THE CREEK THRONE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160796, 2 November 1920, Page 4

THE CREEK THRONE.

Considerable interest attaches to the result of the coming general elections in Greece, for one of the Issues to be decided then concerns the Greek throne. It will be recalled by “Herald” readers that King Constantine was ejected from the throne by the Allies in 1917 in consequence of his intrigues. When he and the Crown Prince got their inarching orders, the ex-King’s second son, Alexander, was chosen King, and the latter’s untimely death through being bitten by a monkey led to his brother Paul, a lad of 19, being asked to accept the throne. There is considerable doubt, however, as to which political party is going to succeed at the general elections which are about to take place, and Prince Paul is awaiting the result before giving his decision. An Athens cable s’to-day 5 ’to-day states that if Venizelos is successful' at the elections, Constantine and the Crown Prince will renounce the throne, and that ' Prince Paul will accept the offer, while a Paris message, on the authority of a leading French newspaper, says that Venizelos is likely to ask the King of the Belgians’ second son, a school boy at Eton, to at cept the Greek tJr. one. As a matter of fact ex-King Constantine considers his own claims mpre deserving than those of his offspring. Interviewed in Paris recently, he declared that he had never abdicated, and that the Entente had promised to allow him to return to ’Greece after the war if the Greek people wished him to reoccupy the throne. So far he has not been able to return to Athens, although the Royalists .have been making strong efforts to secure his return. It will all depend upon the result of tlis elections now pending in Greece whether the Royalists succeed in their 'efforts to place Constantine in power again or-whether Venizelos will gain the day. The probabilities are that Constantine’s hopes will not be realised, and that he will have to be prepared to agree to someone else taking the throne unless Venizelos is transformed from Prime Minister to President.