Following Greece's independence from the Ottoman Empire (1821âÂÂ1829) and the establishment of a monarchy in 1832, a coronation ceremony based on Byzantine tradition was contemplated for the newly crowned sovereign, Otto I, and regalia were crafted for the planned event, which was scheduled to take place upon the king's coming of age (1835). However, as Otto was not prepared to renounce Catholicism and embrace Orthodoxy, the Church of Greece declined to crown him, and a more modest enthronement () ceremony was subsequently arranged.
In 1844, the Greek constitutions introduced a more detailed structure for the investiture of the monarch. A double oath-taking ceremony () was required to be conducted in the presence of the country's religious and political authorities. However, the political upheavals that plagued the Kingdom of Greece from its founding (1830) to its final dissolution (1974) complicated the organization of most royal investitures. For example, those of Otto I (1835) and George I (1863) took place after difficult royal elections, while Constantine I's (1913) occurred during a war and after a regicide: Alexander I's (1917) occurred during World War I, resulting from an Entente coup; George II's (1922) followed a military disaster and a revolution; while Paul I's (1947) took place during a civil war.
Despite the creation of regalia (comprising a crown, scepter, and sword) for the coronation of King Otto I, which was scheduled to take place at the Church of Saint Irene in Athens, no modern Greek king was ever crowned. The first two Greek monarchs were not members of the Orthodox faith, and the national church declined to crown them. The constitutions introduced after 1844 replaced the idea of a coronation with a simple proclamation, followed by an oath-taking ceremony before Parliament.
Under the stipulations outlined in Articles 36 and 42 of the 1844 Constitution (subsequently reiterated in Article 43 of the 1864 constitution, 1911, and 1952 constitutions), the monarch would be required to take the following oath in the presence of the government, the Holy Synod, the parliamentarians in the capital, and other senior authorities upon the death of his predecessor (or upon reaching majority).
In accordance with Article 43 of the 1844 Constitution (and Article 49 of subsequent constitutions), the oath was repeated before Parliament within two months following the actual royal investiture.
In accordance with the London Protocol of April 26, 1832, and the London Conference of May 7, 1832, the newly independent Greek state was transformed into a kingdom, with Prince Otto of Bavaria assuming the role of head of state. The date of Otto's majority was set for the day of his 20th birthday, and a Regency Council was established. Otto was formally proclaimed king, and the provisional government organized festivities in Argos in June to commemorate his birthday. Subsequently, three Greek deputies (Andreas Miaoulis, Kostas Botsaris, and Dimitrios Plapoutas) appeared before the Wittelsbach court in Munich on behalf of the Greek nation on October 15, 1832. They were received by their new sovereign at the Residenz Palace, where they swore an oath of loyalty to him in the presence of the Archimandrite of Munich.
Otto I and his Regency Council finally arrived in Nafplio on January 30, 1833, at 13:00. On the following day, the Greek government paid its respects to the sovereign and the regents. However, it was not until February 6 (January 25, Julian calendar) that they disembarked in Greece in a solemn ceremony. They were met with a triumphant welcome, amplified by the young king's declaration that he had been "called to the throne by the Great Mediating Powers but also by the free votes of the Greeks."
In the years that followed, research was conducted in European archives to rediscover the exact protocol for the coronation of Byzantine emperors. Sacred chrism was procured from Constantinople, and regalia, drawing inspiration from the art of the Byzantine Komnenos and Palaiologos dynasties, was commissioned from Munich for use in Otto's enthronement. The new regime sought to establish a sense of continuity between the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Greece, a prospect met with opposition from Tsarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire.
In contrast, the Greeks anticipated that the young monarch would utilize the occasion of his coronation to espouse Eastern Orthodoxy. This was also the desire of the Russian court, which exerted diplomatic pressure on Otto to renounce Catholicism. Nevertheless, the king was disinclined to comply, citing the oppressive nature of Russia's interventions and the need to adhere to his conscience. Since the was unwilling to crown a "schismatic", the coronation ceremony was postponed, and the celebrations accompanying Otto's enthronement were kept to a minimum, with no foreign delegations invited to Athens for the occasion. On June 1, 1835, Otto was declared of age, and he subsequently issued the following proclamation to his people:
After the revolution of September 3, 1843, the Kingdom of Greece adopted a constitution, which Otto I swore to uphold during a ceremony on March 30, 1844. This was the inaugural occasion on which a Greek monarch took the oath before Parliament, which would henceforth be a requisite element of all subsequent royal investitures. After the event, a Te Deum was held at the Church of Saint Irene, a popular procession marched to the palace, and illuminations were organized throughout Athens.
