George II of Greece

Born the eldest son of Constantine I and Sophia of Prussia on 19 July 1890, George followed his father into exile in 1917 during the National Schism, watching his younger brother Alexander take the throne in his place. Constantine returned in 1920 after Alexander's death, but the catastrophic Greco-Turkish War forced his abdication two years later, and George acceded on 27 September 1922. A failed royalist coup in October 1923 sent him to Romania; Greece became a republic in March 1924, formally deposing him and stripping his nationality. He stayed abroad until 1935, when a rigged referendum restored the monarchy and brought him back. The following year he backed Ioannis Metaxas' self-coup, installing the authoritarian 4th of August Regime. German invasion in April 1941 drove him through Crete and Egypt to London, where he led the government-in-exile until war's end. A 1946 referendum preserved the throne, and he returned - only to die of arteriosclerosis on 1 April 1947 at fifty-six, childless, succeeded by his brother Paul.