Editing Alexander of Greece (section)

==Marriage==
===Controversy===
On 12 June 1917, the day after his accession, Alexander revealed his liaison with Aspasia Manos to his father and asked for his permission to marry her. Constantine was reluctant to let his son marry a non-royal, and demanded that Alexander wait until the end of the war before considering the engagement, to which Alexander agreed.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 117–118.</ref> In the intervening months, Alexander increasingly resented his separation from his family. His regular letters to his parents were intercepted by the government and confiscated.<ref name="vdk113"/> Alexander's only source of comfort was Aspasia, and he decided to marry her despite his father's request.<ref name="vdk118"/>

[[File:Yunan Ordusunun Edirneye girişi (12 Temmuz 1920).jpg|thumb|left|Alexander entering [[Adrianople]], 1920]]
The ruling dynasty of Greece (the [[House of Glücksburg]]) was of German-Danish origin, and Constantine and Sophia were seen as far too German by the Venizelists, but even though the marriage of the king to a Greek presented an opportunity to Hellenize the royal family, and counter criticisms that it was a foreign institution, both Venizelists and Constantinists opposed the match. The Venizelists feared it would give Alexander a means to communicate with his exiled family through Colonel Manos and both sides of the political divide were unhappy at the king marrying a commoner.<ref name="ls136">Llewellyn Smith, p. 136.</ref> Although Venizelos was a friend of Petros Manos,<ref name="sdm176"/> the prime minister warned the king that marrying her would be unpopular in the eyes of the people.<ref name="vdk118">Van der Kiste, p. 118.</ref>{{efn|name=opinions|According to [[Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark]], Venizelos "encouraged the marriage [of Alexander and Aspasia] to acquire political advantage for himself and his party by bringing the royal family thus into disrepute."<ref>Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark, "Comments by HRH Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark" in: Fleming, Patricia H. (June 1973). "The Politics of Marriage Among Non-Catholic European Royalty". ''[[Current Anthropology]]'', vol. 14, no. 3, p. 246. {{JSTOR|2740765}}</ref> However, [[Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker#Private life|Irene Noel Baker]] told her father-in-law, British MP [[Joseph Allen Baker]], that Venizelos was "personally in favour of the marriage [but] is sincerely convinced that it will be extremely unpopular".<ref>Quoted in Llewellyn Smith, p. 357</ref>}}

When [[Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn]], visited Athens in March 1918, to confer the [[Order of the Bath]] upon the king, Alexander feared that a marriage between him and [[Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood|Princess Mary of the United Kingdom]] would be discussed as part of an attempt to consolidate the relationship between Greece and Britain. To Alexander's relief, Arthur asked to meet Aspasia, and declared that, if he were younger, he would have sought to marry her himself.<ref name="vdk118"/> For the foreign powers, and particularly the British ambassador, the marriage was seen as positive.<ref name="sdm177"/> The British authorities feared that Alexander would abdicate in order to marry Aspasia if the wedding was blocked, and they wanted to avoid Greece becoming a republic in case it led to instability or an increase in French influence at their expense.<ref name="ls136"/>

Alexander's parents were not so happy about the match. Sophia disapproved of her son marrying a commoner, while Constantine wanted a delay but was prepared to be his son's best man if Alexander would be patient.<ref name="vdk118"/> Alexander visited Paris at the end of 1918, raising hopes among his family that they would be able to contact him once he was outside Greece. When Queen Sophia attempted to telephone her son in his Parisian hotel, a minister intercepted the call and informed her that "His Majesty is sorry, but he cannot respond to the telephone".<ref name="vdk117"/> He was not even informed that she had called.<ref name="vdk117"/>

===Public scandal===
[[File:King Alexander of Greece and Aspasia Manos.jpg|thumb|left|[[Aspasia Manos]] and King Alexander depicted at the wheel of his [[Packard]] in a contemporary [[lithograph]]]]
With the help of Aspasia's brother-in-law, Christo Zalocostas, and after three unsuccessful attempts, the couple eventually married in secret before a royal chaplain, [[Archimandrite]] Zacharistas, on the evening of 17 November 1919.<ref name="sdm177"/> After the ceremony, the archimandrite was sworn to silence but soon broke his promise by confessing to the Archbishop of Athens, [[Patriarch Meletius IV of Constantinople|Meletios Metaxakis]].<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 118–119.</ref> According to the Greek constitution, members of the royal family had to obtain permission to marry from both the sovereign and the head of the [[Greek Orthodox Church]].<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 120–121.</ref> By marrying Aspasia without the permission of the Archbishop, Alexander caused a major scandal.<ref name="vdk119"/>

Despite his disapproval of the union, Venizelos allowed Aspasia and her mother to move into the Royal Palace on condition that the marriage remain secret.<ref name="sdm177"/> The information leaked, however, and to escape public opprobrium Aspasia was forced to leave Greece. She fled to Rome, and then to Paris, where Alexander was allowed to join her, six months later, on condition that they not attend official functions together.<ref name="vdk119"/> On their Parisian honeymoon, while motoring near [[Fontainebleau]], the couple witnessed a serious car crash in which Count de Kergariou's chauffeur lost control of his master's vehicle. Alexander avoided the count's car, which swerved and hit a tree. The king drove the injured to hospital in his own car,<ref>"The King in a Motor Accident", ''[[The Times]]'', 29 May 1920, p. 13.</ref> while Aspasia, who had trained as a nurse during World War I, rendered first aid. The count was seriously injured and died shortly afterward, after having both legs amputated.<ref>"[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1707255 Narrow Escape While Motoring]", ''[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]]'', 31 May 1920, p. 8.</ref>{{efn|name=kergariou|Count Alain de Kergariou (died 29 May 1920 aged 38) was an officer in the [[French Air Service]] during World War I.<ref>"Count de Kergariou Dead", ''The Times'', 31 May 1920, p. 13.</ref> He was motoring with his wife and two stepsons, the princes de Tonnay-Charente, when the accident happened. The countess was bruised but otherwise uninjured; one of her sons lost an arm.<ref>"[http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/singfreepressb19200710.2.49.aspx Greek King in Motor Smash]", ''The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser'', 10 July 1920, p. 12.</ref>}}

The government allowed the couple to return to Greece in mid-1920. Although their marriage was legalized, Aspasia was not recognized as queen, but was instead known as "Madame Manos".<ref name="vdk119"/> At first, she stayed at her sister's house in the Greek capital before transferring to Tatoi,<ref>Sáinz de Medrano, p. 178.</ref> and it was during this period that she became pregnant with Alexander's child.<ref name="vdk119"/>

Alexander visited the newly acquired territories of [[West Thrace]], and on 8 July 1920 the new name for the region's main town—[[Alexandroupolis]] (meaning "city of Alexander" in Greek)—was announced in the king's presence. The city's previous name of Dedeagatch was considered too Turkish.<ref>Kargakos, pp. 325–331</ref> On 7 September, Venizelos, counting on a surge of support in the wake of the signing of the Treaty of Sèvres and the expansion of Greek territory, announced a general election for early November.<ref>Llewellyn Smith, p. 135.</ref>