Paul of Greece

Paul (Παύλος; 14 December 1901 – 6 March 1964) was King of Greece, reigning from 1 April 1947 until his death in 1964.

He was succeeded by his son, Constantine II.

Paul was born in Athens as the third son of Crown Prince Constantine and Crown Princess Sophia of Greece.

Paul was the first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and father of Queen Sofía of Spain.

Paul was born on 14 December 1901 at the Tatoi Palace in Attica north of Athens, the third son of Crown Prince Constantine and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia.

He trained as an army officer at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and later at the Hellenic Military Academy in Kypseli, Athens.

Paul was an army officer cadet in the Coldstream Guards and Lieutenant with the Evzones.

To his family, he was known as Palo.

Paul grew up in the Presidential Mansion, where his parents resided, and Tatoi Palace, the official residency of the Greek monarch.

Paul grew up with five other siblings.

When he was three years old, Paul's brother, Alexander, almost killed him when accidentally throwing Paul off a cart that was going full speed into the royal gardens.

Paul grew up speaking English to his parents and learned Greek as a second language.

Paul was born as fourth in line to the Greek throne, behind his father and two older two brothers.

As a result, Paul did not receive as sophisticated education.

He was privately tutored by foreign teachers, Greek university professors, who were chosen by Constantine, and Dr Hoenig, his mother's Pomeranian chaplain.

In 1909, when Paul was seven years old, a group of Greek officers conducted a coup d'état against his grandfather, George I of Greece.

The officers, led by Nikolaos Zorbas, declared themselves in support of the monarchy, however asked George I to dismiss his sons from the army.

His sons instead resigned from the army.

As a result of criticism, Constantine made the decision to move with his wife and his sons, including Paul, to Germany for several months.

The family stayed with Princess Margaret of Prussia, who was Paul's great aunt, in Kronberg.

From 1911 to 1914, Paul travelled to the UK to attend summer courses in Eastbourne at Saint Peter's Preparatory School for Young Gentlemen.

Paul was said to stand out in more physical subjects, such as woodwork, and in discipline.

The family returned to Greece at the beginning of 1911, when the new Greek Priminister, Eleftherios Venizelos, allowed the princes to regain the ranks in the military.

The following year, in 1912, and until 1913, Greece fought in the Balkan Wars.

Greece was able to double its size in territory in the wars, during which Paul served as the youngest cadet in the Hellenic navy, at eleven years old.

Paul's father, Constantine, ascended to the throne upon the assassination of George I in 1913.

Constantine wished to keep Greece neutral during the prelude to World War I, however he was accused of supporting the Central Powers, being that he was the brother-in-law of the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II.

Venizelos, however, was staunchly in support of joining the Allies due to the Ottoman Empire's mistreatment of its Greek population.

The disagreement between Constantine and Venizelos quickly resulted in the Greek National Schism, a civil war between the two opposing sides.

Possibly due to "being afraid" of Wilhelm II, Constantine continued to refuse to succumb to Venizelos' demands.

On 10 June 1917, Charles Jonnart, who acted as the Allies' representative in Greece, ordered Constantine to abdicate.

The Allies threatened to invade Greece from a military landing at Piraeus, so Constantine officially abdicated.

The Allies did not wish to replace Greece with a republican system, so Venizelos scrambled to find a replacement king.

It was finally decided that Paul's older brother, Alexander, though not the eldest son of Constantine, would succeed to the throne.

Following Jonnart's demands for abdication, Paul and his family, except for Alexander, had evacuated Athens.

Paul and his family briefly travelled to Oropos, before going through Italy to live in Switzerland.

They first resided in St. Moritz and then in Zürich.

The rest of the extended Greek royal family joined them when Venizelos announced Greece's entry into World War I. In 1918, Constantine contracted the Spanish flu, causing him to fall severely ill and restricting him from providing for Paul and his other children.

The disease almost killed him, however he managed to recover.

Constantine remained concerned about Paul's lack of education after the Greek government refused his entry into the British Royal Navy.