Editing Alexander of Greece

{{short description|King of Greece from 1917 to 1920}}
{{for|the ancient king of Macedon or the Byzantine emperor|Alexander the Great|Alexander (Byzantine emperor)}}
{{featured article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Alexander
| native_lang1_name1 = Αλέξανδρος (Aléxandros)
| native_lang1 = Greek
| succession   = [[King of the Hellenes]]
| image        = King Alexander of Greece.jpg
| caption      = King Alexander {{c.|1917}}
| reign        = 11 June 1917 – 25 October 1920{{efn|name=dates|Dates in this article are in the [[Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe|New Style]] [[Gregorian calendar]]. The Old Style [[Julian calendar]] was used in Greece throughout Alexander's lifetime.}}
| coronation   = 11 June 1917
| cor-type     = Inauguration
| reg-type     = {{nowrap|[[Prime Minister of Greece|Prime Ministers]]}}
| regent       = {{collapsible list|title=''See list''|[[Alexandros Zaimis]]|[[Eleftherios Venizelos]]}}
| predecessor  = [[Constantine I of Greece|Constantine I]]
| successor    = Constantine I
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Aspasia Manos]]|1919}}
| issue        = [[Alexandra of Yugoslavia|Alexandra, Queen of Yugoslavia]]
| house        = [[House of Glücksburg|Glücksburg]]
| father       = [[Constantine I of Greece]]
| mother       = [[Sophia of Prussia]]
| signature    = Alexander I of Greece signature 19200303.svg
| module       = {{Infobox military person
| embed=yes
  | allegiance    = {{flagicon|Greece|royal}} [[Kingdom of Greece]]
  | branch        = {{army|Greece}}
  | serviceyears  = 
  | servicenumber =
  | unit          = [[Army of Thessaly]]
  | commands      = 
  | battles_label =
  | battles       = 
{{tree list}}
* [[Balkan Wars]]
** [[First Balkan War]]
** [[Second Balkan War]]
{{tree list/end}}
  | awards      =
}}
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|df=yes|1893|8|1}}
| birth_place  = [[Tatoi Palace]], [[Athens]], [[Kingdom of Greece]]
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1920|10|25|1893|8|1}}
| death_place  = Athens, Greece
| burial_date  = 29 October 1920
| burial_place = Royal Cemetery, Tatoi Palace, Greece
}}

'''Alexander''' ({{langx|el|Αλέξανδρος}}, [[Romanization|<small>romanized</small>]]: ''Aléxandros''; 1 August 1893{{spaced ndash}}25 October 1920){{efn|name=dates}} was [[King of Greece]] from 11 June 1917 until his death on 25 October 1920.

The second son of [[King Constantine&nbsp;I]], Alexander was born in the summer palace of [[Tatoi Palace|Tatoi]] on the outskirts of [[Athens]]. He succeeded his father in 1917, during [[Greece during World War I|World War I]], after the [[Entente Powers]] and the followers of [[Eleftherios Venizelos]] pushed King Constantine and his eldest son, [[George II of Greece|Crown Prince George]], into exile. Having no real political experience, the new king was stripped of his powers by the [[Venizelism|Venizelists]] and effectively imprisoned in his own palace. Venizelos, as prime minister, was the effective ruler with the support of the Entente. Though reduced to the status of a [[puppet king]], Alexander supported Greek troops during their war against the [[Ottoman Empire]] and [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]. Under his reign, the territorial extent of Greece considerably increased, following the victory of the Entente and their [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] in the First World War and the early stages of the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922]].

Alexander controversially married the commoner [[Aspasia Manos]] in 1919, provoking a major scandal that forced the couple to leave Greece for several months. Soon after returning to Greece with his wife, Alexander was bitten by a domestic [[Barbary macaque]] and died aged 27 of [[sepsis]]. The sudden death of the sovereign led to questions over the monarchy's survival and contributed to the fall of the Venizelist regime. After a [[1920 Greek legislative election|general election]] and a [[1920 Greek referendum|referendum]], Constantine I was restored to the throne.

