Royal Recall

The difference between Ancient Greece and Modern Greece is 2,000 years of intermarriage with Romans, Slavs, Bulgars, Vlachs, Sicilian Normans, Franks, Serbs, Venetians, Albanians, Turks. In modern Greek politics, the republican traditions of ancient Greece have become primarily a dream in the brain of Greece's ex-Grand Old Man Eleutherios ("Liberty") Venizelos whose revolution of republicans and Greek islanders was smashed last spring by monarchical mainlanders (TIME, March 25). Since then Greek politicians have been scrambling on the monarchist bandwagon but always with reservations about actually recalling Greece's ex-King George II.

What many a Greek "royalist" leader wanted was a monarchy with himself as Regent. Time & again the Government of Royalist Premier Panayoti Tsaldaris has named a date for a plebiscite on Monarchy v. Republic, time & again postponed it. Last week a few surviving republicans and at least two monarchist cliques were preparing coups d'etat suitable to a poor, intrigue-ridden nation on the end of the Balkan peninsula, when tough, fierce-eyed, mustachioed War Minister George ("Little Corporal") Kondylis beat them to the draw.

Ostensibly unambitious, General Kondylis once gave up a Greek dictatorship, said, "King George will return over my dead body." Last week he had changed his mind. Brusquely he told off five high officers of Army, Navy, police, air and tank corps to stop Premier Tsaldaris on his way to work. When the officers left the Premier, they had his resignation. General Kondylis quietly filled the streets of Athens with soldiers, declared nation-wide martial law and a state of siege. Then he personally proclaimed that Greece was a monarchy and he its Regent.

Late that afternoon he summoned the National Assembly. Majority were Premier Tsaldaris' hedging Royalists; minority were out-&-out Royalists. (Republicans had boycotted the June election of the assembly.) Last week, prodded by a life-size Kingmaker, the deputies amid wild cheers voted to abolish the republican constitution, revive the old monarchical constitution of 1911. hold a plebiscite Nov. 3 to confirm Kondylis' coup d'etat and, finally, recall "Gorgeous Georgios" to the throne. The Government hastily ran off new stationery with the Greek royal arms.

Said Kingmaker Kondylis: "We did not abolish the republic; we simply ignored it."

Said outgoing Premier Tsaldaris: "We have not resigned. We were turned out."

News of the bloodless coup d'etat reached dapper little George II in his hotel in London's West End just before dinner. He dined with his aide, went out to a Mayfair party and had the kind of evening anyone would envy, telling his friends he would not accept the throne of Greece unless a majority of the people wanted him.

Fact was, George II and the Greek people have no ardent love for one another. George, who is the protege and frequent houseguest of Britain's King-Emperor George V, seemed especially dubious of the invitation of General Kondylis, who is an open admirer of Benito Mussolini. In London the King's aide told newshawks that everything was still uncertain and in Athens Regent Kondylis replied that, if George refused to return, he would find another King.

George's coyness seemed reasonable, for his family has not been comfortable on the throne of Greece. His grandfather, George I, Greece's second modern King, was assassinated. His father, Constantine ("Tino"), was kicked out by Venizelos in 1917 because he was pro-German. After the War a plebiscite called him back; a revolution kicked him out again and he died in exile. For eleven months in 1923 George II actually reigned as King, in competition with a revolutionary Republic. He was politely asked to leave and abdicate. He left but did not abdicate. Another plebiscite confirmed his exile.

Not necessarily a proof of Greek fickleness, this was all Balkan politics, true to modern Greece which since the War has produced six revolutions, four dictators and 17 governments. Even last week Greeks had no great personal admiration for George, who has spent his twelve years of exile lion-hunting in Africa, toadying to British society, and getting himself divorced by Queen Elizabeth, sister of Rumania's King Carol, who has himself divorced George's sister Helen.

P: The best-born pretender in Europe, Otto of Habsburg, ''Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary," was so chagrined by George's good luck that he hastened to rebuke Austria for not having done the same for him, indicated that he is the solution to Europe's peace and hoped that Austria would hurry before it was obliged to summon him to rule "a heap of ruins."

P: Ex-Grand Old Man Eleutherios Venizelos, exiled in a Paris apartment, eloquently said nothing.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.