their relgious beliefs and still secretly follow the one closest to their heart (in his case protestantism?).

[Sean.~]

1.He was a life long member of the Lutheran Church. However, it was important for him to respect the traditions of the Greek Church fo the purposes of legitimacy. He married an Orthodox woman and the children were all raised in the Orthodox faith.

2.He isn't descendant from any Byzantine (Palaelogos) line that I know of This is a myth, sprouted to give the monarchy more legitimacy. Unless some one can show you an exact geneolgy outlining the descent, don't believe it. In short, it had less to do with "his face" and more to do with the Great Powers and the balance in the world system at the time. That's why the picked a neutral prince.

3.Tatoi was acquired with the dowary monies of Grand Duchess Olga Constantinova. Her father, Constantine Nikoilavich, was the richest of all the Grand Dukes.

4.He didn't solve the problems. The problems were still there. That's why Greece was such a troubled country in the early part of the last century and, one could argue, that's why the Great Powers (Britain)were able to have his son removed during WWI.

[moody]

1) It was important for Him to respect the traditions and the faith of His people that is why he converted Himself to an Orthodox at 18 took the name GEORGIOS A',married to an Orthodox Grand Duches,in an Orthodox ceremony,ALL His 5 chidren Batised Orthodoxs,and when He was killed He was burried the Orthodox way!!If He was aLife long protestant wouldn't he have turned at least two of His own children to his hypothetical religion????

2)It is true that King George Had the support of the western superpowers of taht era!He married GD Olga of Russia ,and through this marriage won also the favor of Czar to support Him to his mission to turn Greece into a state and to make a stable Kingdom.So he gained the support ahd the appreciation of the three supepowers !!!Also please try this link about the byzantine descentacy of the Greek Dynasty: greekroyaldynasty.tk

3)The money for acquiring TATOI Estate,came to Him,when He became of age,through a Fund trust(Diapistevma) that His Uncle was managing!So,no dowery was envolved in this....!

4)During His Reign he resolved fundumental problems of his Kingdom!!!All the rest was politician's work to do .......So it was their fault if they remained unsolved and as we all know His son and the next King was exiled because of them!!!!

[Fireweaver]

interesting points moody, can you provide some evidence for us?
Sean, I think I've heard some of your points before, in some texts I had to read for my world history class.
as a side note, could history texts for schools be any more boring? I wish they cared less about numbers and data and more about giving us a realistic portrayal of the people involved in the history!

[moody]

I did gave a link to everybody,in my prior post,also try the Official Greek history!Also there are some booklets in circulation......Anyway, nobody can surely say what Someone Who has long ago passed away , pelieved in His house,!!!!!Non of us all either!!What I red in the history what I saw in paintings-------I saw in a lithograph Georgios A' (when he first came to greece)entering into the orthodox cathedral accompanied of the Archbishop His uncle and guards ------Is it an evidence????????

[Fireweaver]

Pictures aren't necessarily good sources. Changing a name doesn't necessarily mean anything. King Olav of Norway's birth name wasn't Olav.

[Sean.~]

He never converted, Moody. I've studied royal geneology for years. You can also ask published scholars such as Marelene Koenig, Guy Stair Sainty, William Adams Reitweisner, or any biographer on the Greek RF. The children were all raised Orthodox as their mother was Orthodox. You can see the Danish Encyclopedia (Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon, 1920), which is one of many sources which states King George remained Lutheran all his life. I can provide others. He, unlike Otto of Bavaria, did however learn the rites and practices of the Orthodox church. If he did convert, there would be a record. There isn't one.


And it isn't sufficient to always blame the politicians. You said that he solved Greece's problems. He didn't solve them all, obviously.

With repsect to Tatoi, all of the sources that I've come across over the yeas state that the estate was paid for by Queen Olga's ( substantial) dowry). Can you provide a source stating otherwise? I'm curious now.

Thanks,

Sean

[laskaris]

I think the word 'converted'is wrong!Someone is converted to Inddooism to Islam,but He is not 'converted" from Christian to Christian as Loutherans and Orthodox!!He simply "JOINED" the Orthodoxs after the Archbishop and the Patriarch gaved Him a Bless!But all these are of no significance nowadays!The Man was Borned to reign in Justice,and to serve The Good !!!Any religion would like to have Him as a Member!!!!!!