==Early life==
[[File:Children of King Constantine.jpg|thumb|Alexander with four of his siblings in 1905. Clockwise from far left: [[Helen of Greece and Denmark|Helen]], [[George II of Greece|George]], Alexander, [[Paul of Greece|Paul]] and [[Princess Irene, Duchess of Aosta|Irene]].]]
Alexander was born at [[Tatoi Palace]] on 1 August 1893 (20 July in the [[Julian calendar]]), the second son of [[Constantine I of Greece|Crown Prince Constantine of Greece]] and [[Princess Sophia of Prussia]]. He was related to royalty throughout Europe. His father was the eldest son of King [[George I of Greece]] by his wife, [[Olga Constantinovna of Russia]]; his mother was the daughter of [[Frederick III, German Emperor]], and [[Victoria, Princess Royal]] of the United Kingdom.<ref name="Montgomery-Massingberd, p. 327">Montgomery-Massingberd, p. 327.</ref> His parents' cousins included King [[George V]] of the United Kingdom and Emperor [[Nicholas II]] of Russia. [[Wilhelm II]], German Emperor, was his maternal uncle.<ref>Carter, p. xi</ref>

Alexander's early life alternated between the [[Presidential Mansion, Athens|Royal Palace]] in [[Athens]], and Tatoi Palace in the city's suburbs. With his parents he undertook several trips abroad and regularly visited [[Schloss Friedrichshof]], the home of his maternal grandmother, who had a particular affection for her Greek grandson.<ref name=vdk62>Van der Kiste, p. 62.</ref>

Though he was very close to his younger sister [[Helen of Greece and Denmark|Helen]], Alexander was less warm towards his elder brother, [[George II of Greece|George]], with whom he had little in common.<ref name="sdm174">Sáinz de Medrano, p. 174.</ref> While George was a serious and thoughtful child, Alexander was mischievous and extroverted; he smoked cigarettes made from blotting paper, set fire to the [[games room]] in the palace, and recklessly lost control of a toy cart in which he and his younger brother [[Paul of Greece|Paul]] were rolling down a hill, tipping his toddler brother a distance of {{convert|6|ft|abbr=on}} into [[brambles]].<ref name="vdk62"/>

==Military career==
Alexander was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother. His education was expensive and carefully planned, but while George spent part of his military training in Germany,<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 83.</ref> Alexander was educated in Greece. He joined the prestigious [[Hellenic Military Academy]], where several of his uncles had previously studied and where he made himself known more for his mechanical skills than for his intellectual capacity.<ref name="sdm174"/> He was passionate about cars and motors, and was one of the first Greeks to acquire an automobile.<ref name="vdk113">Van der Kiste, p. 113.</ref>

Alexander distinguished himself in combat during the [[Greece in the Balkan Wars|Balkan Wars]] of 1912–13.<ref name="sdm174"/> As a young officer, he was stationed, along with his elder brother, in the field staff of his father; and he accompanied the latter at the head of the [[Army of Thessaly]] during the capture of [[Thessaloniki]] in 1912.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 72.</ref> King George I was assassinated in Thessaloniki soon afterwards on 18 March 1913, and Alexander's father ascended the throne as Constantine I.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 74–75.</ref>

===Courtship of Aspasia Manos===
In 1915, at a party held in Athens by court marshal Theodore [[Ypsilantis]], Alexander became re-acquainted with one of his childhood friends, [[Aspasia Manos]]. She had just returned from education in France and Switzerland, and was reckoned as very beautiful by her acquaintances.<ref name="sdm176">Sáinz de Medrano, p. 176.</ref>

She was the daughter of Constantine's [[Master of the Horse]],<ref name="vdk117">Van der Kiste, p. 117.</ref> Colonel Petros Manos, and his wife Maria Argyropoulos. The 21-year-old Alexander was smitten,<ref name="sdm176"/> and was so determined to seduce her that he followed her to the island of [[Spetses]] where she holidayed that year. Initially, Aspasia was resistant to his charm; although considered very handsome by his contemporaries, Alexander had a reputation as a ladies' man from numerous past liaisons.<ref name="sdm176"/>

Despite this, he finally won her over, and the couple were engaged in secret. However, for King Constantine I, Queen Sophia and much of European society of the time, it was inconceivable for a royal prince to marry someone of a different social rank.<ref name="sdm177">Sáinz de Medrano, p. 177.</ref>

