George I of Greece

Biography

George I was born Prince William of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg in Copenhagen in 1845, a son of the future Christian IX of Denmark; his sisters Alexandra and Dagmar married the heirs to the British and Russian thrones. He was training as a naval cadet when, after the overthrow of King Otto, the Greek National Assembly elected him King of the Hellenes on 30 March 1863 at the age of 17, with the backing of Britain, France and Russia. Britain marked his accession by ceding the Ionian Islands to Greece in 1864.

He arrived in Athens in October 1863, learned Greek quickly and sent home Danish advisers who were unpopular. He pressed the National Assembly to finish a new constitution and in November 1864 swore to uphold it; it created a single chamber elected by universal male suffrage and a constitutional monarchy. In 1867 he married Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, and they had eight children.

His long reign saw frequent changes of government and gradual territorial growth. Greece gained Thessaly and part of Epirus after the Congress of Berlin, but a war with the Ottoman Empire in 1897 ended in swift defeat, after which he survived an assassination attempt in 1898. Following the Goudi military coup of 1909 he accepted constitutional revision, and Eleftherios Venizelos became prime minister in 1910.

During the First Balkan War Greek forces took Thessaloniki in November 1912, and the King entered the city in triumph days later. On 18 March 1913, while walking in Thessaloniki, he was shot dead by Alexandros Schinas, a few months before his planned golden jubilee. His son succeeded him as Constantine I.