- King George I of Greece
- King of the Hellenes (1863-1913)
- Assassination by Greek anarchists
Biography
Christian Vilhelm Ferdinand Adolf Georg von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, King of the Hellenes, was born 24 December 1845 in Copenhagen, Denmark to Christian IX of Denmark (1818-1906) and Louise von Hessen-Kassel (1817-1898) and died 18 March 1913 Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece of unspecified causes. He married Olga Constantinovna of Russia (1851-1926) 27 October 1867 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
George I was King of Greece for almost 50 years until his assassinationin 1913.
Originally a Danish prince, George 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 King 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.
George's reign of almost 50 years (the longest in modern Greek history) was characterized by territorial gains as Greece established its place in pre–World War I Europe. Britain ceded the Ionian Islands peacefully in 1864, while Thessaly was annexed from the Ottoman Empire after the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). Greece was not always successful in its territorial ambitions; it was defeated in the Greco-Turkish War (1897). During the First Balkan War, after Greek troops had captured much of Greek Macedonia, George was assassinated in Thessaloniki.
Early Years

Portrait by August Schiøtt, 1853
George was born on 24 December 1845 at his parents' residence the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade, next to the Amalienborg Palace complex in Copenhagen. He was the second son and third child of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel.[1] He was baptised with the names Christian William Ferdinand Adolph George, and until his accession in Greece, he was known as Prince William,[2] the namesake of both his grandfathers, William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and Prince William of Hesse-Kassel.

Prince William and his family, 1862: (back row left to right) Frederick, Christian IX, William; (front row left to right) Dagmar, Valdemar, Queen Louise, Thyra, Alexandra
Although William was of royal blood (his mother and father were both great-grandchildren of Frederick V of Denmark and great-great-grandchildren of George II of Great Britain) his family was relatively obscure and lived a comparatively normal life by royal standards. In 1853, however, his father was designated the heir presumptive to the childless Frederick VII of Denmark, and the family became princes and princesses of Denmark.
Assassination

Karl Haupt, The Assassination of H.M. the King of the Hellenes, 1913
George I of Greece was assassinated on the late afternoon of March 18, 1913, in Thessaloniki, Greece. It was carried out by an alleged Greek anarchist named Alexandros Schinas.
On the day of the murder, King George I was in Thessaloniki, recently conquered from the Ottomans by his son, Crown Prince Constantine. After 50 years of reign, the king, feeling frail, planned to abdicate during his upcoming golden jubilee in October. In the afternoon, the king took his daily walk in the city streets, with minimal protection, as he did in Athens throughout his reign. At around 5:15 p.m. near the White Tower, Alexandros Schinas shot him with a revolver. King George I was rushed to the hospital but died before arrival. To avoid inciting Greek resentment towards Thessaloniki, a city largely populated by Slavs, authorities denied any political motive for the regicide, attributing it to Schinas, described as an alcoholic and mentally unstable individual. Schinas was arrested by the Hellenic Gendarmerie, placed in custody, and interrogated, but he died from defenestration on May 6, 1913.
After being repatriated on the royal yacht Amphitrite to the Greek capital, the king's body, surrounded by Greek and Danish flags, was placed in the cathedral of Athens and publicly displayed for three days before being buried in the gardens of the royal palace of Tatoi. Constantine I succeeded his father on the eve of World War I, marking the beginning of a period of great instability for Greece and the Crown. Overthrown and replaced by his second son, Alexander, after only four years of reign, Constantine went into exile and only regained his throne in 1920. He was forced to abdicate permanently in 1922, this time in favor of his eldest son, George II, following Greece's defeat in the Greco-Turkish War.
Marriage and Family
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. Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Alexander III of Russia were his brothers-in-law, and George V of the United Kingdom, Christian X of Denmark, Haakon VII of Norway, and Nicholas II of Russia were his nephews.
Children
Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
Constantine I of Greece (1868-1923) | 2 August 1868 Athens | 11 January 1923 Salerno | Sophie von Preußen (1870-1932) |
George of Greece and Denmark (1869-1957) | |||
Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (1870-1891) | 30 August 1870 Corfu, Greece | 24 September 1891 Moscow, Russia | Paul of Russia (1860-1919) |
Nicholas of Greece and Denmark (1872-1938) | 22 January 1872 Athens, Greece | 8 February 1938 Athens, Greece | Elena Vladimirovna of Russia (1882-1957) |
Marie of Greece and Denmark (1876-1940) | |||
Olga of Greece and Denmark (1881-1881) | |||
Andrew of Greece and Denmark (1882-1944) | 2 February 1882 Athens, Greece | 3 December 1944 Metropole Hotel, Monte Carlo, Monaco | Alice Mountbatten (1885-1969) |
Christopher of Greece and Denmark (1888-1940) |
Siblings
Notable Ancestors
Notable Descendants =
- Charles III of the United Kingdom (1948-) - reigning monarch
See Also
- George Oldenburg
- Oldenburg Family
- Oldenburg in Greece
- wikipedia:en:George I of Greece
- King George I of Greece at thePeerage
- King George I of Greece, Geni.com, https://www.geni.com/people/King-George-I-I-of-Greece/4533621, retrieved 01 Dec 2024
- King George I of Greece, FindAGrave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8063511/george_christian_william_ferdinand_adolphus_oldenburg, retrieved 01 Dec 2024
- King George I of Greece, FamilySearch.org, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/about/9KF7-7GD, retrieved 01 Dec 2024
References
Sources
- Campbell, John; Sherrard, Philip (1968). Modern Greece. London: Ernest Benn.
- Christmas, Walter (1914). King George of Greece. Translated by A. G. Chater. New York: McBride, Nast & Company. https://archive.org/details/kinggeorgeofgree00chri.
- Clogg, Richard (1979). A Short History of Modern Greece. Cambridge University Press. https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofmo0000clog.
- Forster, Edward S. (1958). A Short History of Modern Greece 1821–1956 3rd edition. London: Methuen and Co.
- Van der Kiste, John (1994). Kings of the Hellenes. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-0525-5.
- Woodhouse, C. M. (1968). The Story of Modern Greece. London: Faber and Faber.
Footnotes (including sources)
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