===World War I===
[[File:Constantineiofgreece.jpg|thumb|left|Alexander's father, [[Constantine I of Greece|Constantine I]], in the uniform of a German field marshal, {{circa|1913}}]]
During World War I, Constantine I followed a formal policy of neutrality, yet he was openly benevolent towards [[German Empire|Germany]], which was fighting alongside [[Austria-Hungary]], [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]] against the [[Triple Entente]] of [[Russian Empire|Russia]], [[French Third Republic|France]] and [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]]. Constantine was the brother-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and had also become something of a [[Germanophile]] following his military training in [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]. His pro-German attitude provoked a split between the monarch and the prime minister, [[Eleftherios Venizelos]], who wanted to support the Entente in the hope of expanding Greek territory to incorporate the Greek minorities in the Ottoman Empire and the [[Balkans]]. Protected by the countries of the Entente, particularly France, in 1916 Venizelos formed a [[Movement of National Defence|parallel government to that of the king]].<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 89–101.</ref>

Parts of Greece were occupied by the Allied Entente forces, but Constantine I refused to modify his policy and faced increasingly open opposition from the Entente and the [[Venizelism|Venizelists]]. In July 1916, an arson attack ravaged Tatoi Palace and the royal family barely escaped the flames; Alexander was not injured but his mother narrowly saved [[Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark|Princess Katherine]] by carrying her through the woods for more than {{convert|2|km|abbr=on}}. Among the palace personnel and firefighters who arrived to deal with the blaze, sixteen people were killed.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 96–98.</ref>

Finally on 10 June 1917, [[Charles Jonnart]], the Entente's High Commissioner in Greece, ordered King Constantine to give up his power.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 106.</ref> On the threat of Entente forces landing in [[Piraeus]], the king conceded and agreed to go into self-exile, though without officially abdicating his crown. The Allies, while determined to be rid of Constantine, did not wish to create a Greek republic, and sought to replace the king with another member of the royal family. Crown Prince George, who was the natural heir, was ruled out by the Allies because they thought him too pro-German, like his father.<ref name="vdk107">Van der Kiste, p. 107.</ref> Instead, they considered installing Constantine's brother (and Alexander's uncle), [[Prince George of Greece and Denmark|Prince George]],<ref>Bertin, pp. 215, 220.</ref> but he had tired of public life during his difficult tenure as [[High Commissioner]] of [[Crete]] between 1901 and 1905; above all, he sought to remain loyal to his brother, and categorically refused to take the throne.<ref>Bertin, p. 220.</ref> As a result, Constantine's second son, Prince Alexander, was chosen to become the new monarch.<ref name="vdk107"/>

==Reign==

===Accession===
The dismissal of Constantine was not unanimously supported by the Entente powers; while France and Britain did nothing to stop Jonnart's actions, the [[Russian provisional government]] officially protested to Paris.<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, pp. 305–307.</ref> [[Petrograd]] demanded that Alexander should not receive the title of king but only that of [[regent]], so as to preserve the rights of the deposed sovereign and the Crown Prince. Russia's protests were brushed aside, and Alexander ascended the Greek throne.<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, p. 306.</ref>
[[File:Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος.jpg|thumb|[[Eleftherios Venizelos]], Greek revolutionary and prime minister, {{circa|1919}}]]
Alexander swore the oath of loyalty to the [[Greek Constitution of 1911|Greek constitution]] on the afternoon of 11 June 1917 in the ballroom of the Royal Palace. Apart from the [[List of archbishops of Athens|Archbishop of Athens]], Theocletus I, who administered the oath, only King Constantine I, Crown Prince George and the king's prime minister, [[Alexandros Zaimis]], attended.<ref name="vdk108">Van der Kiste, pp. 107–108.</ref> There were no festivities.<ref name="vdk107"/> The 23-year-old Alexander had a broken voice and tears in his eyes as he made the solemn declaration.<ref name="vdk108"/> He knew that the Entente and the Venizelists would hold real power and that neither his father nor his brother had renounced their claims to the throne. Constantine had informed his son that he should consider himself a regent, rather than a true monarch.<ref name="vdk107"/>

In the evening, after the ceremony, the royal family decided to leave their palace in Athens for [[Tatoi]], but city residents opposed the exile of their sovereign and crowds formed outside the palace to prevent Constantine and his family from leaving. On 12 June, the former king and his family escaped undetected from their residence by feigning departure from one gate while exiting through another.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 108–109.</ref> At Tatoi, Constantine again impressed upon Alexander that he held the crown in trust only.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 109.</ref> It was the last time that Alexander would be in direct contact with his family.<ref name="vdk113"/> The next day, Constantine, Sophia and all of their children except Alexander arrived at the small port of [[Oropos]] and set off into exile.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 110–111.</ref>

