The creation and evolution of these Parties was the effect of the interest that the three
Great Powers (the
United Kingdom,
France and
Russia) displayed for Greek affairs. As a result, they counted on the hope that Greeks had, that by supporting them those countries would also help the
Greek Kingdom to fulfill its expectations for economic progress and territorial expansion. The establishment of the English Party should probably be considered the action that some leaders of the
Greek War of Independence took in June 1825, urged by
Prince Alexander Mavrocordatos and
Georgios Kountouriotis, to compose a letter, whereby Greece applied for protection to the
United Kingdom. The party lacked support in mainland Greece but was very powerful among the
Phanariotes and the wealthy shipowners of the
Aegean Islands. During
Ioannis Kapodistrias' period it lost much of its influence due to the establishment of the other parties (French and Russian factions) and it was the main force of the opposition. It regained most of it after the arrival of King
Otto, since the political sympathies of the principal
regent,
Josef Ludwig von Armansperg, lay with Britain. Its unquestioned leader was
Prince Alexander Mavrocordatos, and the party quickly started to decline in influence after his death in 1865. ==References==