How Greece got rid of their king

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1974, Greece held a referendum to decide the future of the country’s monarchy, and whether Constantine II would remain their king.

Constantine had come to the throne in 1964, but he’d inherited a divided country. Political divisions, between the left and right, ran deep.

In 1967, a group of army officers launched a coup, and Constantine fled into exile in England. When the military regime collapsed seven years later, the new government called a referendum to decide the fate of the country.

Some of the population supported the king, but many thought the monarchy was outdated and irrelevant.

Finally, in December, 1974, four and a half million people went to the polls to cast their vote. The result was two to one in favour of a republic. Constantine had lost his crown.

Jane Wilkinson has been looking through the BBC archives to find out more.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: The wedding of King Constantine and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, Athens, 1964. Credit: Central Press/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
0:06.5	I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:11.1	I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,
0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.
0:22.4	So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,
0:28.3	and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience.
0:32.3	And maybe that's you.
0:33.6	So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.
0:42.9	Music So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds. Welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Jane Wilkinson.
0:50.3	I'm taking you back through the archives to tell the story of how the Greek people got rid of their king,
0:56.8	not through force, but through the ballot box, in a 1974 referendum.
1:02.2	Tenth of thousands of people have come out here in the streets of Athens to celebrate Greece's becoming a republic.
1:07.8	In some parts of Greece, a traditional Republican stronghold, Constantine,
1:11.6	received only 7% of the vote. It hurts simply because you've had a vote that didn't go your way,
1:18.3	but it ceases hurting when you know how that vote came about and the circumstances which brought it
1:22.8	about, and then you live with it. So how did Constantine II, King of the Helens,
1:29.2	lose the crown that had been in his family since 1863?
1:34.5	Constantine was only 23 when he succeeded to the throne
1:38.2	following the death of his father in 1964.
1:42.1	With dignity and solemnity, but little overt emotion,
1:46.0	Athens this morning prepared to carry the body of King Paul
1:49.3	out of a royal palace which so often has been a symbol of political controversy.
	...

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