Patron of the restored monarchy and Metaxas dictatorship
On 4 August 1936, George II gave royal authorization to Metaxas as he suspended parliament and established the dictatorship.
George II was the Greek king who pursued the restoration and survival of the monarchy through successive political crises. After returning to the throne in 1935, he authorized Ioannis Metaxas's rise and the dictatorship established on 4 August 1936, joining royal authority to military authoritarianism. He maintained Greece's alignment with Britain during the war and opposed the Italian and German invasions, but his exiled government and post-liberation campaign for a royal return placed him in conflict with the resistance forces and left a contested political legacy. He died soon after returning to the throne in 1946.
Also known as: Georgios II of Greece · King George II
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1922–1924King of Greece, first reign
- 1935Returned as king after the restoration of the monarchy
- 1936–1941Head of state under the Metaxas regime
- 1940–1941Exercised supreme command of the Greek armed forces during the Axis invasion
- 1941–1944King associated with the government-in-exile based in London
- 1944–1946King in dispute over the post-liberation return, accepting a regency
- 1946–1947Returned as king and reigned until his death
Related historical events
Second exile and the restoration of the monarchy, 1923–1935
George II's first accession in 1922 soon entangled him in the political crisis surrounding the court. In the Trial of the Six in November 1922, former monarchist prime ministers were executed while he, having lost the right of pardon, could not intervene. After a failed royalist coup in October 1923, the republican government demanded that he leave the country; refusing to abdicate, he departed for Romania, his wife Elisabeth's homeland, on 19 December.
When parliament proclaimed the Second Hellenic Republic on 25 March 1924, he was formally deposed and, with the whole royal family, stripped of Greek citizenship. Their property was confiscated, and the now stateless family received new passports from Christian X of Denmark. In his early exile he settled in Bucharest, using part of the Cotroceni Palace before moving to a modest house on Victory Avenue; after his mother Sophia's death in 1932 he moved his residence to London and took a small suite at Brown's Hotel. During these years he made clear that he considered himself Greek and would return as monarch if asked, but he avoided airing his political views publicly. On 6 July 1935 a Bucharest court processed Elisabeth's divorce petition, filed on grounds of desertion of the family home, without inviting him to attend.
As instability under the republic continued, opinion in favour of restoring the monarchy grew. On 10 October 1935 General Georgios Kondylis overthrew the government and made himself prime minister, and George II demanded a plebiscite. The 1935 plebiscite Kondylis arranged was not a secret ballot and participation was compulsory; in the count reported on 3 November, about 98 per cent supported the restoration. On that basis he returned to Athens on 25 November. The restored monarchy was soon joined to Metaxas's authoritarian regime, with the king retaining control of the army and lending royal authorization to its anti-communist and censorship policies.