House of Wittelsbach (1832–1862) The
London Conference of 1832 was an international conference convened to establish a stable government in Greece. Negotiations between the three
Great powers (
United Kingdom,
France and
Russia) resulted in the establishment of the
Kingdom of Greece under a
Bavarian prince. The decisions were ratified in the
Treaty of Constantinople later that year. The convention
offered the throne to
Prince Otto of Bavaria. They also established the line of succession which would pass the crown to Otto's descendants, or his younger brothers should he have no issue. It was also decided that in no case there would be a
personal union of the crowns of Greece and Bavaria. Otto went on to rule Greece until he was
exiled in the 23 October 1862 Revolution.
House of Glücksburg (1863–1924) In October 1862, King Otto was deposed in a popular revolt, but while the Greek people rejected Otto, they did not seem averse to the concept of monarchy per se. Many Greeks, seeking closer ties to the
pre-eminent world power,
Great Britain, rallied around the idea that
Prince Alfred, the second son of
Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert, could become the next King. British
Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston believed that the Greeks were "panting for increase in territory", hoping that the election of Alfred as King would also result in the incorporation of the
Ionian Islands, which were then a
British protectorate, into an enlarged Greek state. The
London Conference of 1832, however, had prohibited any of the Great powers' ruling families from accepting the crown of Greece, and in any event, Queen Victoria was adamantly opposed to the idea. Nevertheless, the Greeks insisted on holding a
referendum on the issue of the head of state in November 1862. It was the first referendum ever held in Greece. Prince Alfred turned down the Kingship and
Prince William of Denmark, son of
Prince Christian of Denmark, was elected by the
National Assembly to become King George I of the Hellenes. == Second Hellenic Republic (1924–1935) ==