In October 1862, a revolution overthrew King Otto. A few months later, on February 16, 1863, a decree from the provisional government proclaimed the entire Wittelsbach dynasty deposed. In light of these circumstances, the country's authorities and foreign chancelleries sought a new sovereign. In March 1863, the Great Powers reached an agreement on the candidacy of Prince William of Denmark, who was subsequently elected king by the Greek National Assembly under the name George I on March 30, 1863 (March 18, Julian calendar).
The of June 5, 1863, finally ratified the election, and the prince was proclaimed King of the Hellenes at Christiansborg Palace the following day at 11 a.m. He was attired in the uniform of a naval captain. In his naval uniform, William-George was led by King Frederick VII of Denmark before an assembly composed of members of the Danish royal family, Danish ministers and dignitaries, representatives of the "protecting powers", and a Greek delegation led by Admiral Konstantinos Kanaris. Following the reading of the decree by the Greek delegation, which announced the royal election, Frederick VII accepted the crown for his young cousin before decorating him with the Order of the Elephant. Subsequently, at 1 p.m., another ceremony took place, during which George I, accompanied only by his family, met with the Greek delegation, who offered their congratulations on his election. In response, the King of the Hellenes addressed the envoys with the following words:
Several months elapsed before George I took up residence in his newly acquired country. On October 30, 1863 (October 26 in the Julian calendar), he arrived in Piraeus at 10 a.m. and subsequently entered Athens an hour later in an open carriage drawn by six horses in the Daumont style and attired in a simple national guard general's uniform. The young king was greeted with great enthusiasm by a jubilant crowd that swarmed his carriage, kissing him and touching him. He passed through no fewer than three triumphal arches before reaching the cathedral. Subsequently, the monarch proceeded to the parliament for his inauguration, following the performance of a Te Deum. Despite his relatively young age (he had not yet reached the age of eighteen), George had been declared of age by the Hellenic Assembly on June 27, 1863. Consequently, as a fully entitled sovereign, he took the oath provided by the Constitution of 1844. The ceremony was relatively modest and took place in the absence of the diplomatic corps, which was officially informed in the evening that the sovereign had assumed his throne. In front of the assembled deputies, the king made the sign of the cross and kissed the Bible before reciting the ritual formula. Subsequently, he addressed the following proclamation to his newly acquired subjects:
This marked the commencement of festivities that persisted for three days, during which the Acropolis of Athens and the Olympieion were illuminated in honor of the sovereign. One year later, after the enactment of a revised fundamental law by his subjects, the king reiterated his oath of loyalty before the Assembly for a final time on November 28, 1864.
On March 18, 1913 (March 5 in the Julian calendar), while Greece was engaged in the First Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire, King George I was assassinated in Thessaloniki, a city that had recently been occupied by the Greek army. Upon learning of his father's death while in Ioannina, Constantine I addressed the army with the following words:
A sacrilegious attack on the sacred person of the King deprives us of our leader at a very critical moment for the entire Hellenic nation. I am now called by Providence to succeed my unforgettable father on this throne that he had so long honored and glorified. I bring this news to the knowledge of my army, to which I have devoted my entire life, and with which both unfortunate and successful wars have indissolubly bound me. I declare to them that, always leading them, I will never cease to dedicate my entire care to the armies of land and sea, whose glorious exploits have enlarged and glorified the homeland.
Simultaneously, in Athens, Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos addressed Parliament to proclaim the demise of George I and the ascension of Constantine I to the throne.
Subsequently, the newly appointed monarch departed the Epirus front to return to Athens, where he arrived on March 20. In accordance with the Constitution of 1911, he took the oath before the Hellenic Parliament the following day. The French newspaper Le Gaulois reported the event as follows:
The description provided by the newspaper L'Illustration was more concise and exhibited slight discrepancies from the previous account, particularly regarding the presence of other members of the royal family at the ceremony.
