The monarchy of Greece was created by the
London Conference of 1832 at which the
Hellenic State became a Kingdom. The Greek crown was originally offered to
Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha but he declined, later being elected the
king of the Belgians. In 1832,
Prince Otto of Bavaria of the
House of Wittelsbach was styled "His Majesty Otto I, King of Greece", over which he reigned for 30 years until he was deposed in 1862. After Otto's deposition as king, the crown was offered to many others. A
head of state referendum was held in 1862 to name a new king. The vast majority of Greek people wanted
Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, to be their new king. He won the referendum by 230,016 against the
Duke of Leuchtenberg. Alfred declined to be king, and so did every candidate until
Prince Vilhelm of Denmark of the
House of Glücksburg, who had received only six votes. Vilhelm was elected unanimously by the Greek Assembly, and became "His Majesty George I, King of the
Hellenes". There was a
referendum in 1920 to restore
Constantine I as monarch, but four years later the
Second Hellenic Republic was established and the monarchy was abolished following a
referendum in 1924. Then in 1935 the
monarchy was restored after a referendum and maintained after a
referendum in 1946. In July 1973 the
Greek military junta called a
referendum, which abolished the monarchy for the second time in Greek history. Then in 1974, the democratically elected prime minister,
Konstantinos Karamanlis, called a
referendum which
legitimately confirmed the abolition. == Residences ==