Paul of Greece

Born in Athens in 1901, Paul was eleven when he joined the navy and twelve when his father's forced abdication sent the family to Switzerland. His brother Alexander ruled briefly until his death in 1920 restored their father Constantine; another brother, George, took the throne in 1922 before a 1924 referendum abolished the monarchy entirely. In London exile Paul proposed to his first cousin Princess Nina Georgievna of Russia, who turned him down. The throne returned in 1935, and George - childless - made Paul his heir. Paul proposed to Frederica of Hanover at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, weathering Greek unease over her German lineage and Hitler's attempt to drape their wedding in swastika flags. Axis invasion in World War II sent him to Egypt, then South Africa, then back to London. When George died in 1947 Paul became king mid-civil war, contracted typhoid, and watched monarchists defeat communist forces in 1949. His push for enosis earned him the label "terrorist" in British papers even as he secured Marshall Plan funds and visited countries as a media-lauded diplomat. A 1952 constitution granted him sweeping powers and drew fire for restricting democracy. Stom