"This Greek business..."

From the Queen to the Crown Princess

Osborne, January 7, 1863

I am so worried, agitated, and harassed by business and anxiety of all kinds – but especially since Friday by this Greek business, that I can’t sleep, or eat any thing and am terribly exhausted.  All will I trust go right, and I feel that beloved Papa could not have acted otherwise and, what is more, would have been pleased I think.  Dear Uncle E. seems inclined to undertake it and of course Affie will go to Coburg.  But there are so many questions and so many things involved that I really know not which way to turn.

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Several of Victoria’s and Vicky’s letters at the beginning of 1863 concern the selection of a new King of Greece following the deposition of King Otto the previous year.  Otto and his wife Amalia had failed to produce and heir, which concerned the Great Powers and the Greek subjects.  Greek relations with Britain – one of the monarchy’s chief supporters – had also deteriorated over the years.  Throughout his thirty-year reign, Otto had also moved continuously closer to an absolutist rule, something neither the Great Powers nor the Greek people wanted.  When a coup formed in Greece in 1862, Otto and Amalia wisely fled the country.

(Alfred or "Affie" as a young man.  Photo credit: State Library of Victoria [Australia])

While the Greeks certainly didn’t want Otto back, they did favor continuing with the monarchy.  More specifically, they figured the British would favor a monarchy over any other type of government, and the Greeks were eager to get back into Britain’s good graces for financial support and for the return of the Ionian Islands to Greece, which had been under the supervision of Britain.  Therefore at the end of 1862 Victoria’s second son Alfred (Affie) was the leading candidate as the new Greek king.  Affie gained over 230,000 votes in a plebiscite that November, many more than all of the other candidates combined.  With all of the Greek support for his rule, it seemed that Affie would have smooth sailing on his road to Greece, right?

But there were two problems with Affie becoming the new King of Greece.  First of all, when the Great Powers had established the monarchy in Greece at the beginning of Otto’s rule in 1832, it was agreed that the new king would not come from one of the families of the Great Powers – therefore, no British, Russian or French princes were considered.  This would theoretically prevent any of the Great Powers from exerting too much influence in the new country. 

(Ernst, the man who wanted to eat his Greece and have his Saxe-Coburg-Gotha too.  Photo credit: Wikipedia.) 

The second obstacle to Bertie taking the throne was Victoria herself.  Affie had been selected at a young age to succeed Ernst, his childless paternal uncle, as Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.  Albert had felt that the duchy needed a full-time ruler, and as such Victoria placed the utmost importance on Affie’s succession there.  Instead she supported a new option – Ernst could assume the Greek throne while Affie could take his intended position in Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Leopold I of Belgium also supported this option (naturally) as it meant another Coburg prince would have a kingdom. 

Ernst was receptive – to a point.  Ernst understood that as the Greeks had so recently ditched Otto, the same thing could easily happen to him.  With this in mind, Ernst proposed that he remain Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and assume the Greek throne just to play it safe.  Affie could attend the duchy as his regent – and could be kicked out if Ernst needed to go running back there in a hurry.  Victoria was less than please at this prospect as Ernst, a very free spender, could easily the blame of any financial problems in the duchy on Affie’s shoulders.   

But the idea of Ernst as King of Greece came with its own set of problems.  First of all, he was also without a legitimate heir.  The lack of an heir was part of the reason Otto was removed from power.  Secondly, his heir in Coburg was Alfred, who wasn’t eligible to succeed in Greece.  Ernst would have to choose another heir from a country not within the Great Powers.  Instead of going through all of this rigmarole, wouldn’t it simply be easier to bypass Ernst as a possible King of Greece in favor of a completely different prince?

In the end, choosing a different prince was indeed the better plan.  Ernst was no longer interested in the throne after being told he could not remain in control of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as well.  After eliminating various other German, Austrian, Italian, and French princes, the Great Powers settled on a new candidate: William of Denmark, the 17-year-old second son of Christian IX of Denmark.  The Greek National Assembly voted unanimously to accept William as its new king in March.  He ruled Greece for just shy of 50 years, his reign ending with his assassination by an anarchist in 1913. 

The Greece-Coburg dilemma represented one of the first major political tangles that Victoria had to face following Albert’s death.  With Albert’s absence still at the very forefront of her mind, Victoria found it difficult to weather the storm without his counsel.  Based on the flow of their letters, Victoria told Vicky about the prospect of Ernst becoming king in the first few days of 1863.  Vicky proclaimed her excitement at the idea, but in a letter on January 7, Victoria complained that the stress of the Greek decision was affecting her sleep and appetite.  These were common complaints for her in the early years after Albert’s death, but she comforts herself with the thought that Albert would have handled the Greek question in much the same way had he been alive. 

In later letters, Vicky frets about Ernst’s lack of children and how his wife Alexandrine hates the heat.  Victoria is irritated at Ernst’s request to simultaneously control both Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Greece, and secretly mentions to Vicky that she would prefer the Greek crown go to Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, whom we discussed briefly in Saturday’s post.  Vicky didn’t believe Frederick would accept the Greek crown.  Victoria mentions yet another candidate (Ernest of Leiningen, her nephew) on January 17, but Vicky writes him off as too lazy. 

Vicky began hearing rumors that Ernst declined the Greek throne in late January, which her mother confirmed at the beginning of February.  Victoria also adds that the citizens of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha had requested that Affie take a greater part of the duchy’s affairs as he was to one day be their ruler.  Although she had supported Ernst for the Greek throne, Victoria looked upon this – likely due to Ernst’s free spending ways and questionable morals – with some concern.  “I feel it necessary and the old Baron [Stockmar] wished it, but how is this to be done to prevent the effect of a bad example upon certain subjects?”  Those “certain subjects,” of course, referred to Affie.

While Affie led a rather colorful private life of his own, Victoria need not have worried about his abilities to rule Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.  He inherited the duchy after Ernst’s death in 1893, ruling until his own death seven years later.  And with Ernst’s decline of the Greek throne, Victoria had safely maneuvered her first political crisis since Albert’s death.  Although she was far from her peak, Victoria proved that even in the deepest depths of grief, she was still very much a queen.