Greece and the English : British Diplomacy and the Kings of Greece

The transition to a truly muscular democracy affected the royal families of both Greece and Great Britain throughout the tumultuous twentieth century. The British backed the Greek royals in critical times such as Nazi occupation during the Second World War and later. However, with the Cold War, the Cyprus insurgency, the diminishing status of Britain as a world power and the establishment of the colonels' junta in Greece in 1967, the kings of Greece also sought to establish intimate relations with Washington. Here Panagiotis Dimitrakis unearths the details of British policy towards the kings of Greece; the special connection between the Windsors and the Gl cksburgs during the Second World War, the Cold War and the Cyprus revolt; and finally the coming of the junta in Greece. Relations with the British royal family remained close and cordial, though under the advice of the Foreign Office as the situation grew more complex, with anti-British demonstrations by supporters of democracy in Greece. By the beginning of the 1970s, the Foreign Office began to build a connection with the junta and in 1974 London urged the return of democracy in Greece, supporting the Greek Third Republic. Dimitrakis also examines the difference in approach between American and British policy towards Greece. He sheds light on the royal family of Greece, including Queen Frederica, and the crises, controversies and secret diplomacy they were implicated in. He also reveals the policies and perceptions of British prime ministers, foreign secretaries and ambassadors of the period, and the attitudes of King George II, King Paul, Queen Frederica and King Constantine II. This engaging and comprehensive history of relations between Greece and the British from the nineteenth century to the abolition of the Greek monarchy, provides an overview of Greek history with a unique focus on international relations. Drawing on Foreign Office and declassified American diplomatic and intelligence files as well as Greek archives and recently published diaries, it offers a new perspective on European history of this period. Lucid, accessible, and thoroughly documented, 'Greece and the English' will appeal to all those interested in Greek history, British history as well as the fate of monarchies in the modern world.