Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-04-08
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FONTENOY

M Ihh "AHaS1SE lie rOCI1Nohs
Prince Paul Of Greece took a prom
inent part In the recent celebration
at Athens OF the 1920 anniversary
Of Hellenic independence. II was the
first occasion Of his taking part in
any great national celebration, in his
new capacity as heir apparent TO the
throne, and he. as we'll as his sister
in -laN-, the Ruman!an born Queen
Elizabeth of Greece, were heartily
cheered and acclaimed by the dense
crowds thronging the streets of the
capital. Indeed. the people seemed
anxious to show that in the crisis
which the country Is now passing
through, in connection with the set
Element Of the entire southeastern
question. and with the revision of
the treaty OF Serves, that they were
determined to support the men now
at the helm OF the government, and
the crown.
Prince Paul is a good looking lad
of twenty-five, matured beyond his
years by the experiences which he
has already undergone. In the sum-
mer Of 1917 he witnessed the de-
thronement and the deportation Of
his father, the late King Constan-
tine; Of his mother, and of his sisters
from Greece, and accompanied them
into exile in Switzerland. When his
second brother Alexander. who had
been proclaimed king in his fathers
stead. died SO suddenly and so mys-
teriously, succumbing at Athens to
blood poisoning superinduced by the
bite of a pet monkey. the crown was
Athens to Prince Paul. then in Switz-
erland. But he declined to accept II
on the ground that he had never ac-
knowledged the validity Of his
fathers reinforcement in 1917. and
that in any case, his elder brother
rights to the crown. The Coup d'Etat
Immediately afterward at Athens re-
suited in the recall OF King Constan-
tine to Greece, and his resumption of
powers declined to recognise. direct
Ing all their diplomatic representa-
tives in Greece to hold entirely aloof
from the court of Constantine, and
to avoid anything that could be con-
strued in the light of official recog-
milton.
Then came the military disasters to
the Hellenic armies in Asia Minor and
the renewed dethronement Of King
Constantine. this time not by the
great powers OF the entente, as in
1917, but by the Greek people them
selves. Constantine, with his Hohen-
zollern consort and his children, once
more left the country to resume their
condition as exiles. and 1t was as
twice deposed monarch that he died
some weeks ago as the result of a
stroke of apoplexy In Italy, his eldest
son, George, having in the meantime
been proclaimed 6y the r S,n 10 h,y
At first the situation Of King George
was a very disagreeable one, and he
was to a certain extent a prisoner
OF his minister's, both his correspond
ence and his intercourse with Greek
citizens and foreign visitors being
subjected to rigorous censorship and
control He naturally could not ex-
pect to entertain very much sympa-
thy for the revolutionary leaders,
who had driven his father and mother
martiaied and shot Constantine's prfn-
cipai ministers and military officers,
and who had tried his uncle. Prince
ANDREW, for his life, and had forced
the prince to defend himself by means
he WAS hopeiessly ignorant about mill
itary matters. Even then he would
have shared the fate OF the other
commanders responsible for the Greek
disa stsrs in Asia Minor had 1t not
been for the Intervention in his be-
through his most intimate friend at
Athens. Capt Gerald Talbot, formerly
Of the royal British navy. and who
frequently had protected him tVeni-
xalesl from assassination In the nu-
mereus attempts on his life. :
In fact, Capt Talbot would net rest
,,nt;1 ba + al conyeyed PRINCE Andrew