page_title: Sophia of Prussia
section_title: Return to Greece
hierarchical_section_title: Sophia of Prussia / Life / Queen of the Hellenes: 2nd tenure / Return to Greece
caption_attribution_description: Español: La princesa Alejandra en brazos de su abuela, Sofía de Prusia.
context_page_description: Sophia of Prussia was Queen consort of Greece during 1913–1917 and 1920–1922.
  A member of the House of Hohenzollern and daughter of Frederick III, German Emperor, Sophia received a liberal and anglophile education, under the supervision of her mother, Victoria, Princess Royal. In 1889, less than a year after the death of her father, she married her third cousin Constantine, heir apparent to the Greek throne. After a difficult period of adaptation in her new country, Sophia gave birth to six children and became involved in the assistance to the poor, following in the footsteps of her mother-in-law, Queen Olga. However, it was during the wars which Greece faced during the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century that Sophia showed the most social activity: she founded field hospitals, oversaw the training of Greek nurses, and healed wounded soldiers.
  However, Sophia was hardly rewarded for her actions, even after her grandmother Queen Victoria decorated her with the Royal Red Cross after the Thirty Days' War: the Greeks criticized her links with Germany.
context_section_description: The return of Constantine I and Sophia to Athens on 19 December 1920, was accompanied by large demonstrations of joy. Everywhere in the streets, portraits of Venizelos were pulled and replaced by those of the royal family. Above all, a huge crowd surrounded the royal couple in the streets of the capital and, after returning to the Royal Palace, they had to appear repeatedly on the balcony to greet the people who cheered them.
  However, the presence of the sovereigns in Greece didn't bring the expected peace by the people. Even more, it prevented the country to receive the support of the major powers in the war that Greece faced against the Turkey of Mustafa Kemal since 1919. In fact, the former allies didn't forgive the King and Queen's attitude during World War I and they weren't ready to provide their support. The hatred of the great powers to Constantine I and Sophia appeared also clearly on the occasion of the marriage, in Athens, of Princess Helen and Crown Prince Carol of Romania. Present at the wedding, the ambassador of Great Britain and his wife pointedly refused to salute the Greek King and Queen when they publicly showed their respects to Queen Marie of Romania. For Sophia, the snub was more difficult to bear because she had always been on good terms with the United Kingdom representatives before the deposition of Constantine I and she continued to nurture loving feelings for the country of her mother.
  In fact, the main source of joy for Sophia after her return to Greece was the birth of her granddaughter Alexandra, on 25 March 1921. Although initially opposed to Alexander's marriage with Aspasia Manos, the Queen welcomed their daughter with delight and pressed both her husband and eldest son to give her granddaughter the status and titles reserved to members of the royal family.
caption: Princess Alexandra in the arms of her grandmother Queen Sophia, April 1921
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