===Puppet king===
With his parents and siblings in exile, Alexander found himself isolated. The royals remained unpopular with the Venizelists, and Entente representatives advised the king's aunts and uncles, particularly [[Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark|Prince Nicholas]], to leave. Eventually, they all followed Constantine into exile.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 115.</ref> Royal household staff were gradually replaced by enemies of the former king, and Alexander's allies were either imprisoned or distanced from him. Portraits of the royal family were removed from public buildings, and Alexander's new ministers openly called him the "son of a traitor".<ref name="vdk112">Van der Kiste, p. 112.</ref>

[[File:232 14 Alexandre raccompagne Alexandre jusqu'au train.jpg|thumb|Alexander (centre) shaking hands with prince-regent [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|Alexander of Serbia]] on the Macedonian Front, May 1918]]

On 26 June 1917, the king was forced to name Eleftherios Venizelos as head of the government. Despite promises given by the Entente on Constantine's departure, the previous prime minister, Zaimis, was effectively forced to resign as Venizelos returned to Athens.<ref name="vdk113"/> Alexander immediately opposed his new prime minister's views and, annoyed by the king's rebuffs, Venizelos threatened to remove him and set up a regency council in the name of Alexander's brother Prince Paul, then still a minor. The Entente powers intervened and asked Venizelos to back down, allowing Alexander to retain the crown.<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, p. 312.</ref> Spied on day and night by the prime minister's supporters, the monarch quickly became a prisoner in his own palace, and his orders went ignored.<ref name="vdk112"/>

Alexander had no experience in affairs of state. However, he was determined to make the best of a difficult situation and to represent his father as best he could.<ref name="vdk112"/> Adopting an air of cool indifference to the government, he rarely made the effort to read official documents before he [[rubber-stamp]]ed them.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 114.</ref> His functions were limited, and amounted to visiting the [[Macedonian front]] to support the morale of the Greek and Allied troops. Since Venizelos's return to power, Athens was at war with the [[Central Powers]], and Greek soldiers battled those of Bulgaria in the north.<ref name="vdk119">Van der Kiste, p. 119.</ref>

===Greek expansion===
[[File:Greek history from 1832.GIF|thumb|Territorial expansion of Greece between 1832 and 1947]]

By the end of World War I, Greece had grown beyond its 1914 borders, and the [[Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine|treaties of Neuilly]] (1919) and [[Treaty of Sèvres|Sèvres]] (1920) confirmed the Greek territorial conquests. The majority of [[Thrace]] (previously split between Bulgaria and Turkey) and several [[Aegean Islands]] (such as [[Imbros]] and [[Tenedos]]) became part of Greece, and the region of [[Smyrna]], in [[Ionia]], was placed under Greek [[League of Nations mandate|mandate]].<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, pp. 382–384.</ref> Alexander's kingdom increased in size by around a third. In Paris, Venizelos took part in the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|peace negotiations]] with the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. Upon his return to Greece in August 1920, Venizelos received a [[laurel crown]] from the king for his work in support of [[panhellenism]].<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, p. 387.</ref>

Despite their territorial gains following the Paris Peace Conference, the Greeks still hoped to achieve the ''[[Megali Idea]]'' and annex [[Constantinople]] and larger areas of Ottoman [[Asia Minor]]; they invaded [[Anatolia]] beyond Smyrna and sought to take [[Ankara]], with the aim of destroying the Turkish resistance led by [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal]] (later known as Atatürk).<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, p. 386.</ref> Thus began the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)]]. Although Alexander's reign saw success after success for the Greek armies, it was eventually Atatürk's revolutionary forces that obtained victory in 1922, negating the gains made under Alexander.{{efn|name=Lausanne|The [[Treaty of Lausanne]] in 1923 redrew the boundary between Turkey and Greece back in favor of Turkey.<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, pp. 433–434.</ref>}}

