OUR GRECIAN PRINCESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 277, 22 November 1934, Page 13

OUR GRECIAN PRINCESS.

THE FAMILY STORY,

(By ELISSA ST. JOHN, the well-known writer on Royalty.) Princess Marina, tall, slim and beautiful, with twinkling grey brown eyes, has for long been noted as one of the loveliest girls of the London season. 'Ihe Princess for several years lias paid annual visits to Mayfair, and has enjoyed the companionship of Prince George, the "babe" Prince of the British Royal House. With many tastes in commonshooting, music, dancing —the royal pair are well matched in temperament and looks. Marina is the third daughter of Prince. Nicolas, brother of the illfated Constantine, twice deposed King of Greece. The story of her family is a dramatic and stirring one, and tallies with the unhappy struggles of Greece in the inception of her career as a nationality.

It was in 182S, when Capodistra, leader of the new Republic, was assassinated, that the Greeks determined to have a king. They offered the throne to Otto of Witteisbacli, Prince of Bavaria, but after 30 years of tyranny, he was expolled, and in 1803 the throne of Greece stood empty. So matters stood when William of Schleswig-Holstein, a duchy then belonging to Denmark, was invited to accept the crown. This William had a sister, Alexandra, who later married Edward VII., son of Queen Victoria. It is their grandson George who is to marry the Princess Marina, granddaughter of the William who ascended the throne of Greece in 1803 as George I.

In 1913, after a prosperous reign, King George was preparing to celebrate his jubilee when he was assassinated by a Crook lunatic. He was succeeded by his soil Constantino —nicknamed " Tino," who was married to Sophia, sister of the Kaiser, Wilhelm 11. Fighting the Turks. "Tino" was a good soldier but a notoriously bad diplomat. He had earned the reputation of a courageous fighter and noble soldier,- fighting with his father and brother Nicolas (father of Marina), against the Turks. In 1897, Crete became the bone of contention between the two countries. Despite the fact that Greece was in no condition, either economically or militarily, to fight the Turk, diplomatic negotiations proved of no avail, and the country was plunged into war. With an army of amateurs, King George led the fiery Greeks into battle, but they were heavily

beaten and forced to sign an ignominous peace. The Glucksburg family was largely blamed for this disaster, and the° troubles of the family, which had begun with the assassination* of the King, rapidly increased.

In 1914, on the outbreak of war, Constantino decided that it was more in keeping with the interests of Greece to remain neutral. The nation, however, represented by Premier Venizelos, were in favour of an alliance with Britain and her allies, for there had long been a bond of sympathy between the two nations. Constantino, wedded to a German wife, wavered in hits policy, waiting to see which would be the more profitable course. The nation, furious at his dismissal of Venizelos, and accusing him of German sympathies, were ready for insurrection. At the instigation of the Allies, who had an expedition based on Salonika, Constantino was deposed in 1917, and the throne offered to Alexander, second son of Constantino —the rightful heir, George, Duke of Sparta, and ex-officer of the Prussian Guard, having gone into exile with his father.

The future prosperity of Greece seemed assured wiMi the new King, who ruled constitutionally and well. His rei™, however, w r as cut prematurely short when, after a period of three years, lie was bitten by a pet monkey and died of poisoning. Dying without an heir, the country in 1920 was again without a king, ancl Constantino was recalled by national plebiscite. Another Defeat. Making a bid for popularity and seeking to gain the hearts of the people, he waged a war against the Turk, whose country was shattered by the World War and in the throes of revolution. But the Greeks again suffered defeat, this time at the hands of Mustapha Kemal, who razed Smyrna to the ground. Constantino, again deposed, fled to Sicily, where he died of a broken heart.

King George, now resident and very popular in London, is the first cousin of Princess Marina, who lives in Fassy, a residential quarter of Paris, near the Bois de Boulogne. For lier father, brother of " Tino," is also ostracised as a member of the Royal family of Greece.

Exiled from her native country, Princess Marina has faced misfortune bravely. Her visits to England, a country of which she is very fond, have shown'her the true sympathy possessed by the British for lier unfortunate race. It was this generous spirit which did so much to lighten the burden of her unfortunate cousin, Princess Helen, exwife of King Carol of Rumania, and mother of the boy King Michael, Prince of Alba Julia. Speaking English perfectly, and with her Anglophil sympathies, Princess Marina might well be taken for a compatriot. The British people have welcomed her with whole-hearted accord, and London is agog with excitement at the prospect of the wedding of its favourite Prince with so beautiful and charming a bride.