Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1047

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GREECE.

(Kingdom of the Hellenes.) Reigning King.

Georgios I., born December 24, 1845, the second son (Wil- helm) of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg- Gliicksburg, present King of Denmark; elected King of the Hellenes by the National Assembly at Athens, March 18 (30), 1863; accepted the crown, through his father the King of Den- mark, acting as his guardian, June 4, 1863; declared of age by decree of the National Assembly, June 27, 1863; landed in Greece November 2, 1863; married, October 27, 1867, to Queen Olga, born August 22 (September 3), 1851, the eldest daughter of Grand-duke Constantine of Russia, brother of the late Emperor Alexander II.

Children of the King,

I. Prince Konstantinos, Duke of Sparta, heir-apparent, born August 2, 1868; married October 27, 1889, to Princess Sophia, Princess of Prussia. Offspring: — 1. Prince Georgios, born July 19, 1890. 2. Prince Alexander, born August 1, 1893. 3. Princess Helen, born May 2, 1896. II. Prince Georgios, born June 24, 1869; High Commissioner in Crete, December 1898. III. Prince Nicolaos, born January 21, 1872. IV. Princess Maria, born March 3, 1876. V. Prince Andreas, born February 1, 1882. VI. Prince Christophoros, born August 10, 1888.

By decision of the Greek National Assembly of May 15, 1863, a civil list of 1,125,000 drachmai was settled on King Georgios I., to which the Governments of Great Britain, France, and Russia added 4,000/. each, making the total income of the sovereign of Greece about 52,000/. per annum. An annuity of 200,000 drachmai is allowed to the heir-apparent since he came of age in August 1886.

Greece, a province of the Turkish Empire since the commencement of the 16th century, gained its independence in the insurrection of 1821-29, and by the Protocol of London, of February 3, 1830, was declared a kingdom, under the protection of Great Britain, France, and Russia. Prince Leopold of Saxe- Coburg having declined the crown of Greece, on the gi'ound that the boun- daries proposed were insufficient, and especially excluded the island of Crete, it was ottered to, and accepted by, Prince Otto of Bavaria, who ascended the throne January 25, ] 833, being under the age of eighteen. He was expelled the Kingdom, after a reign of 29 years, in'Octoltor, 1802, which event ^yas followed by the election, uiiih'r the directing guidance of the three protecting Powers, of the present sovereign.

The King, according to Art. 49 of the Constitution of 1864, attains his majority upon completing his eighteenth year. Before he ascends the throne,

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