==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>

==Death==
[[File:Queen Sofia of Greece.jpg|thumb|Alexander's mother, [[Queen Sophia of Greece]], by [[Georgios Jakobides]], 1915]]
On 2 October 1920, Alexander was injured while walking through the grounds of the Tatoi estate. A domestic [[Barbary macaque]] belonging to the steward of the palace's grapevines attacked or was attacked by the king's [[German Shepherd|German Shepherd dog]], Fritz,{{efn|name=dog|The dog had been found in an enemy trench during World War I by a British officer, who had presented it to Alexander as a gift.<ref name="vdk119"/>}} and Alexander attempted to separate the two animals. As he did so, another monkey attacked Alexander and bit him deeply on the leg and torso. Eventually servants arrived and chased away the monkeys,<ref>"Monkey Bites King of Greece", ''[[The Portsmouth Herald]]'', 14 October 1920, p. 1; Van der Kiste, p. 122.</ref> and the king's wounds were promptly cleaned and dressed but not [[cauterize]]d. He did not consider the incident serious and asked that it not be publicized.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 122–123.</ref>

That evening, his wounds became infected; he developed a strong fever and [[sepsis]] set in. His doctors considered amputating his leg, but none wished to take responsibility for so drastic an act.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 123.</ref> On 19 October, he became [[Delirium|delirious]] and called out for his mother, but the Greek government refused to allow her to re-enter the country from exile in Switzerland, despite her own protestations. Finally, the [[queen dowager]], [[Olga Constantinovna of Russia|Olga]], George I's widow and Alexander's grandmother, was allowed to return alone to Athens to tend to the king. She was delayed by rough waters, however, and by the time she arrived, Alexander had already died of [[sepsis]] twelve hours previously at a little after 4 p.m. on 25 October 1920.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 123–124.</ref> The other members of the royal family received the news by telegram that night.{{efn|name=death|[[Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark|Prince Nicolas]] received the news first but did not communicate it to Alexander's parents until the next morning because he did not wish to disturb their rest.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 124.</ref>}}

Two days later, Alexander's body was conveyed to [[Athens Cathedral]], where it lay in state until his funeral on 29 October. Once again, the royal family were refused permission to return to Greece, and Queen Olga was the only member who attended.<ref name="vdk125"/> Foreign powers were represented by the [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|Prince Regent of Serbia]] with his sister [[Princess Helen of Serbia|Princess Helen]] wife of [[Prince John Konstantinovich of Russia|John Constantinovich of Russia]], the [[Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden|Crown Prince of Sweden]] with his uncle [[Prince Eugen, Duke of Närke|Prince Eugene, Duke of Nericia]], and Rear-Admirals [[George Hope (Royal Navy officer)|Sir George Hope]] of the United Kingdom and Dumesnil of France, as well as members of the Athens diplomatic corps.<ref>"Royal Funeral in Athens", ''The Times'', 2 November 1920, p. 11.</ref>

After the cathedral service, Alexander's body was interred on the grounds of the royal estate at Tatoi.<ref name="vdk125">Van der Kiste, p. 125.</ref> The Greek royal family never regarded Alexander's reign as fully legitimate. In the royal cemetery, while other monarchs are given the inscription "King of the Hellenes, Prince of Denmark", Alexander's reads "Alexander, son of the King of the Hellenes, Prince of Denmark. He ruled in the place of his father from 14 June 1917 to 25 October 1920."<ref name="vdk125"/> According to Alexander's favorite sister, Queen Helen of Romania, this feeling of illegitimacy was also shared by Alexander himself, a sentiment that helps explain his mésalliance with Aspasia Manos.<ref name="vdk118" />

==Legacy==
[[File:Laszlo - Queen Olga of Greece.jpg|thumb|Alexander's paternal grandmother, [[Olga Constantinovna of Russia|Queen Olga of Greece]], by [[Philip Alexius de László]], 1914. She acted as regent between his death and the restoration of his father.]]
Alexander's death raised questions about the succession to the throne as well as the nature of the Greek regime. As the king had contracted an unequal marriage,{{efn|name=marriage|Here "unequal marriage" refers to the union between a person of royal rank with an individual of a "lower" social status. This is similar to the [[morganatic marriage]]s of other European countries, though this concept did not exist in Greece.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 120.</ref>}} his descendants were not in the line of succession.{{efn|name=succession|The restored King Constantine did not recognize Alexander's only child, [[Alexandra of Yugoslavia|Alexandra]], as a member of the House of Greece until July 1922. However, as the Greek succession was governed by [[Salic law]] until the beginning of the reign of [[Constantine II of Greece|Constantine II]], she would not have been eligible as a female anyway.<ref>Sáinz de Medrano, pp. 180, 238, 402.</ref>}} The [[Hellenic Parliament]] demanded that Constantine I and Crown Prince George be excluded from the succession but sought to preserve the monarchy by selecting another member of the royal house as the new sovereign. On 29 October 1920, the Greek minister in Berne, acting under the direction of the Greek authorities, offered the throne to Alexander's younger brother, Prince Paul.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 125–126.</ref> Paul, however, refused to become king while his father and elder brother were alive, insisting that neither of them had renounced their rights to the throne and that he therefore could never legitimately wear the crown.<ref>Llewellyn Smith, p. 139; Van der Kiste, p. 126.</ref>

