On Thu, 18 May 2000, Bruce Robinson wrote:
> Doubly ironic when you consider that the Greek royal family (like many of
> those put on the throne by Palmerston and other British gunboat diplomats
> in the 19th century) were all minor German royalty and distant cousins of
> Queen Victoria. Is it my fertile imagination or was the first king of the
> Hellenes called Otto?
Yep, the 17 year old son of Ludwig of Bavaria. They did try a president first, but he offended the local bey and his son felt honor bound to assasinate him. Then they tried a king. Otho was reputed to be a liberal by the standards of the time and ruled for 30 years, something of a local record back then.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com