Prince Nicholas was still in Thessaloniki as military governor at the time of the inauguration, and Prince Andrew and his wife, Alice of Battenberg, were en route to Thessaloniki with the Dowager Queen Olga. However, Prince Christopher was likely present at his brother's inauguration, as he was in the capital at the time. The same can be said of Princess Marie Bonaparte, who remained in Athens, while her husband elected to proceed to Thessaloniki.
In any case, two days after these events, Constantine I set sail for Thessaloniki intending to pay his respects to his father's body and subsequently return it to the capital for an official funeral. Subsequently, several months later, following the conclusion of the Balkan Wars, a rumor was disseminated in the French press. It was rumored that Greece planned to crown Constantine in May 1914 (the anniversary of Constantinople's capture by the Turks) and that the ceremony would be conducted in the Byzantine tradition. For the occasion, the crown and mantle of the Byzantine emperors John I Tzimiskes and Nikephoros II Phokas were to be brought to Athens from the Monastery of the Great Lavra on Mount Athos. However, this information was soon denied, and Constantine was never crowned.
During the First World War, Greece experienced a significant political divide, known as the National Schism, which pitted monarchists, who advocated for a neutral stance towards Imperial Germany, against Venizelists, who supported involvement in the conflict on the side of the Entente. Following a lengthy period of latent civil war, Charles Jonnart, the Allied High Commissioner in Greece, issued an order for King Constantine to relinquish his authority on June 10, 1917. In response to the imminent threat of an Allied landing at Piraeus, the king acquiesced to a request for exile, though without formally abdicating the throne. Given the Entente's reluctance to establish a republic in Greece, a member of Constantine's family was designated to succeed him. However, as Crown Prince George was perceived as equally aligned with Germany as his father, Prince Alexander, the second son of the king, was selected by Eleftherios Venizelos and the Allies as the new monarch.
The ceremony by which Alexander I ascended to the throne on June 10, 1917, was characterized by a pervasive atmosphere of solemnity and sorrow. In addition to Archbishop Theocletus I, who administered the oath to the new sovereign, only King Constantine I, Crown Prince George, and Prime Minister Alexandros Zaimis were present. The event was not accompanied by any festivities or displays of grandeur, and remained a closely guarded secret. Alexander, then aged twenty-three, had a broken voice and teary eyes as he swore allegiance to the constitution. He was aware that he was about to assume a challenging role, as the Entente and Venizelists were opposed to the royal family and not inclined to obey him. He was particularly conscious of the fact that his reign was illegitimate. Indeed, neither his father nor his older brother had renounced their rights to the crown, and before the ceremony, Constantine had explained to his son at length that he was now the occupant of the throne but not the true monarch.
The speech of the new sovereign delivered to his people after the ceremony reflected this mindset:
Following Constantine I's exile and Venizelos's return to assume leadership of the government, Alexander I's investiture was renewed within Parliament on August 4, 1917. The event was described in the August 6, 1917, edition of Excelsior as follows:
Reduced to the rank of a puppet sovereign, Alexander I ultimately appeared to be a prisoner of the Venizelists.
Following the accidental death of Alexander I, who succumbed to sepsis as a result of a monkey bite, and the return to power of Constantine I in 1920, Greece found itself deeply embroiled in the Greco-Turkish War. The country's military setbacks resulted in a new revolution, which compelled the sovereign to abdicate on September 27, 1922 (September 13 Julian). On the same day, his eldest son ascended the throne as George II.
The diary of Prince Nicholas offers further insight into the events of September 27:
Following the pronouncement of the royal oath and the subsequent recording of the investiture, the Triantaphyllakos government submitted its resignation to the newly appointed monarch, who accepted it. Later that day, at 5 p.m., George II proceeded to Parliament to renew his oath before the nation's elected officials. The capital was subsequently illuminated in honor of the new monarch.
Following the return of the Venizelists to power, George II was effectively reduced to the status of a puppet sovereign. He was compelled to flee the country on December 19, 1923, and was ultimately deposed on March 25, 1924, when the Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed. Nevertheless, following his reinstatement to the throne by a royalist military revolution and subsequent rigged referendum, he resumed his reign on November 25, 1935.
