Otto of Greece

Otto Friedrich Ludwig von Wittelsbach arrived in Greece at seventeen on 7 May 1832, the second son of Bavaria's King Ludwig I, crowned under a treaty among European powers who had carved out a new kingdom. A regency council of Bavarian officials ran the country until he came of age, then he dismissed them and ruled as an absolute monarch. Pressure from below forced him to grant a constitution in 1843 after an armed but bloodless uprising. He built schools and state institutions but couldn't fix Greece's poverty or shield it from foreign interference; survival meant balancing the Greek factions loyal to Britain, France, and Russia without angering any of the three. British blockades in 1850 and 1854 - imposed to keep Greece from attacking Ottoman territory during the Crimean War - gutted his credibility, and an attempt on Queen Amalia's life followed. In October 1862, while Otto was traveling in the countryside, he was deposed. He died in Bavarian exile five years later.