The throne remained vacant and the [[1920 Greek legislative election|legislative elections of 1920]] turned into an open conflict between the Venizelists, who favored republicanism, and the supporters of the ex-King Constantine.<ref>Llewellyn Smith, pp. 144–148; Van der Kiste, p. 126.</ref> On 14 November 1920, with the war with Turkey dragging on, the monarchists won, and [[Dimitrios Rallis]] became prime minister; Venizelos (who lost his own parliamentary seat) chose to leave Greece in self-exile. Rallis asked Queen Olga to become regent until Constantine's return.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 126.</ref>

Under the restored King Constantine I, whose return was endorsed overwhelmingly in a [[1920 Greek referendum|referendum]], Greece went on to lose the Greco–Turkish War with heavy military and civilian casualties. The territory gained on the Turkish mainland during Alexander's reign was lost. Alexander's death in the midst of an election campaign helped destabilize the Venizelos regime, and the resultant loss of Allied support contributed to the failure of Greece's territorial ambitions.<ref>Fry, Goldstein and Langhorne, p. 201; Goldstein, p. 49.</ref> [[Winston Churchill]] wrote, "it is perhaps no exaggeration to remark that a quarter of a million persons died of this monkey's bite."<ref>Churchill, p. 409, quoted (for example) in Pentzopoulos, p. 39.</ref>

===Issue===
Alexander's daughter by Aspasia Manos, [[Alexandra of Yugoslavia|Alexandra]] (1921–1993), was born five months after his death. Initially, the government took the line that since Alexander had married Aspasia without the permission of his father or the church, his marriage was illegal and his posthumous daughter was illegitimate. However, in July 1922, Parliament passed a law which allowed the King to recognize royal marriages retroactively on a non-dynastic basis.<ref>[[Ghislain de Diesbach|Diesbach]], p. 225.</ref> That September,<ref name="Montgomery-Massingberd, p. 327"/> Constantine—at Sophia's insistence—recognized his son's marriage to Aspasia and granted her the style of "Princess Alexander".<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 132.</ref> Her daughter (Constantine I's granddaughter) was legitimized as a princess of Greece and Denmark, and later married King [[Peter II of Yugoslavia]] in London in 1944. They had one child: [[Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia]].<ref>Montgomery-Massingberd, pp. 327, 536, 544.</ref>

==Ancestry==
{{See also|Descendants of Christian IX of Denmark}}

{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center |ref=<ref>Maclagan and Louda, pp. 34, 51–53, 187, 275–283.</ref>
| boxstyle_1 = background-color: #fcc;
| boxstyle_2 = background-color: #fb9;
| boxstyle_3 = background-color: #ffc;
| boxstyle_4 = background-color: #bfc;
| 1  = Alexander, King of the Hellenes
| 2  = [[Constantine I, King of the Hellenes]]
| 3  = [[Princess Sophia of Prussia]]
| 4  = [[George I, King of the Hellenes]]
| 5  = [[Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia]]
| 6  = [[Frederick III, German Emperor]]
| 7  = [[Victoria, Princess Royal]]
| 8  = [[Christian IX of Denmark]]
| 9  = [[Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel]]
| 10 = [[Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaevich of Russia]]
| 11 = [[Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg]]
| 12 = [[William I, German Emperor]]
| 13 = [[Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar]]
| 14 = [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
| 15 = [[Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom]]
}}

