Friday, November 5, 2010

Prince Nicholas en route home to Greece


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November 5, 1916

Prince Nicholas of Greece, married to Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna of Russia, is on his way home to Greece, writes the Marquise de Fontenoy.  Due to the war, Prince Nicholas' route is rather circuitous, having just passed through England via Sweden and Norway.  He started out in Petrograd, "where he left his wife,  who, like her Russian mother-in-law, the widowed Queen Olga of Greece, found conditions intolerable in Athens owing to the pro-attitude of the Prussian-born Queen Sophie."

It is understood that Prince Nicholas, considered the most able of the sons of the late King George of Greece, is conveying to his brother, King Constantine, messages from Nicholas II of Russia, from King George V, and from the French government, "which may do something towards cleaning up the chaotic situation at Athens."

The messages "are to the effect that King Constantine has completely exhausted the patience of is royal and imperial relatives in Petrograd and in London."  Without their support,  he would have lost his throne and "shipped off to Germany."   King Constantine must emancipate "himself from the pro-German anti-ally domination of his masterful consort," or fall to the same fate as the late King Otho of Greece.

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