As far as I know,he bought Tatoi on His personal fund,with money that he brought from Denmark,as for Queen's Olga dowery I don't think that it was envolved in that!!!!!!

[Fireweaver]

No, if you go from one Christian denomination to another, you convert.
Then you "join" the congregation of the new church. But there is a convertion.

[Sean.~]

Originally posted by laskaris
I think the word 'converted' is wrong

There is a conversion involved. As I've said before he did not convert and he remained a life long member of the Lutheran church. This was okay by the Greeks, providing that his progeny were Orthodox. This is why he married an Orthodox Grand Duchess. Moreover, one can respect the tenets of another denomination/faith without actually converting. This was the case with William/Georg I.

A similar comparison can be made with Ferdinand of Bulgaria. Although he remained a Catholic he respected the Orthodox traditions of his subjects. Moreover, his son, Boris, was raised as an Orthodox. This was a huge deal at the time because his wife (Maria Luisa) was a Catholic and, at the time of marriage, he had promised her father Roberto, Duke of Parma, that all children would be raised in the Catholic faith. Thw pope even got involved (IIRC, Ferdinand was ex-communicated) and Maria Louisa ended up leaving for a while. Although Ferdinand's daughters were were raised as Catholics, this was because their mother was one. Conversely, Olga Constantinova of Greece was an Orthodox. Thus so were her children.
(In case anyone is wondering, today Simeon of Bulgaria and his two eldest sons are Orthodox. The rest of the family are Catholics.)

With respect to Tatoi, AFAIK, it was purchased with funds from Olga Constantinova's dowary. The Russian Imperial family (particularly the Constantinovichi branch) were very wealthy and Grand Duchesses were given a lump sum at the time of marriage. Just look at some of the jewels they took with them -- the emerald tiara (Greece), the ruby parure (Greece), Elisabeth Mihalovna's Tiara (Luxembourg), Anna Pavlovna's contributions to the Dutch collection, Anastasia Mihailovna's contributions to the Dansih royal jewels (via her daughter Alexandrine of Mecklenburg), etc.

Conversely, William/Georg I's family was not wealthy at all. His sisters used to sew their own clothes, and his his father did not even attend his own daughter's wedding to Alexander Alexandrovich because he was afraid he would have been expected to give to the largesse.

Sean. ~

[moody]

:woot: Maybe the father of Georgios A!wasn't wealthy,His son brought to Grece the land and the sea of the seven Islands so when Greece said WELCOME to her new king she automatically grew one more time!The money for TATOI were personal funds of GEORGIOS A' {not GeorgeTHAT IS FINAL!!!}Jewlery is not dowry is personal belongings!!!The real dowery of queen Olga,is that she gave to her ancestors a line of succesion on the Russian throne!!!That is all!!!!!!

[Sean.~]

Um, actually, jewelry can be (and has been throughout history) a part of dowaries. And William/George/Georgios didn't have substantial personal funds. His immediate family was poor by royal standards. This is a known fact. This isn't to say he didn't bring any money with him, but that it was most likely not a substantial amount. Conversely, Queen Olga's father was known to be very wealthy and all Russian Grand Duchesses received substantial settlements at the time of marriage. So I don't think we can rule out that Tatoi was, at least in part, purchased with some of these funds. Moreover, IIRC, when the former King Constantine (or Constantinos or whatever you want to call him) launched his lawsuit against the Greek government it came out that Tatoi was,at least in part, purchased by with funds brought to Greece by Olga Constantinova (and yes, I know Constantine's website says that the the funds came from Denmark).

And I don't understand the rest of your post.

[laskaris]

Jewelery,is something personal that passes from mother to daughter....I dont know who is wilhem/George....I only know King Georgios A' maybe he was' poor 'from a' poor 'family but rich enough to buy 10 Tatoi Estates of that era!!So the dowery was not invested on that!!

As for things you dont want to understand let me be clear and loud!!!Queen's Olgas Grand Children and Grand Grand Children {thus succetion line} AL have rights on the Russian Throne!!!

[Fireweaver]

no, actually, they don't. House rules make that clear.

[Prince de Montalban]

Prince William chose the name George/Giorgos I, because "Giorgos" was more a Greek name then "William".

He also chose this name because he want to honour the British, who made it possible that William was elected king in 1863. So he choose the very British name George, that also was a good name for a GREEK king.