==Footnotes and references==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book |author-link=Célia Bertin |last=Bertin |first=Célia |year=1982 |title=Marie Bonaparte |location=Paris |publisher=Perrin |isbn=2-262-01602-X |language=fr}}
* {{cite book |last=Carter |first=Miranda |year=2009 |title=The Three Emperors |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=978-0-670-91556-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Churchill |first=Winston S. |author-link=Winston Churchill |year=1929 |title=The World Crisis Volume 5: The Aftermath (1918–1928) |publisher=Butterworth |location=London}}
* {{cite book |author=Diesbach, Ghislain de |author-link=Ghislain de Diesbach |others=translated from the French by [[Margaret Crosland (writer)|Margaret Crosland]] |title=Secrets of the Gotha |year=1967 |publisher=Chapman & Hall |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last1=Driault |first1=Édouard |last2=Lhéritier |first2=Michel |title=Histoire diplomatique de la Grèce de 1821 à nos jours |trans-title=Diplomatic History of Greece from 1821 to today |volume=V |year=1926 |publisher=PUF |location=Paris |language=fr}}
* {{cite book |last=Fry |first=Michael Graham |author2=Goldstein, Erik |author3=Langhorne, Richard |year=2002 |title=Guide to International Relations and Diplomacy |publisher=Continuum |location=London and New York |isbn=0-8264-5250-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Erik |year=1992 |title=War and Peace Treaties 1816–1991 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=0-415-07822-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Kargakos |first=Sarantos I. |year=2000 |script-title=el:Αλεξανδρούπολη: Μια νέα πόλη με παλιά ιστορία |trans-title=Alexandroupoli: A New City with an Old History |publisher=Privately printed |location=Athens |language=el |oclc=47927958}}
* {{cite book |last=Llewellyn-Smith |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Llewellyn-Smith |year=1998 |orig-year=1973 |title=Ionian Vision: Greece in Asia Minor 1919–1922 |publisher=Hurst & Co |location=London |isbn=1-85065-413-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Maclagan |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Maclagan |author2=Louda, Jiří |title=Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe |year=1999 |publisher=Little, Brown & Co |location=London |isbn=1-85605-469-1}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Hugh Massingberd |editor-last=Montgomery-Massingberd |editor-first=Hugh |year=1977 |title=Burke's Royal Families of the World'', 1st edition'' |location=London |publisher=Burke's Peerage |isbn=0-85011-023-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Pentzopoulos |first=Dimitri |year=2002 |title=The Balkan Exchange of Minorities and its Impact on Greece |orig-year=1962 |publisher=Hurst & Co |location=London |isbn=1-85065-674-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Sáinz de Medrano |first=Ricardo Mateos |title=La Familia de la Reina Sofía, La Dinastía griega, la Casa de Hannover y los reales primos de Europe |trans-title=The Family of Queen Sophia, the Greek Dynasty, the House of Hanover and the Royal Cousins of Europe |year=2004 |publisher=La Esfera de los Libros |location=Madrid |language=es |isbn=84-9734-195-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Van der Kiste |first=John |title=Kings of the Hellenes: The Greek Kings, 1863–1974 |year=1994 |publisher=Sutton Publishing |location=Dover, New Hampshire and Stroud, Gloucestershire |isbn=0-7509-0525-5}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Alexandra of Yugoslavia |author-link=Alexandra of Yugoslavia |year=1956 |publisher=Oldhams Press |title=For a King's Love |location=London |oclc=2234245}}
* {{cite book |last=Tourtchine |first=Jean-Fred |title=Le Royaume des Deux-Siciles volume II – Le Royaume de Grèce |trans-title=The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Volume II – The Kingdom of Greece |series=Les Manuscrits du Cèdre. Dictionnaire historique et généalogique |date=December 1998 |publisher=Cercle d'Études des Dynasties Royales Européennes |location=Paris |language=fr |pages=165–167 |chapter=Alexandre I |issn=0993-3964}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Alexander I of Greece|Alexander, King of the Hellenes}}
*[http://www.britishpathe.com/video/funeral-of-the-king-of-greece Film of King Alexander's funeral], British Pathé

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg]]|1 August|1893|25 October|1920|[[House of Oldenburg]] }}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Constantine I of Greece|Constantine I]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of kings of Greece|King of the Hellenes]]|years=11 June 1917 – 25 October 1920}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Constantine I of Greece|Constantine I]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Kingdom of Greece}}
{{Heads of state of Greece}}
{{Greek princes}}
{{Danish princes}}
{{Greece during World War I}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander of Greece}}
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