OBITUARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3592, 16 January 1923, Page 21

OBITUARY.

EX-KING CONSTANTINE. PARIS, January 11. It is reported that ex-King Constantine died suddenly at Palermo. LONDON, January 11.* Constantine died of cerebral haemorrhage. He had been suffering from arterial celerceis, but the end was not expected. He had arranged to settle in Florence shortly. Queen 'Sophia and her three daughters were present at his death. ROME, January 12. Constantine’s death was not expected. He had arranged to travel to Naples, where he was to be guest of the Duke of Aosta. He took a bath at eight o’clock, immediately became ill, and died before the doctors arrived at the Villa Igea Hotel where the ex-King and Queen were staying. It is believed that his end was hastened by the shock of the execution of his former Ministers, from which he never recovered. CONSTANTINE’S CAREER. * TWICE LOST HIS THRONE. Constantine, who was born on August 2, 1868. was the son cf Geo. I. He married Sophia, a sister of the ex-Kaiser, on October ?7. 18E9. and came to the throne of Greece on March 1, 1913. when his father was assassinated. Greece was then recovering from the Balkan Wars. During the war of 1914-1918 his German sympathies were alb too apparent, and events culminated in June. 1917, by his being forced to abandon the throne to his second son, Alexander. The administration of M. Venizelos, however made itself obnoxious to the Greek people. King Alexander died towards the end of 1920. as the result of a bite from a monkey, and the plebiscite on December 5 resulted in the recall of Constantine, who returned to Greece on December 19. The rout of the Greek forces in Asia Minor in September of last year led to revolution at home, and Constantine’s abdication was announced from Athens on September 26. Writing of this period of the ex-King’s life, the Manchester Guardian’s correspondent said :—“The return of Constantine coincided with the immediate loss of all friendship from the French and a cooling off of that of the British. Meantime French and Italians alike supported materially and morally the Turk. The Greek successes in Anatolia earlv in 1921 led to a frenzied outburst of enthusiasm, which, with characteristic megalomania, was combined by a pro-German and anti-French propaganda of the most virulent type. Then came the hold-up of the Greek advance in Anatolia and a stalemate. Where was Constantine, the slayer of Bulgars, the hero of Salonika and Kresna? “The people began to he uneasy. Their King. Constantine XII of Byzantium, was not at the head of his armies, but at home in his palace. So. nil reluctant, he was " sent to the front at Smyrna hut carefully kept by the generals from contributing his advice to the conference of the General Staff, for it was realised that he was no longer the conqueror of 1912, and it was feared he might be the defeated prince of 1897 again. So back he went to Athens and the people were given sops wherewith to maintain the already fading enthusiasm for the Royal Court. But Constantine had seen enough to realise that not even Smyrna could be held. “But his trouble was how to break this news to the people, who would not abate one tittle of their claims to the territory awarded to them. He was willing to bargain, but nothing resulted, and he made his wild bid to force the hands of the Allies by concentrating before Constantinople. It- was a bid for popularity in Greece. And popularity was badly needed, for as early as May one could hardly find a Greek was was not ready to recall Venizelos. Furthermore, there was a sinister side to this move in Thrace. Five hundred thousand troops were saved from what was already realised as the coming debacle in Anatolia. The months of stalemate had had their effect, and the army was rotten to the core. Then the capable Commander-in-Chief Papoulas was replaced by an eccentric. Hadjianestis. Thus bad generals, bad officers, and bad morale made the army an easy jjfey for the Turk. “But a soldier king dies hard, and. whatever his private opinion, Constantine still posed as a hopeful Emperor of Byzantium. Then the Turk struck. The army melted away and the warrior king was left a prince and potentate with no power. Still search ing for the fragments of an army, he spoke up to the last moment of “joining his troops in Thrace.” It was the despairing cry of a fallen idol. Thus another kinglet has come crashing to earth, a man who had neither ability nor sincerity, who thought first of himself and last only of his adopted country. But where, as " in the Balkans, kingship is a trade, can one expect a king te resign his directorship and its emoluments for a.ny merely ethical reason?” An American interviewer describes Constantine thus: —“The ex-King received me in the garden. He sat at a little rustio table located half-way down the middle of a long, shady avenue of elm trees. He is a big man, wide-shouldered, with a heavy face, a heavy jaw, and close-cropped, bulletshaped head. His bald forehead was wrinkled, his face white and tired, with weary, blackened patches under his mild blue eyes The upturned military moustaehios were not waxed, and scraggy. He was bareheaded and wote a grey tweed business suit. But .when,, after dismissing the aide-de-camp, he opened the conversation, he spoke cheerfully of the collapse of his throne. “Constantine’s English was accentless; he spoke low, in neivous, ejaculatory, explosive sentences, using much American slang. ‘I hopethe Revolutionary army thoroughly defeats the Turks,’ he said. ‘They must. The Turks are still the same uncivilised nomads who invaded Europe 500 years ago. They have not produced any culture or art. If they get Thrace they will be a constant menace to Western Europe. Their policy is the extermination of Greeks. We can and must defeat them in order to save the Greek nation.’ “‘How does it feel not to be a king any more?’ I asked him. “ 'Between you and me and the gatepost I don’t care anything about not being a king. Being a king is no fun these days. It’s a lot of hard work. The position is a very difficult one. I now want to live the life of a plain country gentleman.' “The conversation had lasted an hour. The aide-de-camp suddenly appeared and halted ‘at attention' 20 paces distant, and

saluted. The ex-king beckoned him to approach. The Queen had finished her coffee, and visitors were awaiting on the terrace. Prince Glukesbourg rose,' a tall, hulky figure, -ne shook hands cordially as he thanked me for my bon voyage washes on his trip to Italy.”