Alexander, King of the Hellenes, 1917-1920
Alexander (1893-1920), king of Greece, was the second son of King Constantine, born Aug. 1. 1893. Alexander was educated in part at Oxford university and this caused him to be friendly to the English. He was democratic in his ways and made a good record in the artillery branch of the Greek army. He was married to Aspasia Manos, a Greek peasant girl. Alexander succeeded his father King Constantine on the dethronement of his father by the Anglo-French forces July 12, 1917 on account of his pro-German activities during the World War.
King Alexander, not unnaturally, looked upon his position at first as a mere temporary arrangement. The Government itself was meanwhile in the responsible hands of Venizelos, who had the confidence of the Allies. But the defeat of Germany, and Venizelos's diplomatic triumphs at the Peace Conference, seemed to breathe a new spirit into the young King. From the day of his triumphal entry into Adrianople, he evidently took a more active personal interest in the prospect of being the ruler of Greater Greece. This change in his attitude was indeed so marked that his royal parents in exile in Switzerland were said to be greatly disconcerted; but it gave him an entirely new popularity among the people.
Alexander, king of Greece died by blood-poisoning Monday afternoon. Oct. 25. 1920. in Athens. He had been ill since the first part of the month from the poisonous effects of a bite inflicted by a pet monkey. Specialists were brought from Paris. France, but their efforts to save the king's life were in vain. His condition was made more hopeless by a severe congestion of the lungs.
In Nov. 1919 King Alexander had insisted, against the advice of Venizelos, on making a morganatic marriage with a beautiful young Athenian lady, Aspasia Mano; and after his death a daughter was born to her in Paris on March 25 1921. A morganatic marriage is a marriage between a prince or noble and a woman of inferior rank in cases where a perfect marriage is not legal except with a woman of equal rank. The distinctive feature of the morganatic marriage is that the wife does not acquire the rank of the husband, and the children do not inherit it. The custom originated in ancient German law, and is most common among the princely families of Germany. In some states the wife and children have no rifiht of succession to the rank and estate of the husband, the children taking the rank of the mother.
The sudden death of King Alexander put a sudden end to expectations of of Greater Greece, and it seriously disarranged Venizelos's plans. King Alexander was buried amid widespread demonstrations of popular grief; but a fortnight later, in the general election, the Venizelist party was defeated. It is practically certain that, could this election have been postponed for a few months and a suitable successor to the throne found, King Constantine would never have been able to return, as he did, to Greece. But postponement was impossible after Venizelos's pledges to the Greek people; and, in the absence of any other serious candidate for the Greek throne, the old sympathies for Constantine won the day.
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