Following the demise of George II on April 1, 1947, at 1:55 p.m., his brother Paul ascended to the throne amidst the ongoing civil war in Greece. At approximately 8 p.m., the monarch proceeded to the throne room of the royal palace to take the oath prescribed by the 1911 Constitution. The ceremony brought together numerous high-ranking officials, including the Prime Minister and government, the speaker and vice-speakers of Parliament, approximately eighty deputies present in the capital, the Archbishop of Athens, members of the Holy Synod, members of the Council of State, the Court of Audit, military officers, plenipotentiary ministers, and other high officials. As detailed in her memoirs, Queen Frederica observed the proceedings from a small balcony above, concealed behind a curtain.
Paul I, attired in an admiral's uniform, was greeted in the throne room by Prime Minister Dimitrios Maximos and Archbishop Damaskinos. The king stood before a table on which the Gospel and two candlesticks were placed, with the Archbishop to his right and the Prime Minister to his left. Subsequently, the head of government addressed the assembly with the following words: "It is with profound sorrow that I must inform you of the unexpected passing of King George II. His Majesty King Paul, in accordance with Articles 43 and 49 of the current Constitution, will assume the throne and take the oath before you." Once the oath was taken, the Speaker of Parliament, Ioannis Theotokis, proclaimed, "Long live the King!" which marked the commencement of Paul I's reign.
Following the conclusion of the ceremony, the Maximos government submitted its resignation to the king, but he refused to accept it. Ultimately, at 10:30 PM, Paul I addressed his subjects from the Athens radio station:
On April 21, the king renewed his oath before Parliament in the presence of Archbishop Damaskinos. He then addressed the deputies, declaring that he would welcome communist guerrillas who laid down their arms "as a father receives his repentant son." Following the ceremony, Paul I was acclaimed by the Assembly, and 101 cannon shots were fired in his honor.
Constantine II had been serving as regent since February 20, 1964, and ascended to the throne upon the death of his father, King Paul, on March 6, 1964. Accompanied by his sister Irene, who was now the crown princess, and his cousin Prince Michael, who served as royal aide-de-camp, the new monarch arrived at the throne room of the palace at 7:30 PM to take the oath prescribed by the 1952 Constitution. Wearing a field marshal's uniform, Constantine II appeared visibly fatigued and emotional.
In accordance with established protocol, Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou informed the assembly, which included the Archbishop and the Holy Synod, ministers, members of the Council of State, military chiefs, and other officials, that King Constantine II was assuming the throne in succession to his father and would take the oath of office under Articles 43 and 49 of the Constitution. With a voice imbued with emotion, the monarch repeated the words of the oath. Upon completion of this act, the Prime Minister proclaimed, "Long live the king!" Ultimately, the monarch, the Prime Minister, the President of Parliament, the Archbishop of Athens, and the members of the cabinet appended their signatures to the official record of the ceremony.
Later, at 9:30 PM, the young monarch addressed his subjects via a radio speech, transcribed by The New York Times:
In the days following the death of Paul I, Greece was confronted with a constitutional dilemma. Legislative elections had been held shortly before the monarch's demise, necessitating the convening of the newly elected Parliament. However, the question of Constantine II's eligibility to sign the requisite decree remained unresolved, as he had not yet sworn the oath before the deputies. This unprecedented situation gave rise to a debate over the constitutional implications of the monarch's inability to assume the throne. The Constitution, however, had not anticipated this particular scenario. Ultimately, the decision was taken to convene Parliament as scheduled, allowing for the renewal of the royal oath and the subsequent assumption of power by Constantine II.
On March 23, 1964, Constantine II proceeded to Parliament, accompanied solely by his sister. Upon entering the building, he was greeted by the Prime Minister and subsequently announced by the president of the chamber, Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas. Subsequently, a religious service was conducted by Archbishop Chrysostomos II, followed by a brief address from the president of Parliament. Subsequently, the king took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution and proceeded to deliver the throne speech, which had been prepared by Georgios Papandreou. In his memoirs, the king states that this text marked the first point of contention between him and the Prime Minister, as the monarch expressed disagreement with questioning the Zurich Accords just three years after their signing. Nevertheless, the king fulfilled his obligation and delivered the text that had been provided to him.